Positech Games is a

video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The company was founded in 1997 and belongs to the former

Lionhead Studios Lionhead Studios Limited was a British video game developer founded in July 1997 by Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley, Tim Rance, and Steve Jackson (British game designer), Steve Jackson. The company is best known for the ''Black & White (series), Bl ...

programmer Cliff Harris. The company has published a number of

PC games ''PC Games'' is a monthly-released PC gaming magazine published by the Computec Media GmbH in Germany. History ''PC Games'' was founded in 1992 and included a 3½-in floppy disk, which was changed to a CD-ROM in 1995. By 1999 it became the ...

. One of the most notable publications by Positech is the

strategy game A strategy game or strategic game is a game in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous, decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome. Almost all strategy games require internal decision tree-style think ...

of policy shift ''

Democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

''. Positech is known for making complex

simulation games Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...

. Harris has been, and remains, an outspoken critic of the labour practices of the principal of the games industry "triple A", particularly for its culture of long hours and lack of contact between developers and players. In August 2008, Harris wrote an entry on his

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

aimed at "pirates" asking them why they used unlicensed games. The response was overwhelming, resulting in thousands of posts on sites like

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Slashdot ''Slashdot'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''/.'') is a social news website that originally billed itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters". It features news stories on science, technology, and politics that are submitted and evaluated by site ...

and

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. By way of response, Harris promised to reduce the prices of their games, not to use any

DRM DRM may refer to: Government, military and politics * Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd * Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar * Direction du renseignement militair ...

, and take care of the concerns of the responders on the weight of the demos and quality of gaming. As well as developing games directly, Positech has also been involved in publishing a number of third party games, such as ''Redshirt'', ''Big Pharma'' ''Political Animals'' and ''Shadowhand''. In addition to publishing these titles, Positech has also invested along with other parties, in indie games including ''Duskers'' and ''A Night in the Woods.'' Two days before the

2024 United Kingdom general election The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The opposition Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a lan ...

, Julian Benson, writing in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, took key features from the three main election manifestos and ran them through a Democracy4 simulation. The overall picture that emerged, while not a projection, was far from encouraging.

Games

* ''Asteroid Miner'' (also known as'' Star Miner'') * ''Battle Space 3001'' * '' Big Pharma'' * ''

'' * '' Democracy 2'' * ''

Democracy 3 ''Democracy'' is a government simulation game that was first developed by Positech Games in 2005, with a sequel released in December 2007, a third game in 2013 and a fourth in 2022. The player becomes the president or prime minister of a democra ...

'' * Democracy 3: Africa * Democracy 4 * '' Gratuitous Space Battles'' * ''Gratuitous Space Battles 2'' * ''Gratuitous Tank Battles'' * ''Kombat Kars'' * ''

Kudos Kudos may refer to: * ''Kudos'' (computer game), a life simulation game produced by Positech Games * Kudos (production company), a UK-based film and television production company * Kudos, a fictional currency used by the Dwellers in '' The Alge ...

'' * '' Kudos: Rock Legend'' * '' Kudos 2'' * ''Minefield'' * ''Oval Office: Commander in Chief'' * ''

Production Line A production line is a set of sequential operations established in a factory where components are assembled to make a finished article or where materials are put through a refining process to produce an end-product that is suitable for onward ...

'' * Political Animals * ''Redshirt'' (video game) * ''Rocky Racers'' * ''Saucer Attack'' * ''Starship Tycoon ''(also known as ''StarLines Inc.'') * shadowhand

References

External links

* {{Official website
Interview with CasualGameDesign

Interview with GamaSutra

Interview with Gibbage
Video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game publishers British companies established in 1997 Video game companies established in 1997 Privately held companies of the United Kingdom

Games

See also

References

External links