Hasbro Interactive
 |
|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry |
Interactive entertainment Computer and video games |
| Fate | Acquired by Infogrames |
| Successor | Infogrames Interactive (renamed Atari Interactive in 2003) |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Defunct | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Alameda, California & Chapel Hill, North Carolina |
| Parent | Hasbro |
| Website | web |
Hasbro Interactive was an American video game production and publishing subsidiary of Hasbro, the large game and toy company. Several of its studios were closed in early 2000 and most of its properties were sold to Infogrames which completed its studio's closures in 2001.
Hasbro Interactive was formed late in 1995 in order to compete in the video game arena. Several Hasbro properties, such as Monopoly and Scrabble, had already been made into successful video games by licensees such as Virgin Interactive. With Hasbro's game experience, video games seemed like a natural extension of the company and a good opportunity for revenue growth. Hasbro Interactive's objective was to develop and publish games based on Hasbro property and the subsidiary existed for six years.
In 1997, revenues increased 145% going from USD$35 million to $86 million.
Hasbro Interactive embarked on both internal and external development, and acquired some smaller video game developers and publishers such as MicroProse for $70 million and Avalon Hill for $6 million both in 1998. Hasbro acquired the rights for 300 games when it purchased Avalon Hill. With those acquisitions Hasbro Interactive revenues increased 127% in 1998 to $196 million and profits of $23 million. Hasbro Interactive was growing so fast that there was talk of reaching $1 billion in revenues by 2002. They also purchased the remaining brands and other intellectual property rights of Atari Corp. from JTS, and engaged in some other video game licensing, such as Frogger from Konami. They sought to use Hasbro board game brands, MicroProse titles, Avalon Hill and Wizards of the Coast as leverage to increase revenues.
...
Wikipedia