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Ocean Software
Ocean Software Limited was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s.
The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and was based in Manchester. Ocean developed dozens of games for a variety of home computer systems such as the ZX Spectrum, Oric 1, Commodore 64, Dragon 32/64, MSX, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 16, Atari ST, Amiga, IBM PC, BBC Micro and video game consoles, such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Master System, and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive.
Jon Woods and David Ward created Spectrum Games as a mail-order business in 1983 after being inspired by the success of Liverpool-based software houses Imagine Software, Bug-Byte and Software Projects. Their initial catalogue was based around clones of arcade video games like Frogger and Missile Command for various home computers including the ZX81, ZX Spectrum and VIC-20.
While trying to sell its titles into high street stores it became clear that the company name was confusing to owners of machines other than the ZX Spectrum. The company was renamed Ocean Software leading to some of its games being re-released with different titles so the Berzerk clone Frenzy was reissued as Robotics and Missile Attack became Armageddon.
By September 1984, the success of Ocean allowed Woods and Ward to invest £50,000 in a new software house in return for a 50% stake in the company. U.S. Gold was created by Geoff Brown, owner of Centresoft software distribution, and specialised in importing American Commodore 64 games for the UK market. U.S. Gold had no developers to port the Commodore games for the UK's most popular home computer, the ZX Spectrum, so Ocean produced the conversions of titles such as Beach Head, Raid over Moscow and Tapper through its external development team, Platinum Productions.
In October 1984, Ocean bought the name and branding of Imagine Software from the liquidators of the failed software house. Although originally intended to be a label exclusively for arcade conversions, the Imagine logo would also be used on a number of original titles, as well as on UK releases of games licensed from Spanish developers Dinamic Software.
In 1985, Ocean and U.S. Gold collaborated again to launch a new label, The Hit Squad, for releasing compilation packages. The first release featured Ocean's Daley Thompson's Decathlon, U.S. Gold's Beach Head, Jet Set Willy from Software Projects and Sabre Wulf by Ultimate Play the Game — all titles which had sold over a million copies — which led to the title They Sold A Million. The compilation went on to sell over a million copies, as did the second and third instalments in the series.
Over half of Ocean's releases for 8-bit home computers were coin-op conversions and licensed games. While initially focused on British licences, such as Hunchback from Manchester's Century Electronics, Liverpool's Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and Olympic decathlete Daley Thompson, its attention soon shifted to film licences, with The NeverEnding Story becoming its first movie tie-in in 1985.
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Ocean Software
Ocean Software Limited was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s.
The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and was based in Manchester. Ocean developed dozens of games for a variety of home computer systems such as the ZX Spectrum, Oric 1, Commodore 64, Dragon 32/64, MSX, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 16, Atari ST, Amiga, IBM PC, BBC Micro and video game consoles, such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Master System, and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive.
Jon Woods and David Ward created Spectrum Games as a mail-order business in 1983 after being inspired by the success of Liverpool-based software houses Imagine Software, Bug-Byte and Software Projects. Their initial catalogue was based around clones of arcade video games like Frogger and Missile Command for various home computers including the ZX81, ZX Spectrum and VIC-20.
While trying to sell its titles into high street stores it became clear that the company name was confusing to owners of machines other than the ZX Spectrum. The company was renamed Ocean Software leading to some of its games being re-released with different titles so the Berzerk clone Frenzy was reissued as Robotics and Missile Attack became Armageddon.
By September 1984, the success of Ocean allowed Woods and Ward to invest £50,000 in a new software house in return for a 50% stake in the company. U.S. Gold was created by Geoff Brown, owner of Centresoft software distribution, and specialised in importing American Commodore 64 games for the UK market. U.S. Gold had no developers to port the Commodore games for the UK's most popular home computer, the ZX Spectrum, so Ocean produced the conversions of titles such as Beach Head, Raid over Moscow and Tapper through its external development team, Platinum Productions.
In October 1984, Ocean bought the name and branding of Imagine Software from the liquidators of the failed software house. Although originally intended to be a label exclusively for arcade conversions, the Imagine logo would also be used on a number of original titles, as well as on UK releases of games licensed from Spanish developers Dinamic Software.
In 1985, Ocean and U.S. Gold collaborated again to launch a new label, The Hit Squad, for releasing compilation packages. The first release featured Ocean's Daley Thompson's Decathlon, U.S. Gold's Beach Head, Jet Set Willy from Software Projects and Sabre Wulf by Ultimate Play the Game — all titles which had sold over a million copies — which led to the title They Sold A Million. The compilation went on to sell over a million copies, as did the second and third instalments in the series.
Over half of Ocean's releases for 8-bit home computers were coin-op conversions and licensed games. While initially focused on British licences, such as Hunchback from Manchester's Century Electronics, Liverpool's Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and Olympic decathlete Daley Thompson, its attention soon shifted to film licences, with The NeverEnding Story becoming its first movie tie-in in 1985.