Humongous Entertainment

Humongous, Inc. (formerly Humongous Entertainment, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Bothell, Washington. Founded in 1992, the company developed multiple edutainment franchises, most prominently '' Putt-Putt'', '' Freddi Fish'', '' Pajama Sam'', ''Spy Fox'', and '' Backyard Sports'', which, combined, sold over 15 million copies and earned more than 400 awards of excellence.

Humongous Entertainment was acquired by GT Interactive (later renamed Infogrames, Inc., then Atari, Inc.) in July 1996. By October 2000, sales of Humongous games had surpassed 16 million copies. GT, which had by that point became Atari, Inc. sold the Humongous business to its parent company, Infogrames (later renamed Atari SA), in August 2005 and reduced the company solely as a management firm for their assets until its bankruptcy in 2013, in which the assets were sold to Tommo, who re-released some of its games on digital distribution channels using the Humongous name.

History

Formation (1992–1996)

Humongous Entertainment was formed by Shelley Day and Ron Gilbert in March 1992, then based in Woodinville, Washington. The name Humongous Entertainment was suggested by Gilbert's ex-LucasArts colleague, Tim Schafer. It became known for creating four point-and-click adventure game series intended for young children, branded collectively as "Junior Adventures", with the four series being the '' Putt-Putt'', the '' Freddi Fish'', the '' Pajama Sam'' and the ''Spy Fox'' series. Characters from one series do not cross over with ones in another (with the exception of ''Putt-Putt and Fatty Bear's Activity Pack'') and instead appear as cameos or Easter eggs in any of the three other series. All of Humongous's games until 2003 were built on the SCUMM game engine, which Gilbert had developed for LucasArts years prior; following his departure from the company, LucasArts agreed to grant Humongous a license to use SCUMM for its games, on the condition that Gilbert continue to develop updates to the engine for both companies' use. By 1995, the company had become the third largest children's educational-software company.

In 1995, Gilbert and Day established a company division, Cavedog Entertainment, in Seattle, set to develop games of alternative genres, and released '' Total Annihilation'', a real-time strategy (RTS) game, in 1997. This was followed by two expansion packs in 1998, as well as a variation called '' Total Annihilation: Kingdoms'' plus an expansion pack in 1999.

Acquisitions, decline, dissolution (1996–2006)

In July 1996, Humongous Entertainment was purchased by GT Interactive for . In November 1997, Humongous Entertainment signed a five-year worldwide deal with Nickelodeon to develop games based on the Nick Jr. series, ''Blue's Clues'', making it the first and only time that Humongous has developed games based on a licensed character as opposed to its original characters. The same year, Humongous released their first '' Backyard Sports'' title, '' Backyard Baseball''. ''Backyard Sports'' would go on to become the company's longest-running series. In November 1999, GT Interactive was acquired by Infogrames and renamed to Infogrames, Inc. In 2000, Humongous Entertainment released a ''One-Stop Fun Shop'' activity center game for each Junior Adventure series, with the exception of ''Spy Fox''. The co-founders tried to buy Humongous Entertainment back from Infogrames, Inc., using external funding, but the day of the planned purchase was the day of the dot-com collapse, wherefore the funding was pulled. The founders soon left Humongous, alongside many other key employees, and formed a new studio, Hulabee Entertainment, in 2001. In June 2001, Infogrames, Inc. laid off 82 personnel, over 40% of staff from Humongous Entertainment. In May 2003, after Infogrames, Inc. purchased Hasbro Interactive, which owned the rights to the Atari brand, the company was renamed Atari, Inc.

Humongous, Inc. (2005-2013)

In Atari, Inc.'s fourth quarter results in June 2005, the company announced that they would divest and dispose of various "non-core" assets that they no longer saw as part of their upcoming strategic visions or creative directions, with Humongous Entertainment being the only named division to fulfill this purpose. Shortly afterward, Atari laid off much of the development portion of the company and renamed them from Humongous Entertainment, Inc. to solely Humongous, Inc. around the same time. During this time, Atari, Inc. was in the midst of heavy financial struggles and was cutting costs as much as they could.

On August 22, 2005, Atari, Inc. announced that it would transfer Humongous, Inc. over to its majority parent, Infogrames Entertainment SA, for shares worth . The deal would include all licensing rights, trademarks, intellectual property, and existing inventory. The deal would also allow for Atari, Inc. to use a fifth of the payment as a down payment, alongside continuing to exclusively distribute Humongous titles in North America and Mexico up until March 31, 2006. In October 2005, Infogrames announced they would relaunch the Humongous brand, and hired Alyssa Padia and Lauren Schechtman as the new CEOs. Infogrames stated that Humongous would focus mainly on new entries in the ''Backyard Sports'' franchise and will follow up with a business strategy to relaunch the ''Junior Adventure'' series. In March 2006, Atari, Inc.'s distribution deal with Humongous, Inc. was extended another year through to March 2007.

Following the expiration of the Atari deal aside from ''Backyard Sports'', Humongous began to publish games on their own and in October 2007, they had signed a retail exclusivity deal with Target to release remastered versions of select Junior Adventure titles. In March 2008, Interactive Game Group LLC (I2G) and Humongous, Inc. signed a North American publishing deal with Majesco Entertainment to allow the latter to publish a selection of Junior Adventure titles for the Wii. These titles were the first installments of each title in the series, except ''Putt-Putt''. Atari Europe would handle publication and distribution in European territories. The ports were developed by Mistic Software, but their availability was greatly limited by a legal conflict concerning their development. In November of the same year, Humongous and Atari released the Nintendo DS game ''Freddi Fish: ABC Under The Sea'' in European territories.

In April 2008, Infogrames announced that they would purchase out the remaining shares of Atari, Inc. that they didn't own previously and would merge with them.Infogrames Entertainment S.A. and Atari, Inc. Announce Agreement to Merge: Financial News
Yahoo! Finance Following this merger, Infogrames Entertainment's company name was changed to Atari SA, who would go on to publish numerous more ''Backyard Sports'' titles. Beginning in November 2011, in collaboration with Nimbus Games, Atari began releasing Android and iOS ports of several Humongous Entertainment ''Junior Adventure'' titles. These releases continued into 2012.

Purchase of assets by Tommo (2013-present)

In January 2013, following continued financial struggles from their parent company Atari SA, Humongous, Inc., and the rest of Atari's US operations all filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in an attempt to secure independence from its profit-losing parent. During Atari's bankruptcy sale on July 19, Humongous' assets were separated as they all went to different owners. '' Backyard Sports'' was sold to private equity firm The Evergreen Group, while '' Moonbase Commander'' went to Rebellion Developments. The Humongous brand and assets concerning the ''Junior Adventure'' and ''Junior Arcade'' series were sold to Tommo alongside a selection of other Atari-owned properties.

At the start of 2014, Tommo officially relaunched the Humongous Entertainment brand by re-releasing the original ''Junior Adventure'' and ''Junior Arcade'' titles for Windows and Mac; ports for most of these titles were also released for mobile devices.

Beginning in 2022, Tommo and Hong Kong-based business Billionsoft began releasing ports of ''Junior Adventure'' titles for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 consoles. A digital compilation of the first six releases, titled ''Humongous Classic Collection'' was released in December 2022 for both systems, while a Nintendo Switch exclusive physical compilation was released in 2023. In May 2024, a digital compilation of all five of the ''Freddi Fish Junior Adventure'' games titled ''Freddi Fish Collection'' was released.

Games developed

''Putt-Putt''

* '' Putt-Putt Joins the Parade'' (1992)
* '' Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon'' (1993)
* ''Putt-Putt's Fun Pack'' (1993)
* ''Putt-Putt and Fatty Bear's Activity Pack'' (1994)
* '' Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo'' (1995)
* '' Putt-Putt and Pep's Balloon-o-Rama'' (1996)
* ''Putt-Putt and Pep's Dog on a Stick'' (1996)
* '' Putt-Putt Travels Through Time'' (1997)
* '' Putt-Putt Enters the Race'' (1999)
* ''Putt-Putt's One-Stop Fun Shop'' (2000)
* '' Putt-Putt Joins the Circus'' (2000)
* ''Putt-Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise'' (2003)

''Freddi Fish''

* '' Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds'' (1994)
* '' Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse'' (1996)
* ''Freddi Fish and Luther's Maze Madness'' (1997)
* ''Freddi Fish and Luther's Water Worries'' (1997)
* '' Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell'' (1998)
* '' Freddi Fish 4: The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch'' (1999)
* ''Freddi Fish's One-Stop Fun Shop'' (2000)
* '' Freddi Fish 5: The Case of the Creature of Coral Cove'' (2001)

''Pajama Sam''

* '' Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside'' (1996)
* ''Pajama Sam's Sock Works'' (1997)
* '' Pajama Sam 2: Thunder and Lightning Aren't so Frightening'' (1998)
* ''Pajama Sam's Lost & Found'' (1998)
* '' Pajama Sam 3: You Are What You Eat from Your Head to Your Feet'' (2000)
* ''Pajama Sam's One-Stop Fun Shop'' (2000)
* ''Pajama Sam: Games to Play On Any Day'' (2001)
* '' Pajama Sam: Life Is Rough When You Lose Your Stuff!'' (2003)

''Spy Fox''

* '' Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal"'' (1997)
* ''Spy Fox in "Cheese Chase"'' (1998)
* '' Spy Fox 2: "Some Assembly Required"'' (1999)
* ''Spy Fox in "Hold the Mustard"'' (1999)
* '' Spy Fox 3: "Operation Ozone"'' (2001)

''Fatty Bear''

* '' Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise'' (1993)
* ''Fatty Bear's Fun Pack'' (1993)
* ''Putt-Putt and Fatty Bear's Activity Pack'' (1994)

''Blue's Clues''

* '' Blue's Birthday Adventure'' (1998)
* '' Blue's ABC Time Activities'' (1998)
* '' Blue's 123 Time Activities'' (1999)
* '' Blue's Treasure Hunt'' (1999)
* '' Blue's Reading Time Activities'' (2000)
* '' Blue's Clues: Blue's Art Time Activities'' (2000)

''Big Thinkers''

* ''Big Thinkers Kindergarten'' (1997)
* ''Big Thinkers 1st Grade'' (1997)

''Junior Field Trips''

* ''Let's Explore the Farm'' (1994)
* ''Let's Explore the Airport'' (1995)
* ''Let's Explore the Jungle'' (1995)

''Backyard Sports''

* '' Backyard Baseball'' (1997)
* '' Backyard Soccer'' (1998)
* '' Backyard Football'' (1999)
* '' Backyard Basketball'' (2001)
* '' Backyard Hockey'' (2002)
* ''Backyard Skateboarding'' (2004)

Other

* '' MoonBase Commander'' (2002)

References

External links

*

{{Humongous

Humongous Entertainment games
Companies based in Bothell, Washington
Defunct video game companies of the United States
Educational software companies
Video game companies based in Washington (state)
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013
Video game companies disestablished in 2013
Video game companies established in 1992
Video game development companies