Industry Computer game industry Defunct 1993 (1993) Headquarters Germany Ceased operations 1993 | Successor United Software Area served Europe Founded 1982 | |
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Former type GmbH (subsidiary of Ariola Records) Fate Acquired by MicroProse Germany | ||
Ariolasoft GmbH, later known as United Software, was a German computer game developer, publisher and distributor. It started as the software subsidiary of Ariola Records, itself the record division of Germany's large Bertelsmann empire. Ariolasoft also had a British subsidiary, Ariolasoft UK, which was run by Ashley Gray (later replaced by Willie Carminke) and Frank Brunger.
The company released approximately ten games for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, DOS and Amiga systems, and numerous titles for the Atari 8-bit. It was also the German publisher for Activision games developed for the Atari 2600, and the European publisher for Electronic Arts and Brøderbund games, before those companies set up their own European offices. Ariolasoft also developed the cassette ports of those titles, and also developed original games. In addition to software activities, they were also the German distributor of the Sega Master System between approximately 1987 and 1988.
In 1990, the company was renamed United Software, which in 1993 was taken over by MicroProse Germany.