Titus Interactive

Founding and early years

The company was founded by brothers Eric Caen and Hervé Caen in France in 1985. In 1991, Titus purchased Palace Software, the gaming division of the Palace Group. In 1998, the company purchased the developers BlueSky Software and Digital Integration Ltd.

Interplay Entertainment partnership and distribution agreements (1999–2002)

In late 1999, the company acquired shares in struggling publisher Interplay Entertainment, including a stake in publisher/distributor Virgin Interactive.

Throughout the next few years, Titus signed North American distribution deals with smaller publishers. They signed a deal with Cryo Interactive in March 2000, with Rage Software in September 2000, and Microids in May 2001. In 2002, Titus Japan K.K. signed a similar distribution deal with Konami for Japan.

In August 2000, it signed a deal with Viacom Consumer Products to publish games based on the Top Gun franchise.

In August 2001, Titus took the control of Interplay. However prior to this, Titus took over distributing its own titles in the North American market as well as Virgin's from them.

Closure

In June 2004, Titus filed for bankruptcy, declaring an unseeable future for Interplay. On 9 January 2005, a French district commercial court declared Titus bankrupt with a €33 million (US$43.8 million) debt. Titus' French subsidiaries were later closed down, while their assets were soon purchased by Interplay.

Games

Titus began releasing titles for home computers such as the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and IBM PC compatibles before moving on to consoles like the Master System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, and Game Boy Color, PlayStation, Dreamcast and Nintendo 64, followed by games for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.

Titus designed games such as Virtual Kasparov, Automobili Lamborghini, Virtual Chess 64, Roadsters (the Nintendo 64 version), Incredible Crisis (developed by Polygon Magic), Prehistorik Man and Lamborghini American Challenge, that were given positive reviews. Titus however was also involved in the creation of games that were notable due to their negative reception. Superman for the Nintendo 64 was notorious for its negative status among gamers. GameTrailers called it the worst game of all time. As of 2018, it holds a score of 23% at GameRankings. Similarly, the 2003 game RoboCop also received negative reviews. GameSpot gave it 2.2/10 saying "RoboCop has a bevy of horrible problems that render the game practically unplayable".

Subsidiaries

Titus had several subsidiaries. The United States subsidiary, Titus Software Corporation, had its head office in Chatsworth, Los Angeles. The Japanese subsidiary, Titus Japan K.K., had its head office on the eighth floor of the Kotubuki Dogenzaka Building in Dōgenzaka (JA), Shibuya, Tokyo. The UK subsidiary, Titus Software UK Limited, had its head office in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.