Mirrorsoft was a British

video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ...

founded by Jim Mackonochie as a division of

Mirror Group Newspapers Reach plc (known as Trinity Mirror between 1999 and 2018) is a British newspaper, magazine and digital publisher. It is one of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, publishing 240 regional papers in addition to the national ''Daily Mirror'', ''Su ...

. The company was active between 1983 and 1991, and shut down completely in early 1992.

History

In the early 1980s, Jim Mackonochie worked as development manager for British communications company

. On a trip to the U.S., Mackonochie got a hold of a

Commodore PET The Commodore PET is a line of personal computers produced starting in 1977 by Commodore International. A single all-in-one case combines a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, Commodore BASIC in read-only memory, keyboard, monochrome monitor ...

personal computer, alongside a copy of

VisiCalc VisiCalc ("visible calculator") is the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers, originally released for the Apple II by VisiCorp on October 17, 1979. It is considered the killer application for the Apple II, turning the microco ...

, a

spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in c ...

application for the system. This combination led him to believe that Mirror, as a communications company, should be working more closely with computer software, wherefore he approached Mirror's

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

in 1983, suggesting that they launch a software label under Mirror Group's name, and thereby diversifying the group's non-newspaper operations, which already included Mirror Boats and Mirror Books. The division, named Mirrorsoft, was officially launched in late 1983, and Mackonochie was allowed to task several of his staff from his department at Mirror Group to aid him with establishing the division. In July 1984, Mirror Group was acquired by

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician and fraudster. After escaping the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, ...

-owned Maxwell Communications. Initially, Mirrorsoft was unaffected by the ownership change, until Mackonochie received a call from Maxwell's son, Kevin, on

Boxing Day Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...

1984, in which he was told that he would be permanently moved from development manager of Mirror Group to full-time

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Mirrorsoft. In 1986, Mirrorsoft released a

desktop publishing Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using dedicated software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online co ...

program, Fleet Street Publisher, for

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

. On 5 November 1991, Robert Maxwell died after having previously disappeared from his yacht. Unaware of his fate, Mirrorsoft continued operations as usual, including the publishing of '' First Samurai'', '' Mega-Lo-Mania'' and '' Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: The Coin-Op'' through Image Works and good projections for Christmas sales, but subsequent to Maxwell's death, Maxwell Communications declared bankruptcy in 1992.

Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen LLP was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corpo ...

was appointed

administrator Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...

for Maxwell's companies, including Mirrorsoft, near the end of November. With the arrival of the administrators, they took over all day-to-day operations at the company, and shut down all Mirrorsoft sales, the division's only source of revenue. Several visits from potential buyers, including Infogrames and

MicroProse MicroProse is an American video game publisher and video game developer, developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, including starting the ''Civilization (series), Civilizat ...

, were arranged hastily, and a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

was considered, but the easiest option was found to be closing the company down and selling off its assets. The majority of Mirrorsoft's staff was laid off on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

1991, with a remaining few being kept for further 1–2 months to help with winding down the company. Several business assets were subsequently sold to

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 ...

. After the decline of Acclaim in 2004, Throwback Entertainment purchased some of Acclaim's catalogue, and in 2020, Throwback Entertainment relaunched Mirrorsoft as MIRROR Soft, releasing back catalogue titles.

List of games

* ''First Steps with the Mr. Men'', 1983 * ''Caesar the Cat'', 1983 * ''Quick Thinking'', 1983 * ''

Mastermind Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to: Fictional characters * Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters: ** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of the ...

'', 1984 * '' Mastermind Quizmaster'', 1984 * ''The Joffe Plan'', 1984 * ''Know Your Own Personality'', 1984 * ''Know Your Own Psi-Q'', 1984 * ''Star Seeker'', 1984 * ''Word Games with the Mr. Men'', 1984 * ''Here and There with the Mr. Men'', 1985 * ''Caesar's Travels'', 1985 * ''737 Flight Simulator'', 1985 * '' Ashkeron!, 1985 * '' Boulder Dash'', 1985 (UK distribution, Atari 8-Bit and Amstrad CPC versions) * '' Dynamite Dan'', 1985 * ''Mr. Men Magic Storymaker'', 1985 * ''The Invisible Mr. Men'', 1985 * '' Spitfire 40'', 1985 * '' Dynamite Dan II'', 1986 * '' Sai Combat'', 1986 * ''

Biggles James Charles Bigglesworth, nicknamed "Biggles", is a fictional pilot and adventurer, the Title role#Title character, title character and Protagonist, hero of the ''Biggles'' series of adventure books, written for young readers by W. E. Johns ...

'', 1986 *''Zythum'', 1986 * '' Bismarck'', 1987 * ''

Pegasus Bridge Pegasus Bridge, originally called the Bénouville Bridge after the neighbouring village, is a road crossing over the Caen Canal, between Caen and Ouistreham in Normandy. The original bridge, built in 1934, is now a war memorial and is the c ...

'', 1987 * '' Sorcerer Lord'', 1987 * ''

Tobruk Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclop� ...

'', 1987 * '' Zig Zag'', 1987 * '' Legend of the Sword'', 1988 * '' Intrigue!'', 1988 * ''

Tetris ''Tetris'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. In ''Tetris'', falling tetromino shapes must be neatly sorted into a pile; once a horizontal line of the game board is filled in, it disa ...

'', 1988 * '' Firezone'', 1988 * '' Austerlitz'', 1989 * '' Conflict: Europe'', 1989 * ''

Falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...

'', 1989 * ''Final Frontier'', 1989 * '' Waterloo'', 1989 * '' Battle Master'', 1990 * '' Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe'', 1990 * '' The Final Battle'', 1990 * '' Champion of the Raj'', 1991 * '' J. R. R. Tolkien's Riders of Rohan'', 1991

References

{{Authority control Reach plc Defunct companies of the United Kingdom Golden Joystick Award winners Video game companies disestablished in 1991 Video game companies established in 1983 Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom

History

List of games

See also

References