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TDK Mediactive

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TDK Mediactive was a brand name given to two multimedia divisions of Japanese multinational electronics company TDK; the first - TDK Mediactive Europe was a subsidiary of TDK Recording Media Europe that dealt with the distribution of music DVDs and the publication of video games and software, while the other - TDK Mediactive, Inc. was solely a video game publisher and a rebranding of developer/publisher Sound Source Interactive. Both companies were unaffiliated with one another in management aside from licensing each other's titles for each market they operated under, and went their separate ways following changes in ownership.

TDK Mediactive Europe

[edit]
TDK Mediactive Europe
Company typeDivision
IndustryVideo games, Computer software, Home video
Founded1999; 25 years ago (1999)
DefunctMay 2005; 19 years ago (May 2005)
Headquarters
Ratingen
,
Germany
ParentTDK Recording Media Europe (1999–2005)

TDK Mediactive Europe was a division of TDK Recording Media Europe founded in 1999[1] that published video games, software and DVDs under the TDK brand.[2] [3]

In April 2000, TDK Mediactive Europe announced they would secure exclusive international publishing rights to Sound Source Interactive's products.[4] This continued after the purchase of the company by TDK in September, with TDK Mediactive Europe became the exclusive European Publishing partner for technology and content licenses held by TDK Mediactive, Inc., which included publication and localization.[5] However, TDK Mediactive Europe continued to publish and distribute their own titles, such as Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade.[6]

On September 6, 2001, TDK Mediactive Europe supplied an exclusive North American licensing agreement to allow TDK Mediactive, Inc. to publish video games based on Mercedes-Benz.[7]

On March 15, 2002, the company signed a deal with O3 Games to publish Templar.[8] In June, it moved from Bascharage, Luxembourg, to Ratingen, Germany, where TDK Recording Media Europe was already located.[9]

On May 4, 2005, TDK Mediactive Europe signed a publishing deal with Playlogic Entertainment to allow the latter to publish their existing video game titles.[10] The fate of the TDK Mediactive Europe company itself is currently unknown, although the company's website remains open.[11]

Video games

[edit]
Title Platform(s) Release date Developer Ref.
Babe and Friends: Animated Preschool Adventure macOS 1999 Sound Source Interactive [12]
Microsoft Windows
The Land Before Time: Math Adventure macOS 1999 Digital Media International [13]
Microsoft Windows
The Land Before Time: Return to the Great Valley PlayStation September 15, 2000 Realtime Associates [14]
Casper: Friends Around the World PlayStation November 16, 2000 Realtime Associates [15]
Elevator Action EX Game Boy Color 2000 Altron [16]
Westlife Fan-O-Mania Microsoft Windows June 6, 2002 Runecraft [17]
PlayStation June 28, 2002
Outlaw Golf Xbox February 4, 2003 Hypnotix [18]
Darkened Skye GameCube May 28, 2003 Boston Animation [19]
Outlaw Volleyball Xbox July 3, 2003 Hypnotix [20]
Mercedes-Benz World Racing Microsoft Windows September 19, 2003 Synetic [21]
PlayStation 2
Outlaw Golf GameCube November 4, 2003 Hypnotix [22]
Microsoft Windows November 21, 2003
PlayStation 2 November 24, 2003 Buzz Monkey Software
Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade GameCube March 19, 2004 Starbreeze Studios [23]
Conan Microsoft Windows April 8, 2004 Cauldron [24]
PlayStation 2
Xbox
Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade Microsoft Windows April 8, 2004 Starbreeze Studios [25]
Xbox
Mercedes-Benz World Racing GameCube April 8, 2004 Synetic [26]
Conan GameCube April 30, 2004 Cauldron [27]
Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade PlayStation 2 June 4, 2004 Starbreeze Studios [28]

Take-Two Licensing

[edit]
Take-Two Licensing, Inc.
Formerly
  • Sound Source Interactive, Inc. (1990–2000)
  • TDK Mediactive, Inc. (2000–2003)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded1988; 36 years ago (1988)
FounderVincent Bitetti
DefunctJanuary 25, 2005; 19 years ago (2005-01-25)
FateFolded into 2K
Headquarters
Westlake Village, California
,
United States
Key people
Parent

TDK Mediactive, Inc. (formerly Sound Source Interactive, Inc., later renamed Take-Two Licensing, Inc.) was an American video game publisher based in Westlake Village, California. Founded as Sound Source Interactive by Vincent Bitetti in March 1990, the company acquired BWT Labs in March 1998. In September 2000, the company was acquired by TDK and became TDK Mediactive. Take-Two Interactive acquired the company's North American operations in September 2003, renaming itself as Take-Two Licensing the following December. With the foundation of Take-Two Interactive's 2K Games label in January 2005, Take-Two Licensing was effectively folded into the new subsidiary.

History

[edit]

Sound Source Interactive was founded in 1988[29] by Vincent Bitetti.[30] In March 1998, Sound Source Interactive announced that they had acquired BWT Labs, a Berkeley, California-based video game developer.[31]

On September 11, 2000, TDK acquired a 72% controlling stake in Sound Source Interactive, with an initial investment of US$1.425 million, followed by another of US$3.575 million, totaling to US$5 million.[32] The buyout resulted in Sound Source rebranding under the TDK Mediactive name, with the company's founder, Vincent Bitetti, remaining chief executive officer and Shin Tanabe, President of TDK Recording Media Europe and the European division of TDK Mediactive, becoming the publisher's chief operating officer.[33] As TDK Mediactive, the company published various video games, of which many based on licensed properties.[34] With this, TDK inherited Sound Source's existing licenses with Universal Pictures for The Land Before Time and The Harvey Entertainment Company for the Harvey Comics characters, among others.

On December 20, 2000, the company signed an exclusive video game licensing deal with DreamWorks SKG to produce and publish games based on Shrek.[35]

On April 13, 2001, the company signed a five-year deal with clothing brand No Limits to publish games based on the license.[36] At E3 2001, the company secured the video game licensing rights to RoboTech from Mattel.[37] The company later signed a deal with The Beanstalk Group to produce games based on Dinotopia. In November 2001, the company announced to publish games for the GameCube.[38] This was followed with a licensing agreement from DC to produce video games based on Aquaman in December.[39]

The company continued gaining exclusive video game rights to franchises through 2002. They secured a deal with Jim Henson Interactive to produce games based on The Muppets in April,[40] an extension of their Shrek license to also include video game rights to Shrek 2[41] and a Nintendo-only deal with Hasbro for the Tonka franchise in May (under a sub-licensing agreement with Infogrames),[42] and Disney Interactive with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and The Haunted Mansion from Disney Interactive in July.[43] On October 18, 2002, the company launched TDK Impulse, a publishing label intended for games that had "broad consumer appeal and a low price point".[44]

In January 2003, the company purchased the video game licensing rights to the UFC from Crave Entertainment.[45] May 2003, the company announced their Shrek 2 video game tie-in would be a co-publishing collaboration with Activision.[46][47]

On September 3, 2003, TDK Mediactive, Inc. announced that they were to be acquired by Take-Two Interactive for an estimated US$22.7 million.[48][49] The transaction was finalized on December 2, 2003, with 23,005,885 shares, valued at US$12.6 million, and another US$200,000 in cash awarded to TDK.[50] Afterwards, Take-Two rebranded TDK Mediactive, Inc. as Take-Two Licensing, Inc. and received all their licenses except for the Shrek license, which was fully obtained Activision after they signed a new deal with DreamWorks, with Activision terminating its previous existing licensing agreement they previously had with TDK for Shrek 2 games.[51][52]

On January 25, 2005, Take-Two Interactive announced the opening of publishing label 2K Games, into which Take-Two Licensing was folded.[53]

Games published

[edit]

As TDK Mediactive

[edit]
Title Platform(s) Release date Developer Ref.
The Land Before Time: Great Valley Racing Adventure PlayStation May 4, 2001 Vision Scape Interactive [54]
Shrek: Fairy Tale Freakdown Game Boy Color May 30, 2001 Prolific [55]
Wendy: Every Witch Way Game Boy Color September 2001 WayForward Technologies [56]
Casper: Spirit Dimensions PlayStation 2 October 1, 2001 Lucky Chicken Games [57]
Lady Sia Game Boy Advance October 16, 2001 RFX Interactive [58]
No Rules: Get Phat Game Boy Advance November 15, 2001 Flying Tiger Development [59]
Shrek Xbox November 15, 2001 Digital Illusions Canada [60]
Rainbow Islands Game Boy Color 2001 Dreams Co. [61]
Shrek: Swamp Kart Speedway Game Boy Advance March 25, 2002 Prolific Publishing [62]
Dinotopia: The Timestone Pirates Game Boy Advance April 30, 2002 RFX Interactive [63]
Pryzm: Chapter One - The Dark Unicorn PlayStation 2 June 10, 2002 Digital Illusions CE [64]
Robotech: Battlecry GameCube August 23, 2002 Vicious Cycle Software [65]
PlayStation 2 September 23, 2002
Xbox
Casper: Spirit Dimensions GameCube October 1, 2002 Lucky Chicken Games [57]
Shrek: Hassle at the Castle Game Boy Advance October 10, 2002 Tose [66]
Shrek: Treasure Hunt PlayStation October 18, 2002 The Code Monkeys [67]
Shrek Extra Large GameCube October 30, 2002 Digital Illusions Canada [60]
Masters of the Universe: He-Man - Power of Grayskull Game Boy Advance November 2, 2002 Taniko [68]
Robotech: The Macross Saga Game Boy Advance November 15, 2002 Lucky Chicken Games [69]
Shrek: Super Party PlayStation 2 November 15, 2002 Mass Media Games [70]
Xbox
The Land Before Time: Big Water Adventure PlayStation November 27, 2002 Digital Illusions CE [71]
Ultimate Fighting Championship: Tapout 2 Xbox March 20, 2003 DreamFactory [72]
SeaBlade Xbox March 28, 2003 Vision Scape Interactive
The Muppets: On with the Show Game Boy Advance April 17, 2003 Vicarious Visions [73]
Shrek: Super Party GameCube May 29, 2003 Mass Media Games [70]
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Game Boy Advance July 1, 2003 Pocket Studios [74]
Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis GameCube July 23, 2003 Lucky Chicken Games [75]
Dinotopia: The Sunstone Odyssey GameCube July 23, 2003 Vicious Cycle Software [76]
Shrek: Reekin' Havoc Game Boy Advance July 31, 2003 Tose [77]
Dinotopia: The Sunstone Odyssey Xbox August 5, 2003 Vicious Cycle Software [76]
Disney's The Haunted Mansion GameCube October 14, 2003 High Voltage Software [78]
PlayStation 2
Xbox
Corvette Game Boy Advance November 11, 2003 Visual Impact [79]
Jim Henson's Muppets Party Cruise GameCube November 11, 2003 Jim Henson Interactive / Mass Media Games [80]
PlayStation 2
Spy Muppets: License to Croak Game Boy Advance November 18, 2003 Vicarious Visions [81]
Tonka Rescue Patrol GameCube November 18, 2003 Lucky Chicken Games [82]

As Take-Two Licensing

[edit]
Title Platform(s) Release date Developer Ref.
Corvette Microsoft Windows December 10, 2003 Steel Monkeys [83]
Xbox
Star Trek: Shattered Universe PlayStation 2 January 13, 2004 Starsphere Interactive [84]
Xbox January 14, 2004

References

[edit]
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  78. ^ Haunted Mansion Released - IGN, October 16, 2003, retrieved November 27, 2019
  79. ^ "Corvette for PlayStation 2 (2004)". MobyGames. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  80. ^ "Jim Henson's Muppets Party Cruise (2003) GameCube release dates". MobyGames. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  81. ^ "Spy Muppets: License to Croak (2003) Game Boy Advance release dates". MobyGames. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  82. ^ "Tonka Rescue Patrol (2003) GameCube release dates". MobyGames. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
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