BAM! Entertainment, Inc. (formerly Bay Area Multimedia, Inc.) 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

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, that was founded by Ray Musci in October 1999. BAM!'s partnership with Cartoon Network in 2000 led to the development of a number of licensed video games featuring Cartoon Network IPs, including ''

The Powerpuff Girls ''The Powerpuff Girls'' is an American superhero animated television series created by animator Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera (later Cartoon Network Studios) for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic T ...

'', ''

Dexter's Laboratory ''Dexter's Laboratory'' is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. It follows Dexter, a short, enthusiastic boy-genius with a h ...

'', ''

Samurai Jack ''Samurai Jack'' is an American animated action-adventure television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. Tartakovsky conceived ''Samurai Jack'' after finishing his wor ...

'', and ''

Ed, Edd n Eddy '' Ed, Edd n Eddy'' is a Canadian animated comedy television series created by Danny Antonucci for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. The series revolves around three friends named Ed, Edd (called "Double D" ...

''. A 2001 distribution deal allowed French publisher

Ubi Soft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include ''Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry (serie ...

to distribute BAM!'s games internationally. BAM! suffered financial turmoil beginning in 2002, during which time the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

threatened to delist it from the stock exchange. The company sold off their

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

-based development studio to

VIS Entertainment VIS Entertainment Limited (formerly known as VIS Interactive) was a British video game developer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company was founded in 1996 by Chris van der Kuyl and Peter Baillie. In April 2003, VIS Entertainment acquired BA ...

in 2003. BAM! acquired VIS in 2004 but was delisted from the NASDAQ. The company continued to published licensed games until 2005, when the company went defunct after filing for bankruptcy.

History

American entrepreneur Ray Musci founded Bay Area Multimedia on October 7, 1999. In December the following year, the company was renamed BAM! Entertainment. In 2000, BAM! entered a partnership with Cartoon Network, which would allow the company to release games based on ''

'' and ''

''. The Cartoon Network partnership expanded to include ''

'' and ''

'' in 2002. In February 2001, BAM! Entertainment Limited, the British subsidiary of BAM! Entertainment, entered into a distribution deal with French publisher

which would allow them to distribute BAM!'s games in the entirety of Europe except for the United Kingdom. In 2002, BAM! started to suffer from financial problems, which led to the

threatening to delist the company. In April 2003, the company's London-based development studio was purchased by

, however, VIS later announced that the studio would close following the completion of its remaining projects. In the same year, following the expiration of their distribution deal with Ubi Soft, BAM! entered into a new distribution deal with

Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally formed by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes and Jim Scoroposki out of an Oyster Bay storefront in 1987, the company established a worldwide ...

in August. Unlike the Ubi Soft partnership, the Acclaim deal included all PAL region countries. The deal ended after Acclaim's bankruptcy the following year. In 2004, BAM! acquired

and fellow subsidiary State of Emergency Development. The NASDAQ finally delisted BAM!'s stock in the same year. VIS Entertainment was placed into bankruptcy in April 2005; BAM! then sold the rights to VIS's ''

State of Emergency 2 ''State of Emergency 2'' is a 2006 third-person shooter video game developed by DC Studios and released exclusively for the PlayStation 2. It is the sequel to 2002's ''State of Emergency'' and takes place four years after the first game. It feat ...

'' to

DC Studios DC Studios is an American film and television studio that is a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. It is dedicated to the production of films, series, and animations based on characters from DC Comics, ...

in May that year and filed for bankruptcy shortly thereafter.

Games

References

External links

* {{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050523080214/http://www.bam4fun.com/, title=Bam4Fun.com (archive) 1999 establishments in California 2005 disestablishments in the United States Companies disestablished in 2005 Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies established in 1999 Video game publishers