Gamecock Media Group was an American

video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ...

based in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, founded in February 2007 by Mike Wilson, Harry Miller and Rick Stults, formerly founders and executives of Gathering of Developers. The company was acquired by

SouthPeak Games SouthPeak Interactive Corporation, doing business as SouthPeak Games, was an American video game publisher based in Midlothian, Virginia. Founded on March 1, 1996, as a subsidiary of SAS Institute in Cary, North Carolina, it was sold and move ...

in October 2008 and subsequently shut down.

History

Founding

Gamecock Media Group was founded by Mike Wilson and Harry Miller, alongside Rick Stults. All three had previously co-founded Gathering of Developers in 1998, where they served as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

(CEO),

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and fina ...

, respectively. Gamecock's existence was announced on February 12, 2007, and coincided with the reveal of the first five games that would be released through Gamecock—'' Fury'' by

Auran N3V Games (formerly Auran Development and later n3vrf41l Publishing) is an Australian video game developer and publisher based in Helensvale, Queensland, Australia. Auran is now operated as a holding company, with operations and development cede ...

, ''

Insecticide Insecticides are substances used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and by consumers. Insecticides are claimed t ...

'' by Crackpot Entertainment, '' Mushroom Men'' by Red Fly Studio, '' Hail to the Chimp'' by Wideload Games, and ''Hero'' by

Firefly Studios Firefly Studios Limited (also stylized as FireFly Studios) is a British video game developer based in London. Formed in August 1999 by Simon Bradbury, David Lester, and Eric Ouellette, the company focuses on historic real-time strategy games f ...

. Gamecock used a more hands-off approach and allowed developers creative freedom with their work, as well as letting them keep their own

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

. For the new company, Wilson was appointed CEO.

2007 Spike Video Game Awards controversy

During the 2007 Spike Video Game Awards in Las Vegas, as Ken Levine was about to take the stage and give an acceptance speech for the

Game of the Year Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given by various award events and media publications to a video game that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year. Events and ceremonies British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards) ...

award for ''

BioShock ''BioShock'' is a 2007 first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed by 2K Boston (later Irrational Games) and 2K Australia, and published by 2K Games. The first game in the BioShock (series), ''BioShock'' series, it was released f ...

'', Gamecock employees rushed the stage in capes and rooster hats, using the microphone for self-promotion. The interruption resulted in Levine being unable to talk before he was ushered off-stage. Gamecock CEO Wilson later apologized.

Acquisition and closure

On October 14, 2008, Gamecock was acquired by

. Subsequently, Gamecock's Austin operations were closed, and all outstanding games were transferred to SouthPeak, with the Gamecock brand being retired.

Games published

References

{{Authority control 2007 establishments in Texas 2008 disestablishments in Texas Video game companies established in 2007 Video game companies disestablished in 2008 Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game publishers Defunct companies based in Texas