Bullfrog Productions was a British video game developer located in Guildford, England. It was founded in 1987 by Peter Molyneux and Les Edgar as a successor to their software company Taurus Impact Systems, with Molyneux as the studio's chief game designer.[1] The company's first release was a 1988 Amiga port of the 1987 Commodore 64 game Druid II: Enlightenment, and its first original game Fusion was released a few months later. Bullfrog's second game, Populous (1989), garnered widespread attention and awards, and sold over four million copies, leading the company to grow to around twenty employees.[1][2] It was followed by a sequel, Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods (1991), as well as eight other games by 1995 in several genres including Syndicate (1993) and Theme Park (1994), the first games in the Syndicate and Theme series. By this point, Bullfrog was widely considered to be one of the most innovative and imaginative video game companies in the world.[3][4][5]
Electronic Arts, Bullfrog's primary publisher, bought the studio in 1995 and made Molyneux and Edgar vice-presidents; the company quickly grew from 60 to around 150 employees.[6][7][8] Bullfrog released six more games over the next three years, including Dungeon Keeper (1997), the first game in the eponymous series; Molyneux, disliking his new role at Electronic Arts, decided to leave the company in 1996, changing roles to finish the development of Dungeon Keeper and leaving entirely at its conclusion in 1997 along with several other employees to found Lionhead Studios.[9] Bullfrog released a further five games between his departure and 2001 in the Populous, Dungeon Keeper, and Theme series, as well as a port of Quake III Arena (1999), after which it was merged into EA UK and effectively closed as a development studio.[1] During its lifetime Bullfrog Productions released twenty-two games and two ports, primarily for various personal computer systems and often with later PlayStation versions, and worked on at least nine other titles which were cancelled in various stages of development.
Games
editDeveloped
editTitle | Details |
---|---|
Original release date: October 1988[10] |
Release years by system: 1988 – Amiga, Atari ST[11] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: April 1989[13] |
Release years by system: 1989 – Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS[14][15] 1990 – Sega Genesis, PC-98, X68000, Super NES[14][15] 1991 – Master System, TurboGrafx-16[15] 1992 – Acorn Archimedes, Game Boy[15] 1993 – MacOS[14] 2008 – Nintendo DS[16] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: June 1990[19] |
Release years by system: 1990 – Amiga, Atari ST[19] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: November 1990[20] |
Release years by system: 1990 – Amiga, Atari ST[20] 1991 – PC-98, X68000 1992 – DOS, FM Towns, Sega Genesis 1993 – Super NES 1994 – MacOS, Sega CD |
Notes: | |
Bullfrogger Original release date: September 1991[22] |
Release years by system: 1991 – Amiga[22] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: November 1991[23] |
Release years by system: 1991 – Amiga[24] 1992 – Atari ST, Sega Genesis, X68000[24] 1993 – DOS, FM Towns, TurboGrafx-16, Super NES[24] 1994 – MacOS[24] |
Notes:
| |
Psycho Santa Original release date: December 1992[27] |
Release years by system: 1992 – Amiga[27] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: 6 June 1993[28] |
Release years by system: 1993 – Amiga, DOS, MacOS[29] 1994 – Sega Genesis, Super NES,[29] 1995 – 3DO, Atari Jaguar[29] 2006 – PSP (EA Replay)[30] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: 6 May 1994[34] |
Release years by system: 1994 – DOS[35] 1996 – PlayStation, Sega Saturn[35] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: June 1994[38] |
Release years by system: 1994 – Amiga,[39] 3DO, DOS,[40] 1995 – Atari Jaguar, MacOS, PlayStation, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn,[40] Super NES[41] 2007 – Nintendo DS (Theme Park DS)[42] 2011 – iOS (remake)[43] 2012 – Android (remake)[44] |
Notes:
| |
Tube Original release date: 1994[11] |
Release years by system: 1994 – Amiga, DOS[11] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: August 1995[47] |
Release years by system: 1995 – DOS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn[48] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: 1995[11] |
Release years by system: 1995 – DOS[11] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: 24 June 1996[50] |
Release years by system: 1996 – DOS[51] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: 31 October 1996[52] |
Release years by system: 1996 – DOS[52] 1997 – PlayStation[53] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: 28 March 1997[54] |
Release years by system: 1997 – DOS, Windows[54] 1998 – PlayStation[55] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: 26 June 1997[56] |
Release years by system: 1997 – DOS, Windows[57] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: 30 November 1998[60] |
Release years by system: 1998 – Windows[61] 1999 – PlayStation[61] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: 17 December 1998[64] |
Release years by system: 1998 – PlayStation[65] 2000 – Windows[65] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: 7 July 1999[67] |
Release years by system: 1999 – Windows[67] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date: 4 November 1999[68] |
Release years by system: 1999 – Windows[69] 2000 – MacOS, PlayStation, PlayStation 2[69][70] |
Notes: | |
Original release date: 30 January 2001[72] |
Release years by system: 2001 – Windows[72] |
Notes:
|
Ports
editTitle | Details |
---|---|
Original release date(s): July 1988[8][73] |
Release years by system: 1988 – Amiga[8] |
Notes:
| |
Original release date(s): 28 March 2001[74] |
Release years by system: 2001 – PlayStation 2[74][17] |
Notes:
|
Cancelled
editTitle | Details |
---|---|
Ember Cancellation date: By 1989[76] |
Proposed system release: N/A |
Notes:
| |
Colony Cancellation date: By 1989[76] |
Proposed system release: N/A |
Notes: | |
Hell Cancellation date: By 1989[76] |
Proposed system release: N/A |
Notes:
| |
Cancellation date: 1997[77] |
Proposed system release: Windows[77] |
Notes:
| |
Void Star Cancellation date: 1998[78] |
Proposed system release: Windows[78] |
Notes:
| |
Cancellation date: 1998[79] |
Proposed system release: Windows[77] |
Notes:
| |
Genesis: The Hand of God Cancellation date: 1999[80] |
Proposed system release: Windows[80] |
Notes:
| |
Theme Movie Studio Cancellation date: 2000[80] |
Proposed system release: N/A[80] |
Notes:
| |
Cancellation date: March 2000[81] |
Proposed system release: Windows[81] |
Notes:
|
References
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