Type Public company Industry Video game industry | Traded as NASDAQ: COOL Fate Merged with PolarityTE | |
Founded 1986; 31 years ago (1986) Headquarters Edison, New Jersey, U.S. | ||
Majesco Entertainment Company (formerly Majesco Sales, Inc.) is a former American video game publisher and distributor founded in 1986, headquartered in Edison, New Jersey, United States. In December 2016, the company merged with PolarityTE, a biotech firm, and formally dropped out of the entertainment business.
History
Majesco was first known as a reissuer of old titles that had been abandoned by their original publisher. By cutting the prices and eventually arranging the rights to self-manufacture games for both Nintendo and Sega systems, the company found a sustainable market niche.
Later, Majesco arranged with Sega to manufacture a version of its Genesis (known as Mega Drive outside North America) 16-bit console, which had been superseded by the 32-bit Saturn. It released this in 1998 as the Genesis 3 and followed up with a version of the handheld Game Gear called the Game Gear Core System.
The company's focus shifted to in-house game development, initially under the brand Pipe-Dream Interactive since few believed they could make the transition successfully. Majesco focused on developing for then-current generation systems, such as Nintendo's GameCube and Game Boy Advance, Microsoft's Xbox, and Sony's PlayStation 2. A few of the titles it released, involving popular characters, included a few Bomberman titles for the Gamecube and Game Boy Advance. Majesco also published PC games with Terminal Reality as the developer, such as BloodRayne and BloodRayne 2.
In 2003, Majesco was slated to publish Black9, but producers forced the developers, Taldren, Inc., to shut down when the game was about 85% complete. The publisher had reached financial trouble with its larger-budget games, such as Psychonauts, which sold poorly although receiving several awards and critical acclaim, and Advent Rising, which generated intense hype but was ultimately panned by critics for being released prematurely and without adequate bug testing. Its best-selling titles in the last few years have been the series of GBA Videos for the Game Boy Advance. It also published the game Jaws Unleashed.
On January 19, 2006, the company's financial situation worsened to the degree that it had to cancel two games it was going to publish: Demonik, developed by Terminal Reality, and Taxi Driver, a sequel to the movie. Majesco's president, Jesse Sutton, said that in the future the company would "focus primarily on publishing value and handheld video games." Since that announcement, the company has followed through with publishing successful budget titles in North America like Cooking Mama for the DS.
On September 14, 2006, Majesco released Advent Rising and re-released BloodRayne and BloodRayne 2 on Steam.
On November 6, 2007, Majesco announced the opening of a new development facility in the Los Angeles area dedicated to the development of casual game products and properties.
On December 10, 2007, Majesco announced that they would be publishing a rhythm-based game, Major Minor's Majestic March, exclusively for the Wii developed by NanaOn-Sha.
Majesco has announced that it will be launching an internet version of Bananagrams on August 18, 2008 that will be available on Facebook, a social networking website.
On November 4, 2009, Majesco released BloodRayne and BloodRayne 2 on GOG.com.
On June 6, 2011, Majesco announced that it was acquiring the assets of social game developer Quick Hit and Quick Hit Football to build out its social gaming strategy.
After a disastrous fiscal year of 2013, the company was expected to enjoy a recovering growth in 2014.
In August 2015, Majesco announced that they had appointed a new CEO, and that only five employees would remain in the company. The company's focus also shifted to develop mobile and downloadable titles. Two new titles, Glue and a new installment in the A Boy and His Blob franchise, were announced after the reconstruction.
In December 2016, Majesco announced it was ceasing operations in the entertainment industry, and merged with biotech firm PolarityTE. Polarity will obtain Majesco's NASDAQ symbol name, COOL.