Ariolasoft
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 | |
| Company type | GmbH (subsidiary of Ariola Records) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessor | none |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Founder | Ariola Records |
| Defunct | 1993[1] |
| Fate | Acquired by MicroProse Germany |
| Successor | United Software[1] |
| Headquarters | Germany, |
Area served | Europe |
| Products | Computer games |
| Subsidiaries | Ariolasoft UK |
Ariolasoft GmbH, later known as United Software, was a German video game developer, publisher and distributor. It started in 1983[1] as the software subsidiary of Ariola Records, itself the record division of Germany's large Bertelsmann empire. From 1985 to 1988 Stephen Molyneux, formerly Head of Software at Atari International GmbH in Hamburg, held the position of Head of Software[2] with responsibility for international negotiations and licensing of software at its headquarters in Munich. Ariolasoft also had a British subsidiary, Ariolasoft UK, which was run by Ashley Gray (later replaced by Willie Carminke) and Frank Brunger.[1]
The company released games for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST and Amiga systems. It was also the German publisher for Activision games developed for the Atari 2600, and the European publisher for Electronic Arts and Broderbund games, before those companies set up their own European offices. Ariolasoft also developed the cassette ports of those titles, and also developed original games. In addition to software activities, they were also the German distributor of the Master System between approximately 1987 and 1988.[1]
In 1990, the company was renamed United Software, which in 1993 was taken over by MicroProse Germany.[1]
Original games[edit]
| Game name | Developer |
|---|---|
| Airline[3] | |
| Atomix | Thalion Software |
| Adventure Construction Set | |
| Challenge of the Gobots | Reaktor |
| Deactivators | Tigress Marketing |
| Golf Construction Set | Chris Palmer, David Bishop |
| Hanse | Ralf Glau |
| Hellowoon: Das Geheimins des Zauberstabs | Dragonware Games |
| Kaiser | Creative Computer Design (Markus Mergard, Claudio Kronmüller, Dirk Beyelstein) |
| Ooze: Als die Geister mürbe wurden… | Dragonware Games |
| Starfox | Realtime Games Software |
| They Stole A Million | 39 Steps, Tigress Marketing |
| Vermeer | Ralf Glau |
Collaborations[edit]
- Cavelord with Atari Germany
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f "United Software GmbH". MobyGames. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
- ^ Molyneux, Stephen. "Stephen Molyneux LinkedIn Profile". LinkedIn. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
- ^ "Airline (Commodore 64)". Pirates Portal. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
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- Defunct video game companies of Germany
- Video game companies established in 1983
- Video game companies disestablished in 1993
- Video game development companies
- Video game publishers
- 1983 establishments in West Germany
- German companies established in 1983
- MicroProse
- German companies disestablished in 1993
- European video game company stubs
- German company stubs