Kalisto Entertainment

Kalisto Entertainment is a French company of development of video games created in 1990 by Nicolas Gaume.

History

Nicolas Gaume creates in 1990, at 19 years, the company, under the name of Atreid Concept. The company of Bordeaux is its first successes while adapting on Macintosh of the plays such as Pick' N Pile for Ubisoft or Power Monger for Electronic Arts.

In 1992, it launches out in the creation of original plays under the Kalisto mark. The investments are heavy and it is thanks to the financing of Apple that it will be able to produce The Tinies, Cogito, SCOut, BreakLine or Fury off the Furries. These plays are carried out for the computers Macintosh but also PC, Atari ST and Commodore Amiga. In 1994, Namco entrusts to Kalisto the realization of new the opus of its frankness, CAP Man, on the console Super Nintendo. This play, CAP-in-Time, mark beginnings of the developer in the world of the console and also one of its world first best sellers, with more than 500000 sold specimens.

Interested by reinforcing its presence in the video game, the group Pearson enters the capital of the company in 1995 via its subsidiary company Mindscape. Atreid Concept takes the name of Mindscape Bordeaux and markets the first play for Windows 95, Al Unser Junior Racing. Promoted by Microsoft, the play will be diffused to more than one million specimens. The backing with group Pearson makes it possible to finance the new handsets of the developer and the company grows with more than one hundred paid.

Become again independent in 1996 following the changes of strategy of Pearson, Kalisto leaves into 1997 the titles such as Dark Earth and Ultim@te Race Pro with the Microprose editor and Nightmare Creatures for PlayStation directly published by Sony in Europe and in Japan. Nightmare Creatures is sold with more than two million specimens.

In 1998, Kalisto produced with Gaumont, the Fifth Element which is marketed by Sony , Four Wheel Thunder on console Sega Dreamcast with Midway and works on the second opus of its play Dark Earth with the editor Japanese Squaresoft .

Kalisto enters in Bourse to the Nouveau market at the time of the Bulle Internet in 1999. This year there, the developer exceeds the 20 Million Euros of turnover and, like the previous years, posts bottom lines of more than 10%.

Pushed by the purse, Kalisto ambitionne to become the largest independent world developer. For that the company launches many news productions for the new consoles PlayStation 2 and Xbox and invests in the online games in which she believes much. The company thus increases its manpower with more than 250 people. It reinforces its leading team, takes a participation in the editor of roleplays MultiSim , the editor of book Mnémos and the studio of cartoons TouTenKartoon . It invests in the R & D, and launches the platform K a production equipment to facilitate the development of its plays.

In 2000, the Japanese editor Konami markets Nightmare Creatures 2 developer.

Parallel to the development of its original plays, the company wishes to reinforce its trade of person receiving benefits and opens, in 1999, a studio of development in Paris and, in 2000, acquires of a studio in Austin. It carries out there many plays like in particular Adibou and the Green Shade on PlayStation for Vivendi and Sony, for the Gaumont and Wanadoo Edition , Jimmy Neutron and Sponge Bob on PlayStation 2 and Range Cubic for THQ .

The stock exchange crisis of spring 2000 prevents the company to raise the funds envisaged and to go at the end of the investments on its original productions. The company is forced heavily to be involved in debt. Handicapped by a badly managed strong growth, the company has great internal problems then. the platform K is long in being usable and the original productions of Kalisto take delay.

In 2001, Kalisto tries the whole for the whole and setting its future on the plays online, but does not convince France Telecom to sign a contract which would enable him to save its assessment. It is the profit warning, which makes tumble down the action.

In spite of the contributions of capital of Nicolas Gaume, the reconstruction company, the engagement of Ubisoft on Nightmare Creatures 3 , of Tiscali on its sporting plays online or work with NCsoft on its roleplay massively multijoueurs Highlander , the company does not recover from its financial problems. It is finally liquidated in 2002.

In 2002, COB sanctioned Nicolas Gaume to have " communicated with the public of information which did not correspond to the real financial position of the société" , sanction undervalued by the Court of Appeal of Paris in 2003 and supplied with a fine of 200.000 euros.

In a decision the Wednesday, December 20, 2006, the bankruptcy court of Bordeaux judged that none the administrators of the company of Bordeaux Kalisto Entertainment, had not made a fault of management and underlines the responsibility for the financial partners in the death of the developer, in particular of the COB.

Indicative bibliography

Citizen Range , Nicolas Gaume, Editions Anne Carrière

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