Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd., formerly known as Virgin Interactive Entertainment, was a British video game distributor based within Europe that formerly traded as the video game publishing and distributing division of British conglomerate the

Virgin Group Virgin Group Ltd is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding compa ...

. During the company's time under the Virgin brand, they had developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including

Westwood Studios Westwood Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985 as Brelous Software, but got changed after 2 months into Westwood Associates and was renamed to Westw ...

co-founder Brett Sperry and ''

Earthworm Jim ''Earthworm Jim'' is a series of platform games featuring an earthworm named Jim who wears a robotic suit and battles the forces of evil. The series is noted for its platforming and shooting gameplay, surreal humor, and edgy art style. Four game ...

'' creators David Perry and Doug TenNapel. Others include video game composer Tommy Tallarico and animators

Bill Kroyer William Kroyer is an American director of animation and computer graphics commercials, short films, movie titles, and theatrical films. He and Jerry Rees were the main animators for the CGI sequences in '' Tron''. From 2009 to 2021, he served as ...

and

Andy Luckey Andrew A. Luckey (born October 7, 1965) is an American animator, artist, author, designer, director, illustrator and television producer, primarily of animated works. He also writes and illustrates children's books and Bible studies. Luckey has ...

. Formed as Virgin Games in 1983, and built around a small development team called the Gang of Five, the company grew significantly after purchasing budget label

Mastertronic Mastertronic was originally a publisher and distributor of low-cost computer game software founded in 1983. Their first games were launched on April 2, 1984. At its peak the label was one of the largest software publishers in the UK, achieved ...

in 1987. As Virgin's video game division grew into a multimedia powerhouse, it crossed over to other industries from toys to film to education. To highlight its focus beyond video games and on multimedia, the publisher was renamed Virgin Interactive Entertainment in 1993. As result of a growing trend throughout the 1990s of media companies, movie studios and telecom firms investing in video game makers to create new forms of entertainment, VIE became part of the entertainment industry after being acquired by media companies Blockbuster and Viacom, who were attracted by its multimedia and

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

-based software development. Being located in close proximity to the

thirty-mile zone The studio zone, also known as the thirty-mile zone (TMZ), is an area defined by a radius of "Hollywood" used by the American entertainment industry to determine employee benefits for work performed inside and outside of it. Its center has trad ...

and having access to the media content of its parent companies drew Virgin Interactive's U.S. division closer to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

as it began developing sophisticated interactive games, leading to partnerships with Disney and other major studios on motion picture-based

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

such as ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. Produced by Walt Disney ...

'', ''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; , , ATU 561, 'Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of the original ...

'', ''

RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American Science fiction film, science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen (actress), Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Dani ...

'', and ''

The Terminator ''The Terminator'' is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, written by Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd and produced by Hurd. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cybernetic assassin sent back in t ...

'', in addition to being the publisher of popular titles from other companies like

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

's ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...

'' series and '' Street Fighter Collection'' and

id Software id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...

's ''

Doom II ''Doom II'', also known as ''Doom II: Hell on Earth'', is a 1994 first-person shooter game developed and published by id Software for MS-DOS. It was also released on Mac OS the following year. Unlike the original '' Doom'', which was initi ...

'' in the European market. Within the late-1990s, the North American operations were sold to

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

, while the European division later went under the hands of

Interplay Entertainment Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca Heineman, as well a ...

and Titus Interactive. They soon transitioned exclusively as a distributor and were rebranded by Titus as Avalon Interactive in August 2003, and closed in 2005 following the former's bankruptcy. Currently, the VIE library and intellectual properties are owned by

as a result of its acquisition of Titus. A close affiliate and successor of Spanish origin, Virgin Play, was formed in 2002 from the ashes of former Virgin Interactive's Spanish division and kept operating until it folded in 2009.

History

Early history (1983–1987)

Nick Alexander formed Virgin Games in 1983 after leaving

Thorn EMI Thorn EMI was a major British company involved in consumer electronics, music, defence and retail. Created when Thorn Electrical Industries merged with EMI in October 1979, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituen ...

. It was headquartered in Portobello Road, London. The firm initially relied on submissions by freelancer developers, but set up its own in-house development team in 1984, known as the Gang of Five. Early successes included ''Sorcery'' and ''

Dan Dare Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories. Dare appeared in the ''Eagle'' comic series ''Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future'' from 1950 to 1967 (and subsequently in ...

''. The company expanded with the acquisition of several smaller publishers,

Rabbit Software Rabbit Software was an English software company which produced video games for home computers such as the ZX Spectrum, VIC-20, and Commodore 64 in the early to mid-1980s. Rabbit's later software packaging was slightly different from that of the ...

, New Generation Software and Leisure Genius (publishers of the first officially licensed computer versions of ''

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a Board game, game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, re ...

'', ''

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

'' and ''

Cluedo ''Cluedo'' (), known as ''Clue'' in North America, is a murder mystery game for three to six players (depending on editions) that was devised in 1943 by British board game designer Anthony E. Pratt. The game was first manufactured by Waddingt ...

'').

Purchase of Mastertronic and rebranding to Virgin Mastertronic (1987–1991)

1987 marked a turning point for Virgin after its acquisition of struggling distributor

. Mastertronic had opened its North American headquarters in Irvine,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

just a year earlier to build on its success at home, though growth exhausted its resources after expanding in Europe and acquiring publisher Melbourne House.

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneu ...

stepped in and offered to buy 45 percent of Mastertronic stake, in exchange Mastertronic joined the Virgin Group. The subsequent merger created Virgin Mastertronic Ltd. in 1988 with Alper as its president which enabled Virgin to expand its business reach overseas. Mastertronic had been the distributor of the

Master System The is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console manufactured and developed by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series ...

in the United Kingdom and is credited with introducing

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

to the European market, where they expanded rapidly. The Mastertronic acquisition enabled Virgin to compete with

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

in the growing home console market. The new owners then dissolved the Gang of Five internal development team in 1989.

Return to publishing (1991–1993)

To gain a foothold in its newly established market, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. acquired Mastertronic in 1991 while Virgin retained a small publishing unit, which was renamed Virgin Interactive Entertainment in 1993. A new London internal development team was set up in 1992.

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

, who had previously licensed some of its properties to Virgin, bought 15 percent—later increased to 16.2 percent—stake in VIE in August 1993. Hasbro wanted to create titles based on its brands, which included

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two Extraterrestrials in fiction, alien robot fac ...

G.I. Joe ''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), A ...

and

. The deal cut off competitors like

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

and

Fisher-Price Fisher-Price, Inc. is an American company that produces educational toys for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, headquartered in East Aurora, New York, East Aurora, New York (state), New York. It was founded in 1930 during the Great Depression ...

who were interested in a similar partnership. In late 1993, Virgin Interactive spun off a new company, Virgin Sound and Vision, to focus exclusively on CD-based children's and family entertainment.

Purchase by Blockbuster Entertainment and Spelling Entertainment (1994–1998)

As more media companies became interested in interactive entertainment, Blockbuster Entertainment, then the world's largest video-store chain, acquired 20 percent of Virgin Interactive Entertainment in January 1994. It acquired 75 percent of VIE's stock later in 1994 and purchased the remaining shares held by Hasbro in an effort to expand beyond its video store base. Hasbro went on to found their own game company,

Hasbro Interactive Hasbro Interactive, Inc. (Currently named Atari Interactive, Inc.) is the former video game subsidiary of board game and toy manufacturer Hasbro. Originally formed in 1995 and headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts, Hasbro Interactive initially ...

the following year. The partnership with Blockbuster ended a year later when Blockbuster sold its stake to Spelling Entertainment, at the time being a subsidiary of Viacom. Viacom is the owner of

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

and

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, which made Virgin Interactive part of one of the world's largest entertainment companies. Viacom had planned to sell Spelling and buy Virgin Interactive out of Spelling before the sale. While it abandoned the Spelling sale some time ago, the collapse in the games market appears to have killed off any interest in buying Virgin. Blockbuster and Viacom invested heavily in the production of CD-based interactive multimedia—video games featuring sophisticated motion-picture video, stereo sound and computer animation. VIE's headquarters were expanded to include 17 production studios where expensive SGI "graphics supercomputers" were used to build increasingly complicated games, eventually becoming one of the five largest U.S.-based video game companies. In 1995, VIE signed a deal with

to publish its titles in Europe, supplanting

Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally founded by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes, and Jim Scoroposki from a storefront in Oyster Bay in 1987, the company built a global develop ...

as Capcom's designated European distributor. The U.S. division's American development branch had adopted the name Burst in 1995 via recommendation from Neil Young. Around the same time, the London development branch had adopted the name Crimson. VIE later published titles released by other companies, such as

Hudson Soft was a Japanese video game company known for releasing numerous titles across video game consoles, home computers, and mobile phones. Headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo, it also maintained an office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. F ...

. That year, the company expanded their distribution arm over to Spain, by forming Virgin Interactive España SA. In the same year, the company launched a budget reissue brand for their PC titles called "The White Label".

Re-independence and purchase of US operations by Electronic Arts (1998–1999)

Spelling put its ownership of Virgin up for sale as a public stock offering in 1997, stating that Virgin's financial performance had been disappointing. Since Spelling's purchase of the company, Virgin had lost $14 million in 1995 and was expected to post similar losses for 1996. In 1998, Virgin Interactive's US operations were divested to

as part of its $122.5 million (£75 million) acquisition of Westwood Studios that same year. Electronic Arts also acquired the Burst Studios development studio, which was renamed to Westwood Pacific by its new owners. The European division though was put out in a majority stake buyout backed by Mark Dyne, who became its chief executive officer in the same year. Tim Chaney, the former managing director was named president.

Purchase by Interplay and Titus (1999–2001)

On February 17, 1999, Virgin Interactive announced they had entered into a distribution agreement with

, where Interplay would distribute Virgin Interactive's titles in North America and several other territories including South America and Japan, while Virgin Interactive would exclusively distribute Interplay's titles in Europe, folding their own distribution arm in the process. To coincide with the distribution agreement, Interplay acquired a 43.9% minority stake (Initially a 49.9% stake) in the company. The deal was made as part of Interplay's attempt to gain profits, and the deal did not include publishing, which would remain as stand-alone entities. In July 1999, French publisher Titus Interactive announced plans to purchase 50.6% of Interplay's shares. Shortly after the purchase, they announced they would purchase a 50.1% majority stake in Virgin Interactive, with the publisher's shareholders and management retaining a 6% stake. The following year in May 2000, Titus acquired the shareholders' 6% stake, with Titus now holding 56.6% in Virgin while Interplay retained their 43.9% stake. Titus also announced on the same day that Virgin Interactive would now distribute its titles in Europe and replace their standalone distribution arm. The deal was made following a similar distribution agreement in North America that would allow Interplay to market Titus' titles in the territory. A week later, Virgin signed a deal with Swing! Entertainment Media AG to distribute their titles in all European territories. Virgin's presence outside Europe at this point was almost non-existent, with only a few titles such as '' Viva Soccer'' and '' Jimmy White's 2: Cueball'', which was distributed in the North American market by Bay Area Multimedia instead of Interplay. However, in 2001, the North American branch of Titus; Titus Software, announced to resurrect the Virgin Interactive brand in North America to release several of Virgin's existing European PC releases as $20 budget titles.

Acquisition by Titus, sale of Spanish operations, rebranding, and fate (2002–2006)

On 16 April 2001, Titus announced they had expanded their shares in Interplay to 72.5% and purchased their stake in Virgin Interactive, making Virgin a fully-owned subsidiary of Titus Interactive, S.A. The deal was done to simplify their publishing and distribution sides, with Virgin continuing to be Titus and Interplay's exclusive European distributor. The developer Crimson, who was the London's development branch, was renamed to Point Blank by its new owners during the development of ''Falcone: Enter the Maelstorm'', which was subsequently cancelled. On June 11, 2002, Titus announced they had accepted a management buyout of Virgin's Spanish operations; Virgin Interactive España SA, by Virgin's former CEO Tim Chaney along with former Spanish president and founder Paco Encinas. The deal was done for Titus to focus more on the UK, French and German subsidiaries. The business was renamed as Virgin Play in October, and would continue to distribute Titus and Interplay titles in Spain. On July 1, 2003, Titus announced that Virgin Interactive would be renamed Avalon Interactive, with the French, Benelux and German operations soon following afterward. In August 2004, the company launched a PC budget range titled "Just2Play" with Dutch publisher Xing Interactive for the UK and Benelux territories. The range was aimed to be similar to Avalon's White Label range, but with the addition of titles from Xing Interactive.

Closure

In January 2005, Titus Interactive filed for bankruptcy with €33 million ($43.8 million) debt. Avalon France and all of Titus' French operations were closed down immediately, while the UK branch continued to trade as Titus' non-French operations were unaffected. Avalon's UK operations were dissolved by November 2005.

Games

*'' Falcon Patrol'' (1983) *'' Falcon Patrol II'' (1984) *''Sorcery'' (1984) *'' The Biz'' (1984) *''Strangeloop'' (1985) *'' Doriath'' (1985) *'' Gates of Dawn'' (1985) *'' Hunter Patrol'' (1985) *''Now Games'' compilation series (1985–1988) *'' Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future'' (1986) *''Shogun'' (1986) *''

Action Force Action Force is a brand of European action figures released in the 1980s that was based on the ''Action Man'' toyline. It was also used to introduce ''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' toys to European markets. Several publishing companies have ...

'' (1987) *'' Action Force II'' (1988) *'' Clue: Master Detective'' (1989) *'' Double Dragon II'' (European computer versions) (1989) *'' Risk: The World Conquest Game, The Computer Edition of'' (1989) *''

Silkworm ''Bombyx mori'', commonly known as the domestic silk moth, is a moth species belonging to the family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of '' Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. Silkworms are the larvae of silk moths. The silkworm is of ...

'' (1989) *''

Golden Axe is a series of side-scrolling beat 'em up arcade video games developed by Sega. The series takes place in a medieval fantasy world where several heroes have the task of recovering the legendary Golden Axe, the mainstay element of the series. M ...

'' (European computer versions) (1990) *'' Conflict: Middle East Political Simulator'' (1990) *'' Supremacy: Your Will Be Done (Overlord)'' (1990) *'' Spot: The Video Game'' (1990) *'' Wonderland'' (1990) *'' Chuck Rock'' (1991) *'' Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'' (1991) *''

Corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

'' (1991) *'' Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker'' (1991) *'' Realms'' (1991) *''

Alien 3 ''Alien 3'' (stylized as ''ALIEN3'') is a 1992 American science fiction horror film directed by David Fincher and written by David Giler, Walter Hill, and Larry Ferguson, from a story by Vincent Ward. Starring Sigourney Weaver reprising her ...

'' (American Amiga version) (1992) *''

Prince of Persia ''Prince of Persia'' is a video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner. It is centered around a series of action-adventure games focused on various incarnations of the eponymous Prince, set in ancient and medieval Persia. The first two ga ...

'' (American NES version) (1992) *''

Dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

'' (1992) *''

Dune II ''Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty'' (titled ''Dune II: Battle for Arrakis'' in Europe and ''Dune: The Battle for Arrakis'' in North America for the Mega Drive/Genesis port, respectively) is a 1992 real-time strategy game developed by Westwoo ...

'' (1992) *'' Archer McLean's Pool'' (1992) *'' European Club Soccer'' (1992) *'' Floor 13'' (1992) *'' Global Gladiators'' (1992) *''

'' (1992) *''

M.C. Kids ''M.C. Kids'' (McDonaldland) is a 1992 platform video game developed and published by Virgin Games. It was initially released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in February 1992 in North America, and by Ocean Software in May 1993 in Europe. A ...

'' (1992) *'' Monopoly Deluxe'' (1992) *'' Jeep Jamboree: Off Road Adventure'' (1992) *''

Cannon Fodder Cannon fodder is an informal, derogatory term for combatants who are regarded or treated by government or military command as expendable in the face of enemy fire. The term is generally used in situations where combatants are forced to fight agains ...

'' (1993) *'' Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck'' (1993) *''Superman: The Man of Steel'' (Europe only) (1993) *'' Dino Dini's Goal'' (1993) *'' Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story'' (1993) *'' Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos'' (1993) *'' Reach for the Skies'' (1993) *''

The 7th Guest ''The 7th Guest'' is an interactive movie puzzle adventure game, produced by Trilobyte and originally released by Virgin Interactive Entertainment in April 1993. It is one of the first computer video games to initially be released only on CD-R ...

'' (1993) *''

Cool Spot ''Cool Spot'' is a 1993 platform game developed by Virgin Games for the Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Master System, Game Gear, Game Boy, Amiga, and MS-DOS. The title character is Spot, a mascot for the soft drink br ...

'' (1993) *'' Chi Chi's Pro Challenge Golf'' (1993) *'' Super Slam Dunk'' (1993) *'' Super Caesars Palace'' (1993) *'' Super Slap Shot'' (1993) *'' Disney's Aladdin'' (1993) *''

RoboCop Versus The Terminator ''RoboCop Versus The Terminator'' is a run and gun game released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Master System, and Game Gear in 1993, with later ports to the Sega Genesis and Game Boy in 1994. It is based on the 1992 four-issue ...

'' (1993/1994) *''

'' (Sega CD version) (1993) *'' Cannon Fodder 2'' (1994) *'' Doom II: Hell on Earth'' (European PC version only) (1994) *''

'' (Europe only) (1994) *'' Jammit'' (America only) (1994) *'' Super Dany'' (Europe only) (1994) *'' Super Bomberman 2'' (Europe only) (1994) *''

Beneath a Steel Sky ''Beneath a Steel Sky'' is a 1994 point-and-click adventure game developed by British developer Revolution Software and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for MS-DOS and Amiga home computers. It was made available as freewareand wit ...

'' (1994) *'' Walt Disney's The Jungle Book'' (1994) *'' Dynamaite: The Las Vegas'' (1994) *''

'' (1994) *'' Demolition Man'' (1994) *''Battle Jockey'' (1994) *'' The 11th Hour'' (1995) *'' Creature Shock'' (1995) *'' Earthworm Jim 2'' (Europe only) (1995) *'' Super Bomberman 3'' (Europe only) (1995) *'' Spot Goes To Hollywood'' (American Mega Drive/Genesis version published by

) (1995) *'' Cyberia 2: Resurrection'' (1995) *'' The Daedalus Encounter'' (1995) *'' F1 Challenge'' (1995) *'' Flight Unlimited'' (1995) *'' Hyper 3-D Pinball'' (1995) *'' SuperKarts'' (1995) *'' Zone Raiders'' (1995) *'' Sensible Golf'' (1995) *'' Lost Eden'' (1995) *'' Kyle Petty's No Fear Racing'' (1995) *''

Command & Conquer ''Command & Conquer'' (''C&C'') is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game franchise created and originally developed by Westwood Studios and currently owned by Electronic Arts. The first game was one of the earliest of the RTS genre, itself ba ...

'' (1995) *'' Gurume Sentai Barayarō'' (1995) *'' World Masters Golf'' (1995) *'' Rendering Ranger: R2'' (1995) *'' Agile Warrior F-111X'' (1995) *''Lone Soldier'' (Japan only) (1996) *'' The Mask'' (Japan only) (1996) *''

'' (Europe and PC versions only) (1996) *'' Ghen War'' (Europe/Japan) (1996) *'' NHL Powerplay '96'' (1996) *'' Street Fighter Alpha 2'' (Europe only) (1996) *'' Time Commando'' (Japan only) (1996) *'' Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars'' (1996) *'' Command & Conquer: Red Alert'' (1996) *'' Disney's Pinocchio'' (1996) *'' Queensrÿche's Promised Land'' (1996) *'' Toonstruck'' (1996) *'' Slamscape'' (Europe only) (1996) *'' Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo'' (PS1 and Saturn versions, Europe only) (1996) *'' Golden Nugget'' (1997) *'' Grand Slam'' (1997) *'' Subspace'' (1997) *'' Agent Armstrong'' (1997) *'' Black Dawn'' (1997) *'' Blam! Machinehead'' (Japan only) (1997) *'' CrimeWave'' (Japan only) (1997) *'' Marvel Super Heroes'' (Europe only) (1997) *'' NanoTek Warrior'' (1997) *'' Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny'' (1997) *'' Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror'' (1997) *''

Mega Man X3 ''Mega Man X3'' (stylized as ''MEGA MAN X³''), known as in Japan, is a 1995 action game, action-platformer, platform game released by Capcom for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The game was originally released in Japan on Decem ...

'' (PS1 and Saturn versions, Europe only) (1997) *'' NHL Powerplay '98'' (1997) *'' Sabre Ace: Conflict Over Korea'' (1997) *'' Ignition'' (1997) * '' Viva Football'' (titled as ''Viva Soccer'' in North America) (1998) *'' Bloody Roar: Hyper Beast Duel'' (Europe only) (1998) *'' Bomberman GB'' (Europe only) (1998) *'' Magic & Mayhem'' (Europe only) (1998) *'' Pocket Fighter'' (European PS1 version) (1998) *'' R-Types'' (Europe only) (1998) *'' Rival Schools: United by Fate'' (Europe only) (1998) *''

Resident Evil 2 ''Resident Evil 2'' is a 1998 survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation. The player controls rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy and college student Claire Redfield, who must escape Raccoon ...

'' (Europe only) (1998) *'' Street Fighter Collection 2'' (European publishing rights only) (1999) *'' Bloody Roar 2'' (European publishing rights only) (1999) *''

Bomberman is a video game Media franchise, franchise created by Shinichi Nakamoto and Shigeki Fujiwara, originally developed by Hudson Soft and currently owned by Konami. The Bomberman (1983 video game), original game, also known as ''Bakudan Otoko'' (� ...

'' (European publishing rights only) (1999) *'' Bomberman Quest'' (European publishing rights only) (1999) *'' Capcom Generations'' (Europe only) (1999) *'' Kagero: Deception II'' (European publishing rights only) (1999) *'' Dino Crisis'' (European publishing rights only) (1999) *'' Holy Magic Century'' (European publishing rights only) (1999) *''

Street Fighter EX2 Plus is a 2D head-to-head fighting game with 3D graphics co-produced by Capcom and Arika and originally released in 1998 as a coin-operated arcade game for the Sony ZN-2 hardware. It is the sequel to the original ''Street Fighter EX'', and the sec ...

'' (European publishing rights only) (1999) *'' Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter'' (European publishing rights only) (1999) *'' Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams'' (European publishing rights only) (1999) *'' Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Tech Romancer'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Operation WinBack'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Bomberman Fantasy Race'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Street Fighter III: Double Impact'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *''

Street Fighter Alpha 3 ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', released as in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 1998 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcades. It is the third and final installment in the '' Street Fighter Alpha'' sub-series, which ...

'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Dino Crisis 2'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Gunlok'' (Europe only) (2000) *'' Super Runabout: The Golden State'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Strider 2'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Giga Wing'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Capcom vs. SNK'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Resident Evil 3: Nemesis'' (European Dreamcast version only) (2000) *'' Trick'N Snowboarder'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Jimmy White's 2: Cueball'' (Distributed in North America by BAM! Entertainment) (2000) *'' Pocket Racing'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Mr. Driller'' (Dreamcast and GBC versions, Europe only) (2000) *''

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly manga magazine ''Ultra Jum ...

'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Evolva'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *'' Project Justice'' (European publishing rights only) (2000) *''Heist'' (titled as ''Raub'' in Germany) (2001) *'' Gunbird 2'' (European publishing rights only) (2001) *'' European Super League'' (Europe Only) (2001) *'' 3D Pocket Pool'' (Europe Only) (2001) *'' Project Justice: Rival Schools 2'' (European publishing rights only) (2001) *'' Bloody Roar III'' (European publishing rights only) (2001) *'' Original War'' (2001) *'' Screamer 4x4'' (2001) *'' Codename: Outbreak'' (2001) *''

Lotus Challenge ''Lotus Challenge'' is a racing game developed by Kuju Entertainment and published in 2001 for PlayStation 2 by Virgin Interactive. Versions followed for Windows, GameCube, and Xbox from different publishers. Gameplay ''Lotus Extreme Challenge' ...

'' (European PS2 version) (2001) *'' Magic & Mayhem: The Art of Magic'' (European publishing rights only) (2001) *''

Jimmy White's Cueball World ''Jimmy White's Cueball World'' is a Sports game, sports Simulation game, simulation video game published by Virgin Interactive as the sequel to ''Jimmy White's 2: Cueball'', itself a sequel to ''Jimmy White's 'Whirlwind' Snooker''. The Game deve ...

'' (Europe exclusive game) (2001) *'' Resident Evil: Gaiden'' (European publishing rights only) (2001) *'' Nightstone'' (2001) *''

Guilty Gear X subtitled ''By Your Side'' in Japan, is a fighting game developed by Arc System Works and published by Sammy Studios. The second installment of the ''Guilty Gear'' series, ''Guilty Gear X'' was developed over a period of about two years after ...

'' (European publishing rights only) (2002)

European distributed titles

This category includes titles that were distributed by Virgin Interactive in European territories.

Notes

References

External links

Official website (archived through 2003)

Avalon Interactive Portal
(offline)
Virgin Interactive
profile on

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

{{Virgin Group Companies based in Orange County, California Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Golden Joystick Award winners I Video game companies established in 1983 Video game companies disestablished in 2005