Ubisoft Ltd

Spaces - Guildford Units A-J, Austen House, Station View, Guildford GU1

Look at that. A 2025 game, Assassin's Creed: Shadows. I never expected that to happen when I started this blog. The most up to date I've previously been was using the 1998 cover of Starship Titanic for The Digital Village. I had plenty of choice when I was looking for an Ubisoft cover. The company has been going since 1989. Yes, I know. I know Ubisoft is a French company and they've actually been running since 1986 but this blog is called Where Were They Now? not Où Étaient-Ils Maintenant? If you want coverage of those first three years and a picture of 14, Rue Erlanger, 75016, Paris then start your own blog or send a photo to me at whereweretheynow@gmail.com

Games Workshop

27-29 Sunbeam Road, London, NW10

Welcome traveller. You stand at the dungeon gates and reflect on the words of the priest who led you here. "Only the very brave or the very foolhardy would risk the journey you are about to undertake." These dungeons are famous throughout the land. You have heard the stories about the danger, and the monsters, and the traps. And the stories of the fabulous treasure and those who entered, seeking it. And yet you have not heard any stories about those who returned. The dungeon gates open in front of you. Only the very brave or the very foolhardy would risk the journey you are about to undertake. Which are you?

NOW READ ON!

Eidos Interactive

Wimbledon Bridge House, Hartfield Road, SW19

"Later, we IPOed the company by reversing into a shell called Eidos (hence the name change from Domark) on the London Stock Exchange." That's Dominic Wheatley, one of the two founders of Domark, describing on Reddit the baffling financial procedure which lead Domark to become Eidos. A common theme on this blog is the failure of any of the big players of the UK software industry to survive as independent entities; Gremlin, Ocean, Psygnosis, they all fell one-by-one. Would Eidos Interactive be the company to break that curse?

Quicksilva

Palmerstone Park House, 13 Palmerstone Road, Southampton

I didn't realise how interconnected the British software scene could be. The story of Mastertronic blurs into the story of Virgin Games. The Liverpool software houses give the impression of all living in each other's pockets. You can't write about Software Projects without writing about Bug-Byte and you can't write about Bug-Byte without writing about Imagine and you can't write about Imagine without writing about Denton Designs. The same is true of Quicksilva. Its story is part of the story of Argus Press Games. And also part of the story of Electric Dreams. And part of the story of Activision. Oh, and part of the story of Bug-Byte. I feel I should make one of those complicated maps with pins stuck in it and string joining the pins together.

Atarisoft

I'd like to go back to the Atari well one more time to talk about the short-lived Atarisoft UK range. I originally planned to make this part of the Atari article but it was just too long. In America, the label was a success, at least at first. Whatever plans Atari UK had for the range were disrupted at the end of July 1984 when Warner Communications sold the consumer division of Atari to Jack Tramiel. Atarisoft UK rapidly stalled and although a few games slip out across the remainder of 1984, its surprisingly difficult to make sense of what happens or why.

Atari Corp (UK) Ltd

Atari House, Railway Terrace, Slough, SL2

Atari was founded in 1972, and it took 10 years for them to cross the Atlantic and set up their UK subsidiary. This was well after Commodore, who arrived in 1969 in their guise as a manufacturer of typewriters, and just before Activision, who set up their UK branch in the autumn of 1983. At least, that's the simple answer. I thought the story of Atari UK was going to be an easy one to write. I was wrong.   

Infogrames

Mitre House, Abbey Road, Enfield, EN1

Infogrames, the company whose bloody fingerprints are all over the dagger in the back of the corpse of the UK software industry.

Commodore Business Machines (UK) Ltd

675 Ajax Avenue, Slough, SL1

I'm paddling in my ignorance here. I don't know much about Commodore and my usual sources aren't helping. Much of the information online is about the history of the US parent company, Commodore International, rather than their UK arm and the sheer popularity of the Commodore 64 tends to swamp any list of results I generate. Even the normally reliable Companies House is letting me down. Their register tells me this about Commodore Business Machines (UK) Ltd; company number 00956774. 

Company name COMMODORE BUSINESS MACHINES (U.K.) LIMITED
Company number 00956774
Incorporated on 24 Jun 1969
Dissolved on 05 Dec 2000
Registered office address at dissolution Not available
Download Report Not available

Six facts and two of those are "Not available". This is going to get worse before it gets better.

Gremlin Graphics

 Alpha House, 10 Carver Street, Sheffield, S1

It's the eve of the millennium and you fall into conversation with an 8-bit time traveller from 1985. "What happened to all the software companies?" The traveller wants to know. "What happened to Ocean?" "Gone," you tell the traveller. "Lost two years ago."
"US Gold. They must still be around."
You shake your head, "US Gold were taken over by Eidos, who were themselves formed out of Domark."
"Mirrorsoft! A company supported by Robert Maxwell's business empire must be flourishing!"
"Gone, and there's quite a story attached to that."
"Ultimate Play the Game?"
"Gone."
"Melbourne House?"
"Gone."
"I loved Highway Encounter. What happened to Vortex?"
"Gone," you sigh.
"Mastertronic?"
"Gone."
"A&F Software?"
"Gone."
"CRL?"
"Gone?"
"Hewson Consultants?"
"Gone."
"Beyond?"
"Gone."
The traveller looks frightened and lost. "Is there no one left?" They whisper.
"Oh yes," you answer, "there's Gremlin Interactive, although you'd have known them as Gremlin Graphics."
The traveller looks confused. "The Monty Mole company?"

Sinclair Research

25 Willis Road Cambridge, CB1

"No dessert until you've eaten your greens." Well this post is my dessert. I wanted this blog to be more than Sinclair focused nostalgia (although that's my origin story) so I made sure to eat my greens first with articles about Amstrad and Enterprise plus, still on the to-do list, Commodore, Acorn, and Jupiter Cantab (no, really). Even better, I can use the cover of another of my favourite games Stop the Express. Which, to continue the dessert-based metaphor, is the equivalent of smothering a big scoop of chocolate ice cream in jam, evaporated milk, jelly, spangles, etc, and then be told to stop running round shrieking or I won't be allowed to watch Blake's 7.

A&F Software

Unit 8, Canal Side Industrial Estate, Woodbine Street East, Rochdale, OL16

A was Doug Anderson and F was Mike Fitzgerald and when they got together it was murder to establish a software house in Manchester. A&F Software is now mainly remembered for a single game, Chuckie Egg, but the company was more than a one-hit-wonder. It shares some similarities with Silversoft. Both companies were pioneers of the early computer games industry and struggled as the market became more established and professional in the mid-eighties, and finally sold out to a bigger brand. The first question, of course is, is the company called A&F or AF or A+F or A'n'F? The answer, it was known as all four at various times across its history. I'll try to use the correct version as we go on because I find that's the kind of perverse pedantry I find funny.

Software Creations

2/4 Oxford Road, Manchester, M1

"I can't believe I walked past the Ocean offices for years without realising the significance of the building, likewise Software Creations." This sentence, posted at the Spectrum Computing forum by user Daveysloan sent me into a bit of a tailspin. I'd prepared a trip to Manchester in August 2022, taking in Ocean (obviously), Design Design (also, obviously), Vortex (hopefully), A 'n' F (maybe, if I could make the train to Rochdale work). However the trip was cancelled at the last minute because of the chaos caused by Avanti West Coast's new and improved timetable. The day I should have been in Manchester I read a thread on the Spectrum Computing forum which spun off into a discussion about the addresses of software houses. This was obviously right up my street, until Daveysloan mentioned Software Creations. I could add them to the Manchester list. That wasn't a problem. The problem I'd got was, who the heck were Software Creations?

Domark

Ferry House, 51-57 Lacy Road, Putney, SW15

When I started this blog I diligently wrote out a list of companies I wanted to cover. Some companies went on the list because they hit my nostalgia buttons, some went on the list because they were big names and it would be odd if they were missing, some went on the list because I thought they might be of specific niche interest to some people, some went on the list because I had a story about them I wanted to tell, and -let's not beat around the bush here- some went on the list because I knew they would be easy. Domark didn't make that first list. Or the second one. Or a couple of the subsequent follow up lists. They didn't even make my backup in-case-of-unforeseen-emergencies list. It's clear I really like lists. What is less clear is, why is there a Domark-shaped hole in my nostalgia? 

Realtime Games Ltd

Prospect House, 32 Sovereign Street, Leeds, LS1

"Why would you order a taxi from where I don't know where it is? Why didn't you order it from the station?" The person on the phone outside Leeds station was having a bad day. Don't drive to Leeds I was told but public transport apparently carried its own frustrations. I left him to it, and headed towards Prospect House which I was delighted to discover was barely five minutes walk from the station. If only they could all be this easy.

Bug-Byte

Mulberry House, Canning Place, Liverpool, L1

Last year, on an intermittently showery day in December, I went for a walk round Liverpool. My route was carefully plotted and I managed to take in the ex-offices of Software Projects, Imagine, Odin, Thor, Denton Designs, and Bug-Byte. What I hadn't taken into account, because it was the early days of the blog, was this material effectively represented five months of updates and once it was spread out I'd be writing about my grand day out almost a year later. Still, here we are, ending with the company that began it all. This then is the final movement of my Liverpool Oratorio. 

Ariolasoft

Carl-Bertelsmann-Str 161, 4830 Gütersloh

In 1983 Ariola Records, the music division of German conglomerate Bertelsmann, set up a software company. This company was named, unsurprisingly, Ariolasoft and went to become the German distributor for Activision, Electronic Arts, and the Sega Master System. The company also published original games including Vermeer, Kaiser, and Ooze: Als die Geister mürbe wurden. Ariolasoft renamed itself United Software in 1990 and was taken over by the German division of MicroProse in 1993. Which is all very interesting but this blog is about the UK software industry and Britain hasn't been a part of Germany since Doggerland was submerged by the rising North Sea.

Micro Power / Program Power

Northwood House, North Street, Leeds, LS7

"Are you ready for brain to brain combat? Ultimate risk scenario. Your intervention urgently requested. The Master planning to use the Doctor's brain in a modified TIRU (Time Instant Replay Unit) to produce chaos weapon. Time-warping mineral Heatonite a critical component. Mine/Factory 2nd moon Rijar. Ky-Al-Nargath construction. Mega secure!!!!Madrag (genetically boosted saurian) + psycho-robotics + techno trickery. Force futile. Weapon skills NA. Machine skill vital. Full cerebral combat status needed at all times. Halt Heatonite production. Disable TIRU. Locate and regain plans. Impossible to stress to fully the importance of the Rijan mission. Invisible cat could prove useful."