Tiger Telematics, or Tiger, was a Swedish
electronics
The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
, best known for the failed
Gizmondo
The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console developed by Tiger Telematics. It was released in the UK, Sweden and the U.S. starting in March 2005. Its first-party games were developed in studios in Helsingborg, Sweden, and Manchester, England. Giz ...
handheld
game console
A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to a t ...
.
History
In 2000,
Carl Freer
Carl Johan Freer (born 9 May 1970) is a Swedish businessman and technology entrepreneur primarily known for founding the American company Tiger Telematics, which created the handheld game console Gizmondo. Freer is also the founder of Singapore ...
formed Eagle Eye Scandinavian, a small electronics distribution business in Sweden. In 2002 the company merged with Floor Décor, a carpet retailer based in
Jacksonville,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. Once that was completed, Floor Décor's Michael Carrender became the company's chief financial officer.
The merged company soon renamed itself Tiger Telematics Inc. with a new ticker symbol "TIGR". It made an attempt to take on Sony and Nintendo in the UK gaming market and relocated at an office near
Farnborough Airfield.
Stefan Eriksson
Bo Stefan M. Eriksson (born December 14, 1961) is a Swedish video game developer and criminal from Uppsala involved in the British gaming company Gizmondo with his business partner Carl Freer, until it became insolvent in 2005. In February 2006, ...
, whom Freer had met during a previous business visit, was brought into the company with Peter Uf and Johan Enander.
Gizmondo launch
The
Gizmondo
The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console developed by Tiger Telematics. It was released in the UK, Sweden and the U.S. starting in March 2005. Its first-party games were developed in studios in Helsingborg, Sweden, and Manchester, England. Giz ...
device made its debut as a concept product at the German
CeBIT
CeBIT was the largest and most internationally representative computer expo. The trade fair was held each year on the Hanover fairground, the world's largest fairground, in Hanover, Germany. In its day, it was considered a barometer of cur ...
show in March 2004, when its European subsidiary was then known as Gametrac Europe before renaming itself as Gizmondo Europe.
The company became known for its extravagant spending, despite not yet making a profit, let alone getting the Gizmondo off the ground. It counts amongst its exploits buying out model agency ISIS, and leasing a shop on
Regent Street
Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
as its flagship showroom at a cost of £175,000 per annum. Despite the losses, Tiger Telematics gained continuing funding, including $73.1 million worth of investment capital during 2005, and it issued some 24.7 million shares which brought in over $200 million.
The showroom also ran a launch party at the Park Lane Hotel and its own store, sparing no expense. The party was hosted by
Dannii Minogue
Danielle Jane Minogue () is an Australian singer, television personality, and actress. She initially gained recognition for her appearances on the television show ''Young Talent Time'' (1982–1988) and for her role as Emma Jackson on th ...
and
Tom Green, with performances by
Sting
Sting may refer to:
* Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger
* Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself
Fictional characters and entities
* Sting (Middle-eart ...
,
Pharrell,
Busta Rhymes
Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...
and
Jamiroquai. Sting was rumored to be paid £750,000 for the performance. In an attempt to promote the product, Eriksson competed at the
24 hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
in the Gizmondo-sponsored
Ferrari 360 Modena GTC
The Ferrari 360 (Type F131) is a two-seater, mid-engine, rear wheel drive sports car manufactured by Italian automotive manufacturer Ferrari from 1999 until 2005. It succeeded the Ferrari F355 and was replaced by the Ferrari F430 in 2004.
Deve ...
in 2005, but retired in the morning with mechanical troubles.
In August 2004, the company announced it was buying Swedish games developer Indie Studios, which had already agreed to create two titles for the handheld.
Organised crime links
In October 2005, shortly after Gizmondo was released in America, a Swedish yellow-page paper printed a story linking Stefan Eriksson and two other Swedish Gizmondo Europe executives to the Swedish crime ring "Uppsalamaffian" (
Uppsala
Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
Mafia).
[Aftonbladet: Direktörerna har fått långa fängelsestraff](_blank)
[GameSpot News: The definitive source for video game news, announcements, ship dates, rankings, sales figures, and more](_blank)
/ref> The paper investigated a 6-month loss of 200 million dollars, exhibiting large payouts to later bankrupt entities. Further, the trio's felonious history was revealed, such as Eriksson's 10-year prison sentences in 1993/94, for, among other things, conspiracy to pass counterfeit currency and attempted fraud, and the fact that Johan Enander was wanted by the Swedish police. In light of these findings, Eriksson and others resigned. One of those resignations came from Carl Freer, the chairman of the board and a director who, with Eriksson, co-owned Northern Lights Software Limited. Freer had previously sold luxury cars in France, Germany and the U.K., some of which turned out to have been stolen. Northern Lights was paid a large sum of money to create ''Chicane'' and ''Colors'', two Gizmondo games that were actually developed by Gizmondo Europe itself. Freer paid the money back to Gizmondo in order to stop an investigation into the matter. The Gizmondo company itself denied knowing anything about Eriksson's past.
In addition, Gizmondo paid $4 million to Games Factory Publishing for nineteen concept games on the handheld, including a game called ''Typing Tutor'', despite having no keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
peripheral
A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by the ...
, $5.9 million to Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
to port its SSX and FIFA games and $3.5 million to Northern Lights to develop ''Colors'' (an urban gang warfare first-person perspective shooter) and ''Chicane'' (a Formula One racing game being developed exclusively for Gizmondo) which was in fact developed by other indie studios.
Around March 2005, US-based Tiger Telematics bought UK stock market-listed games developer Warthog for almost 500,000 Tiger shares and $1.13 million in cash—altogether worth $8.1 million. Acquiring all of Warthog's operating subsidiaries, along with the group's debts, and Warthog's CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
, Ashley Hall, COO
COO or coo may refer to:
Business
* Certificate of origin, used in international trade
* Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official
* Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process
...
Steven Law and CFO Simon Elms, to become Tiger employees. Warthog's team also has close ties with key games publishers and game franchise owners.
Bankruptcy
On January 23, 2006, the UK based arm, Gizmondo Europe (GE) declared bankruptcy. Gizmondo hemorrhaged hundreds of millions of dollars before filing for bankruptcy: in 2004, Tiger Telematics reported a loss of $99.29 million, and between January and September 2005, they lost $210 million, "Principally due to development costs for the Gizmondo and non-cash expenses associated with shares of restricted common stock issued for services". In other words, it had bartered shares in lieu of cash payments. Soon after Gizmondo retail locations in both the US and the UK closed, and the Gizmondo website was shut down. The game development arm of Gizmondo also went out of business.
The company was also involved in litigation. Swedish Ogilvy Group, MTV Europe
MTV Global (formerly as MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV, a 24-hour music and entertainment TV channel that began broadcasting on August 1, 1987, as part of the worldwide MTV network.
Initially, MTV serve ...
, Christian and Timbers (landlord to their office), Handheld Gaming and Jordan Grand Prix all filed million dollar lawsuits against the company. Gizmondo is currently under investigation in the UK for approximately £25-30 million owed to HM Revenue and Customs
HM Revenue and Customs (His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, or HMRC) is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the His Majesty's Government, UK Government responsible fo ...
.
In early February 2006, the High Court appointed two liquidators. David Rubin & Partners was to deal with the sale of the company's assets, thought to amount to little more than the furniture in its Regent Street showroom and Begbies Traynor
Begbies Traynor () (until 1997 known as Traynor & Partners) is a firm specialising in corporate restructuring. They were formed in 1989, expanded through mergers and organic growth and were floated in 2004. The company employs over 700 people and ...
was asked to investigate exactly where Gizmondo's money had gone. The 27 staff remaining at Gizmondo's head office in Farnborough and five at its London store were made redundant.
No Gizmondo accounts for 2005 have been published. But internal figures show sales of just £1.4m in the first nine months of the year. Losses were equivalent to £500,000 a day. Directors' salaries amounted to £6.6m for the nine months. Leasing cars cost £2m-plus.
The console was deemed the worst console of all time by GameTrailers
''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...
because they claimed it drove Tiger into bankruptcy.
Carl Freer buys intellectual property assets
In November 2007, Carl Freer
Carl Johan Freer (born 9 May 1970) is a Swedish businessman and technology entrepreneur primarily known for founding the American company Tiger Telematics, which created the handheld game console Gizmondo. Freer is also the founder of Singapore ...
stated in an interview with the Swedish-American journalist Hans Sandberg that he was interested in starting up production of the Gizmondo again. In April 2008, a press release was issued that an agreement had been reached between the joint liquidators of Gizmondo Europe Ltd in Liquidation and one of the company's ex-Directors, Carl Freer. The press release originated as a low quality copy of a letter purported to be from one of the accounting firms handling the insolvency, posted to a file sharing site. According to Mr Freer, “the shareholders of Tiger Telematics will now be able to prosper on the re-introduction of the Gizmondo into the market."
The new system never appeared. The original planned launch date was May 2008, but this was quickly pushed back to November 2008, along with details of a new company, Media Power, behind the launch, headed by Carl Freer and his Swedish partner Mikael Ljungman
Mikael Ljungman (born 25 November 1963) is a Swedish politician, lawyer and businessman. He was 2009–2010 convicted of fraud and false accounting related to his business activities, for which he served a two-year prison term. He is also known ...
, with development apparently proceeding according to the new schedule at least until September. By December 2008, the console had still not appeared, and another announcement was made about a complete redesign as a Windows CE or Google Android powered smart phone.
Since then, the Media Power website has gone offline and co-founder Mikael Ljungman has been arrested and convicted of serious fraud.
References
External links
*{{Official website, https://web.archive.org/web/20041214100823/http://www.tigertelematics.com/index.html (archive)
Defunct video game companies of Sweden
Electronics companies established in 2000
Electronics companies disestablished in 2006
Electronics companies of Sweden
Swedish companies established in 2000
Swedish companies disestablished in 2006