Bullfrog Productions Limited was a British video game developer based in Guildford, England. Founded in 1987 by Peter Molyneux and Les Edgar, the company gained recognition in 1989 for their third release, Populous, and is also well known for titles such as Theme Park, Theme Hospital, Magic Carpet, Syndicate and Dungeon Keeper. Bullfrog's name was derived from an ornament in the offices of Edgar's and Molyneux's other enterprise, Taurus Impact Systems, Bullfrog's precursor where Molyneux and Edgar were developing business software. Bullfrog Productions was founded as a separate entity after Commodore mistook Taurus for a similarly named company.

Electronic Arts, Bullfrog's publisher, acquired the studio in January 1995. Molyneux had become an Electronic Arts vice-president and consultant in 1994, after EA purchased a significant share of Bullfrog. Molyneux's last project with Bullfrog was Dungeon Keeper, and as a result of his dissatisfaction of the corporate aspects of his position, he left the company in July 1997 to found Lionhead Studios. Others would follow him to Lionhead, and some founded their own companies, such as Mucky Foot Productions. After Molyneux's departure, Electronic Arts' control over Bullfrog caused several projects to be cancelled. Bullfrog was merged into EA UK in 2001 and ceased to exist as a separate entity. Bullfrog titles have been looked upon as a standard for comparison and have spawned numerous spiritual sequels.

In 1982, entrepreneur Peter Molyneux met Les Edgar at an audio electronics shop called PJ Hi-Fi. When Molyneux left the company where he was working, Edgar suggested that they start a new one, which would later develop business software for the Commodore 64 as Taurus Impact Systems (also known as Taurus Software). The new company was named after Molyneux and Edgar's shared astrological sign, the Taurus. At some point, Molyneux accepted a deal to export money systems to Switzerland and baked beans to the Middle East.

One day, Taurus received a call from the head of Commodore Europe, wanting to discuss the future of the Amiga and Taurus' software's suitability for the system. Molyneux was invited to Commodore Europe's headquarters, where he was offered several Amiga systems and a space at a show in Germany. When Molyneux was told that they were anticipating getting his network running on the Amiga, he realised that they had mistaken his company for one called Torus, a producer of networking systems. Molyneux wanted the Amiga systems, so he did not inform Commodore of this error. He received them and began writing a database program called Acquisition. Commodore kept asking about the database, and Molyneux gave them excuses because they were threatening to shut Taurus down. When Acquisition was finished, it was shown at the exhibition in Germany, and won product of the year. 2,000 copies were sold to a company in the United States, giving Molyneux and Edgar funds to sustain Taurus.

Another program Taurus wrote was a computer-aided design (CAD) package called X-CAD. They knew the Amiga was becoming a gaming machine, and a friend of Molyneux's asked him to convert Druid II: Enlightenment from the Commodore 64 to the Amiga. According to Edgar, it was around this time Bullfrog was founded in preparation for the day when Acquisition was no longer important and they could focus on games. Bullfrog was originally a brand of Taurus; Molyneux explained that this was because they wanted to avoid confusion over business software and money-making opportunities.

The name came from an ornament of a bullfrog located in the office: when asked by Joystick why the name "Bullfrog" was chosen, Molyneux stated that they wanted "an idiotic name" without having to find one, and there happened to be a sculpture of a colourful frog on a pedestal labelled "Bull Frog by Leonardo" on the table. Afterwards, Molyneux and Edgar were running out of money, and Edgar suggested they close the company down. It was at this point when Molyneux came up with the idea of Populous. The conversion of Druid II: Enlightenment, Populous, and a shoot 'em up game called Fusion were the first games developed under the Bullfrog brand.

Populous was difficult to publish at first due to a lack of recognition—the god genre was, according to Bullfrog, "misunderstood by everyone". Despite this, Electronic Arts was willing to publish the game. Molyneux did not expect it to be successful, yet in 1989, the game received 10 awards, and another 12 the following year, with sales reaching one million copies. It ultimately sold four million copies. Edgar took note of the game's success and gave developers such as Imagineer licences to create ports for platforms such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and Sega Mega Drive, which enabled the game to gain traction in Japan.

After Populous, Bullfrog moved into the Surrey Research Park in Guildford and had around 20 employees. Bullfrog was starting to gain a reputation, so people started to want to work for the company. Molyneux searched for staff himself, and employed artists and programmers. He travelled to universities, including Cambridge, where he offered computer scientists and banks the chance to come to the gaming industry.