Nicolas Gaume
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Nicolas Gaume (born 7 February 1971) is a
French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...
entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...
. He is best known for leading various companies in the video game industry and founding
Kalisto Entertainment Kalisto Entertainment was a French video game development company founded by Nicolas Gaume at age 19. They are mostly known for developing '' Fury of the Furries'' and the '' Nightmare Creatures'' series. The company began as Atreid Concept in ...
, where he was the head of the company between 1990 and 2002. Gaume is the son of one of the hoteliers of
Arcachon Arcachon (; ) is a commune in the southwestern French department of Gironde. It is a popular seaside resort on the Atlantic coast southwest of Bordeaux, in the Landes forest. It has a sandy beach and a mild climate said to be favourable for p ...
, and is the great-grandson of Louis Gaume, a real estate developer known for developing the
Pyla Pyla ( (); ) is a village in Larnaca District, Cyprus. It is one of only four villages located within the United Nations Buffer Zone, the other three being Athienou, Troulloi and Deneia. Pyla is located in the eastern part of the island, adjac ...
in 1920.


Atreid Concept

In 1990, after dropping out of business school, Gaume and his friends founded his video game company, Atreid Concept, in
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
. Atreid Concept was supported by Apple, whose CEO John Sculley was a former executive of the French Apple firm. Atreid Concept released a series of games for
Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...
including '' S.C.O.U.T.'' and '' Fury of the Furries'' under the brand name Kalisto. The company also released titles for video game consoles, rebranding ''Fury of the Furries'' to '' Pac-In-Time'' under license from
Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...
and utilizing their ''
Pac-Man ''Pac-Man,'' originally called in Japan, is a 1980 maze video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. The pla ...
'' intellectual property. This granted Nicolas his first commercial success, after more than 500,000 copies of the game were sold worldwide.


Mindscape Bordeaux

Faced with technological change—such the replacement of floppy disks by
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 ...
—and other financial restraints, Gaume sold Atreid Concept to a British group called Pearson, who had just purchased the multimedia publishing group Mindscape. Atreid Concept was renamed Mindscape Bordeaux. Under this new name, Gaume and his team developed the first game for
Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged ...
, a race car game, titled Al Unser Jr. Arcade Racing. They also attempted to expand the videogame into a book and a role-play game.


Kalisto Entertainment

In 1996, Gaume purchased the multimedia rights of Pearson, a British group, to found the company
Kalisto Entertainment Kalisto Entertainment was a French video game development company founded by Nicolas Gaume at age 19. They are mostly known for developing '' Fury of the Furries'' and the '' Nightmare Creatures'' series. The company began as Atreid Concept in ...
. Under Gaume's leadership, Kalisto developed video game titles, such as ''
Dark Earth In geology and archaeology, dark earth is a substratum, up to thick, that indicates settlement over long periods of time. The material is high in organic matter, including charcoal, which gives it its characteristic dark colour; it may also con ...
'' and '' Nightmare Creatures''. ''Nightmare Creatures'' was picked up by
Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide. In 1999, thanks to multiple pre-production contracts signed, the company went public on the Stock Exchange in order to raise funds for new projects. Kalisto Entertainment also developed products for the online market, as well as developing services for phone network operators. At this time, Kalisto developed ‘’
The Fifth Element ''The Fifth Element'' () is a 1997 English-language French science-fiction action film conceived and directed by Luc Besson, and co-written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It stars Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, an ...
’’, based on Luc Besson's movie. The game was edited by
Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...
, and sold more than 750,000 copies worldwide. In the wake of his enormous success of 1999, and after announcing sales of 140 million Euros, Gaume was invited to accompany
Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, ; ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Pari ...
, President of the French Republic, on an official trip. Many celebrities were elected to the board of directors of
Kalisto Entertainment Kalisto Entertainment was a French video game development company founded by Nicolas Gaume at age 19. They are mostly known for developing '' Fury of the Furries'' and the '' Nightmare Creatures'' series. The company began as Atreid Concept in ...
, such as
Franck Riboud Franck Riboud (born 7 November 1955) is a French businessman. He served as the chairman of Danone. Biography Franck Riboud was born on 7 November 1955 in Lyon. He is the son of Antoine Riboud, the previous CEO, who transformed the former Europe ...
, CEO of the group
Danone Danone S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in 1919 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris, where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock mark ...
, and Emmanuel Chain, the ex-journalist oh the TV channel M6.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn (; born 25 April 1949), also known as DSK, is a French economist and politician who served as the tenth managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and was a member of the French Socialist P ...
, Minister of Economy, Finances and Industry, nominated him for the Economical and Social Committee. In addition, First Minister
Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and th ...
named him an Advisor of French Foreign Trade. In the beginning of 2000, during the waning days of the internet bubble, Kalisto Entertainment found itself in a dire financial situation. In 2002, after failing to gather more funding from Hedge Fund Global Emerging Markets, Kalisto Entertainment found itself in compulsory liquidation, and was forced out of the Market on 19 August 2002. As a result of the exceptional losses, regulation authorities accused the managers of grossly misinforming their stockholders. In January 2003, 270 minority stockholders decided to sue Kalisto Entertainment in order to obtain retributory damages, and the managers of Kalisto Entertainment were discharged. In addition, a civil procedure has also ensued against the Crédit Lyonnais bank. In the end, a decision was made by the Second Civil Chamber of the Appellate Court of Bordeaux on October 20, 2009, which permanently assessed the reasons of the losses of Kalisto Entertainment, and acquitted its managers of fault for the company's losses.


Responsibilities in the world of gaming

Gaume briefly led
Ubisoft Paris Ubisoft is a French video game publisher headquartered in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, Montreuil, founded in March 1986 by the Guillemot brothers. Since its establishment, Ubisoft has become one of the largest video game publishers, and it has ...
in 2003, and from 2002 to 2005 he worked as an advisor for the British publisher
Codemasters The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer and former publisher based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts and managed under the EA Sports ...
, while continuing to work for
Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...
. From 2005 to 2007, Nicolas was vice president of the mobile games branch of ''
Lagardère Active Lagardère may refer to: Companies * Lagardère Group, a French media group ** Lagardère Live Entertainment, an entertainment agency subsidiary ** Lagardère News, the media activities arm ** Lagardère Publishing, the book publishing arm People ...
''.


Mimesis Republic

In 2007, Gaume, along with Sebastian Lombardo, co-founded the company Mimesis Republic. The main focus of their new company was to develop multi-player games. Mimesis Republic's first original project, named ''Black Mamba'', was the basis of an ambitious virtual world called Mamba Nation, whose development began in 2008. In July 2010, Mimesis Republic raised $7 million from various investors, including prestigious business executives such as Marc Simoncini, CEO and founder of the dating site
Meetic Meetic is a French online dating service founded in November 2001. It is recognized for its intuitive interface and matching algorithms that suggest potential partners to users based on profile attributes. Meetic became a part of the Match Gro ...
, and Jean-Emile Rosenblum, founder and director of Pixmania and Francois Pinault, through his holding company Artemis SA. The social game ''Mamba Nation'', published by Mimesis Republic in early 2012, attracted over 400,000 users between the ages of 13 and 25 in France alone. Free accessibility via Facebook enables Mamba Nation users to create, develop, personalize and share avatars that they control, within the universe in which the game takes place. A chat function allows users talk to each other while they play. The game features a 3D interface and video, through partnership with
Dailymotion Dailymotion is a French online video platform, online video sharing platform owned by Canal+ S.A., Canal+. Prior to 2024, the company was owned by Vivendi. North American launch partners included Vice Media, Bloomberg L.P., Bloomberg, and Hears ...
. After the release of ''Mamba Nation'', Mimesis Republic faded out of the public eye. Gaume had since transitioned to businesses in the space industry, founding Space Cargo Unlimited in 2014 and working with
Jason Andrews Jason Andrews is an American space and technology entrepreneur. He co-founded with his wife Marian Joh, Andrews Space in 1999, founded Spaceflight Inc. in 2010, BlackSky Global LLC in 2013, and integrated all three entities together in 2015 unde ...
to found Orbite in 2019.


Books

In 1994, Gaume founded NGM Productions, under which he managed the publication of various children's books in China. NGM edited the series of Père Castor (Flammarion) as well as Incollables (Play Bac) from 1994 until 1999. In 1995 he also participated in the creation of one of the first French web agencies, Wcube, and in 2000, he participated in the company promotion and marketing of wine on the Internet, for the site winealley.com.Nicolas Gaume - Profil
sur
Viadeo Viadeo is a Web 2.0 professional social network whose members include business owners, entrepreneurs and managers. Viadeo was often compared to LinkedIn, offering free access but not being able to compete with the larger corporation. As of 2014 ...
.


Works

*


References


External links


Official website of Mimesis Republic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaume, Nicolas 1971 births Businesspeople in software 21st-century French businesspeople French video game designers Living people People from Bagnères-de-Bigorre American aerospace businesspeople