★ GAMES ★ EDITEURS ★ Active Activision|Amtix) ★ |
| Active Activision : Andrew Wirght / Hugh Rees Parnell | Games Editeurs |
As an Amster you're probably not likely to overawed with Activision. A hit though Ghostbuster undeniably was, it could hardly be described as breaking new ground and, at time of writing, there've been no other Amstrad releases. Rumours, however, have wafted their way to AMTIX! Towers suggesting that things are soon to change at Activision, making them somewhat of a force in the Amstrad software scene. They've a few things up their sleeves, it would seem. Such claims could not really go uninvestigated and so it was very soon after that I (none other than GARY 'Scoop' LIDDON) found myself on a wet Friday morning braving the rigours of a train journey down to.... And what I found was . . . complete chaos Obviously this was the wrong wet Friday to visit them, as they were right in the middle of transit to their new offices in Hampstead A lot of people wandering about in a daze stuffing various bits of office equipment into tea-chests Well, since it's a profile I'm supposed to be doing it may be best to describe to describe Activision past before moving on to present and future. PAST Back in the dawn of history, in the years BC (Before Computers). when only spotty enthusiasts in back rooms had any idea of what was about to burst upon the home entertainment market, all there was available in terms of computing power were the numerous dedicated game consoles that floated around. Andrew Wright : “It's bad that Amstrad owners seem to be treated as the second-rate citizens Most popular of these. despite it's £99.96 price tag, was the Atari VCS, a now feeble machine with blocky but colourful graphics and an extremely limited memory Up until 1979 the production of game cartridges for the VCS was exclusively the prerogative of Atari That all changed with the formation of Activision. Four games designers — David Crane , Alan Miller, Bob Whitehead and Larry Caplan — were getting increasingly bored, feeling that their work was being stifled within the Atari corpora lion. They decided to break away and work for themselves At the time, though a very large number of people owned VCS machines, software titles were few and far between, and limited in content Since Atari had a monopoly over VCS software they had become complacent and it was possible for them to overcharge ridiculously for very average products. In Britain it was all too easy to spend £29.95 on what was usually a mediocrity. Still the public was happy as this was all it had seen — there were no releases of outstanding quality for comparison When Activision Inc was founded one of its major innovations was a pricing policy that seriously undercut any cartridge release from Atari. Another plus was the superior quality of its product, this a result of the designers' freedom to do what they wanted With the VCS world at its feet, Activision went from strength to strength, selling worldwide enormous quantities of cartridge software. Atari Pitfall alone managed to clear four million units, an achievement as yet unparalleled within the home computer market Predictably enough, many companies collapsed through their failure to see that the days of the dedicated games console were numbered and it was the advance of the home computer that well and truly buried them Quite sensibly. Activision spread its wings, quickly converting its large range of games for the Atari and Commodore computers as soon as they appeared With many papular gamers designs behind them Activision soon made quite a dent, coming into a then young industry as veterans It was around this time that the European market was also beginning to flourish and it was soon decided that the rest of the world should not be left out In August 1983 Activision International went public, providing the necessary finance to set up Activision International Inc Offices were opened in the UK, France and Germany and despite being subsidiaries of the American parent firm, newly renamed Activision Domestic, the European offices were given the freedom any independent software house enjoys There was also the advantage of having a large range of previous titles to convert onto European machines plus the readily saleable Commodore 64 versions Still, the European division was young in those days and many considered the marketing of all their games at £9.99 as a bit of a mistake This was obviously a hangover from their Ameftom heritage as there it's none to unusual to pay exorbitant prices for a bog standard product What's more, nearly all the American product was converted willy-nilly, whether or not it was suitable for the machine it was being converted onto. As a result such programs as Spectrum Beamrider found their to the general public at around the £10 mark. As Activision slowly got used to how the European software market worked the first faltering steps towards competency were taken The first real landmark was Activision UK's move to originate product as opposed to merely accepting what the yanks had to offer. Tour de France, written by Hungarian Andromeda Software, was the first attempt After that came the now infamous Ghostbusters which was converted onto the Amstrad and made money despite the far from nice reception it enjoyed from most magazines. It s mam asset was the fervour created by the Commodore 64 version which, along with the popularity of the film, probably sold the game for Activision. PRESENT AND FUTURE Now that the Amstrad is one of the top three computers Activision has decided, not surprisingly, to support the machine The company has also decided that it would be wiser to originate games on the computer itself, rather than relying on conversions of tired VCS arcade games There are with six titles planned for June alone Most of the original stuff is being put through Electric Dreams, an Activision subsidiary headed by ex Quicksilva boss Rod Cousens. while conversions seem to be headed under Activision Rod was the man who was astute enough to snap up Amtix Accolade Spindizzy. an inspiringly original game by Confusion author Paul Shirley. A deal was recently struck up with French software house and distributor Loriciels. The Amstrad is now Frances top selling machine so it is attracting some fairly talented authors and loriciels seem to be cornering the Gallic market The first prog to be shipped across is The fifth Axis — a review can be found elsewhere m this issue. Also underway are conversions of the immensely popular Lucasfilm games that Activision lucratively acquired the rights to Most promising of all is Eidolon, an arcade adventure within a 19th century profes sor's mind which looks even more impressive than its 64 and Atari counterparts. While he was packing what was once his office into small boxes I managed to snatch a few words with Andrew Wright. Activision's answer to Joanna Lumley. What role does he see Activision and the Amstrad playing in the future software market? 'As opposed to many other companies we no longer see the Amstrad as playing to the Spectrum and Commodore. The machine has become a real force in the software world, a force that for some reason many companies aren't taking full advantage of It's bad that Amstrad owners seem to be treated as the second-rate citizens of the software world when they own what is undeniably a very powerful machine. << Hugh Rees Parnell : “Creativity is probably our maior advantage over 'As a counter to this all too predominant stance Activision via Electric Dreams has released Spindizzy an Amstrad originated game, as well as Tempest, which,' adds Andrew, 'will only ever appear on the Amstrad.' From a rather small four-person outfit, Activision has really grown up. Activision UK atone employs around 25 staff in its Hampstead headquarters, headed by managing director Hugh Rees Parnell. I asked Hugh if there would ever be any problem with Activision growing too large and suffering the lethargy which seems to be apparent within various other conglomerates. Hugh thinks not: 'This won't happen With Activision we have a central core that's a very efficient marketing and distribution force with a number of labels working with us. That's how we can maintain a big business that still retains the enthusiasm that can be found in so many small companies We avoid the mistake of seeing our separate labels as mere channels to sell product through, each label has it's own staff, it's own personalities and as a result each label cares and feels for the product it releases.' As time goes by it looks likely that Activision will become one of the dominant forces in the industry. It does seem to look as if ultimately there will be very few computer entertainment companies, just lots and lots of different labels owned by a handful of controlling conglom erates. This seems to be the environment that Activision seem to be preparing for as various independents fall into its corp orate wallet in both Europe and America Doesn't this stifle future creativity somewhat? Andrew Wright disagrees. ‘No, our product is sourced from all over the world We will be distributing for a number of companies both in the states and Europe. Of most interest to AMTIX! readers is our relation ship with Loriciels from which you'll see a number of outstanding Amstrad releases in the near future. Creativity will still exist within Activision because this is just the sort of thing that we are encouraging, it's probably our major advantage over many other software congloemrates We can still innovate.' Recently American adventuring demigods Infocom became part of the Activision continent. Quite good news tor British adventure playing Amsters as the whole range of its games will soon be available m this country cheaper than the American import price This, and many other factors, should make Activision a company to look out for in the future With that I departed, leaving Andrew to stuff the rapidly expanding and innovative Act) vision inside a cardboard box.
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