Ocean Software - History

History

The company's early releases in 1984 (Moon Alert, Hunchback, High Noon, Gilligan's Gold, Daley Thompson's Decathlon etc.) were developed in-house, but later in that year Ocean Software acquired its former Liverpool rival, the defunct software developer Imagine, and focus shifted from development to publication of games. Also in 1984, Ocean struck a deal with Konami to publish their arcade games for home computers.

• In 1985, Ocean Software managed to secure the first movie licences, such as Rambo, Short Circuit and Cobra, as well as the TV show Miami Vice and RoboCop which spent about a year on the top of the charts.

• In 1986, a deal was signed with Taito and Data East for home versions of their arcade games such as Arkanoid, Renegade, Operation Wolf and The NewZealand Story.

• In 1986, Ocean Software created with Marc DJAN Ocean Software France. This 16-bit studio will create most of the 16-bit arcade conversation between 1986 and 1991 then became the French marketing and sales subsidiary of Ocean software Ltd.

• In 1987, Ocean Software published original games again, after a marginal season filled with licences, resulting in Head over Heels, Match Day II and Wizball.

• Ocean was voted Best 8-bit Software House of the Year 1988 at the Golden Joystick Awards.

• In 1996, Ocean Software published Cheesy for the PlayStation.

• Ocean was acquired by Infogrames in 1996 for £100,000,000 and renamed to Infogrames UK in 1998.

• Ocean acquired Digital Image Design in 1998.

• The last game released by Ocean was Mission: Impossible in 1998, for Nintendo 64.