Ocean Software
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| Video game developer and publisher | |
| Fate | Acquired by Infogrames in 1996 and renamed to Infogrames UK in 1998. |
| Successor |
Infogrames UK (1998) Atari UK (2004) Atari, Inc (2009) |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Defunct | 1998 (Renamed) |
| Headquarters | 6, Central Street, Manchester, England |
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Key people
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David Ward, Jon Woods, Paul Patterson,Gary Bracey, Marc Djan (Ocean France) |
Ocean Software Ltd (also known in the United States as Ocean of America, Inc.), commonly referred to as Ocean, was a British software development company, that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s. It was acquired by a French holding company, Infogrames in 1996 and renamed to Infogrames UK in 1998, and again in 2004 to Atari UK, and once again in 2009 now known as Atari, Inc.
The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and was based in Manchester. Ocean developed dozens of games for a variety of systems such as the ZX Spectrum, Oric 1, Commodore 64, Dragon 32, MSX, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 16, Atari ST, Amiga, PC, and video game consoles such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Master System and Mega Drive.
The company started out as Spectrum Software in 1983 selling arcade clones for various home computers including the ZX81, ZX Spectrum and VIC 20. Although not named after the ZX Spectrum, the name became confusing and had to be changed so the company became Ocean Software. Some of their Spectrum Software games were re-released on Ocean with different titles so the Berzerk clone Frenzy was reissued as the Ocean game Robotics and Missile Attack became Armageddon. Their early releases (Moon Alert, Hunchback, High Noon, Gilligan's Gold, Daley Thompson's Decathlon etc.) were developed in-house, but later in 1984 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.
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