 | |
| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Founded | April 1982; 43 years ago (1982-04) |
| Defunct | 1983 (1983) |
Key people | Frank O'Connell |
| Products | Video games |
Fox Video Games was a subsidiary of20th Century Fox that focused on thevideo games. It was founded in April 1982 with Frank O'Connell as president. They were one of the few companies that developed video subsidiaries in 1982 includingMCA Inc., the parent company ofUniversal Pictures creatingMCA Video Games.
A large portion of video games released by Fox Video Games were tie-in titles to various films. The company had ajoint venture with Sacramento-basedSirius Software who would developed over a dozen titles for theAtari 2600 for the company. While initially focusing on Atari'shome video game console, they began expanding their development teams in 1983 to creategames for home computers such as theVIC-20, andAtari 8-bit family ofpersonal computers. George Williamson and John Eckhouse of theSan Francisco Chronicle wrote that Fox Video Games experienced terrible financial losses by overproducing cartridges of their video gameM*A*S*H (1983).[1] 20th Century Fox left the video games industry in 1983.
Following the closure ofFox Video Games, 20th Century Fox reported a net profit of $4.9 million in the first quarter of 1984 despite a $6.8 millionwrite-off from the games division. Terry Bradley, the co-founder of Sirius Software said that after Fox Video Games left video game industry, it left their company on the brink of closure in 1984 as Sirius developed 13 games in six months for Fox Video Games while the latter company only delivered one of the contracted 18 titles.[2]
In June 1981,Marvin Davis had acquired20th Century Fox for over $700 million.[3][4][5] Frank O'Connell, the former Senior Vice President in charge of sales and marketing forMattel's Electronics division around the timeIntellivision was first introduced met with Davis in January 1982.[6][7][8] O'Connell said that for Fox, video games were not on their radar as they were more concerned about the home video and cable rights of their properties at the time. Following their meeting, O'Connell was contacted by Fox and signed a $5 million deal that turned O'Connell's Santa Clara start-up called Elite Capital Partners into Fox Video Games.[8]
20th Century Fox formed Fox Video Games Inc. in April 1982 to produce video games for the Atari Video Computer System (later known as theAtari 2600).[6][9][10] The president of the company was Frank O'Connell, a former Senior Vice President in charge of sales and marketing forMattel's Electronics division around the timeIntellivision was first introduced.[6][7] In the same year, other film companies announced video game companies, such asMCA Inc., the parent company ofUniversal Pictures creatingMCA Video Games.[11] Aljean Harmetz ofThe New York Times described Twentieth Century Fox, and other film studios into video games as Hollywood "cashing in on the video game boom." in 1981, which was whenhome video game consoles andarcade games were an $8 billion business, while audiences paid less than $3 billion at American film box offices.[12] According to Joseph LaBonte, then the president of Twentieth Century Fox, their game company would ship four games by late July.[12] Fox Video Games had ajoint venture with Sacramento-basedSirius Software.[12][2] Sirius was contracted with Fox Video Games to develop 12 games for the Atari 2600. Fox, in turn, was to develop 12 games adaptable topersonal computers that would be marked by Sirius with each company taking royalties on sales.[2] Part of Fox Video Games initial line of games was to adopt titles from films.[13] O'Connell explained the brand awareness was key for Fox Video Games, saying that developing a game yourself that nobody knew anything about had you starting at zero, but having a known television and film properties, you already knew their strengths and who they appealed to.[8] These included video games such asAlien (1982),Megaforce andFantastic Voyage that were set for release by the end of 1982.[13]
O'Connell described the Atari 2600 hardware as being "restrictive", which had the company have a programmer to also act as the game designer and said that with newer game hardware release, that Fox Video Games were moving towards a team-based development approach.[14] By mid-1983, Fox Video Games added sound and graphic specialists into their development teams in an effort to expand their capabilities for game development for personal computers and theColecoVision.[15]While initially planning to developgame cartridges for the Atari 2600,[7], by December 1982, Fox Video Games announced it would expand its line of games to home computers and released titles such asWorm War I for theAtari 400/800 computer line andFast Eddie for theVIC-20.[16] Fox Video Games also announced versions of their games to be released in September 1983 for the Atari 400/800 computers, a month ahead ofActivision who were set to release their gamesRiver Raid andKaboom! for the computer line.[17] They had also planned on expanding into theIntellivision with a version of the gamePorky's by late 1983.[18] Fox Video Games cut the suggested retail ofM*A*S*H (1983) from $29.95 to $14.95 in 1983. John Teets ofThe Houston Chronicle said that at this time, there was a massive oversupply of video games and dwindling profits.[17] O'Connell echoed this, saying that at the time there was a "serious glut in the Atari 2600 cartridge segment" and hoped that the cut in price would stimulate sales.[17]
In an overview of theConsumer Electronic trade show in 1983, Andrew Pollack wrote that in the previous year "everyone from Hollywood studios to food companies rushed into the video game business, causing a vast oversupply."[19] which led to the closure of at least three companies by June 1983, such asU.S. Games.[19] George Williamson and John Eckhouse of theSan Francisco Chronicle wrote that Fox Video Games experienced terrible financial losses by overproducing cartridges of their video gameM*A*S*H (1983).[1] While O'Connell expressed interest in the digital distribution of video games being developed by Romox Inc. of San Francisco, 20th Century Fox left the video games industry in 1983.[1]
Following the closure ofFox Video Games, 20th Century Fox Film reported a net profit of $4.9 million in the first quarter of 1984 despite a $6.8 millionwrite-off from the games division. Fox's profits was due ta surge in revenue from the syndication of the television showsM*A*S*H and increasedpay television revenue for films likeReturn of the Jedi (1983) andMr. Mom (1983).[20]
Terry Bradley, the co-founder of Sirius said that after Fox Video Games left video game industry left them on the brink of closure in 1984. Bradley said that Sirius developed 13 games in six months while Fox Video Games did one within 18.[2] In May 1984, the editors ofElectronic Games wrote a column saluting the "Winners and Loser" of 1983, and highlighted both Fox Video Games and Sirius for publishing what was essentially the same game withFlash Gordon andSpider City.[21]