Ignition Entertainment Limited,

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

UTV Ignition Games, was a video game publisher of Indian media conglomerate UTV Software Communications. After

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

acquired UTV Software Communications as a wholly owned subsidiary for

The Walt Disney Company India The Walt Disney Company India Private Limited, known simply as Disney India, is the Indian subsidiary of the Indo Pacific region of the American media and entertainment conglomerate The Walt Disney Company and headquartered in Mumbai, Mahara ...

, UTV Ignition Games assets were liquidated.

History

UTV Ignition Games originated as a British video game publisher in September 2001 called Valecombe Limited and was located in

Waltham Abbey Waltham Abbey is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. It lies on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the west and ...

. The company was renamed Ignition Entertainment on 30 March 2002. It was created from a selection of smaller developers and publishers, such as Archer Maclean's Awesome Studios. In 2007, the company was acquired by UTV Software Communications and opened two new branches: Ignition Tokyo in Japan and Ignition Florida in the United States. Focused on the production of games for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 200 ...

and Nintendo DS, the company has produced a selection of budget titles for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

: ''

Pool Paradise ''Pool Paradise'' is a 2004 pocket billiards video game, developed by Awesome Developments, and published by Ignition Entertainment, released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and GameCube. The game is the fourth game to be endorsed by profe ...

'' from Awesome Studios as well as the Nintendo DS game ''

Zoo Keeper A zookeeper, sometimes referred as animal keeper, is a person who manages zoo animals that are kept in captivity for conservation or to be displayed to the public.Hurwitz, Jane. Choosing a Career in Animal Care (World of Work). New York: Rosen Gr ...

''. The company also published

SNK is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform. SNK's predecessor Shin Nihon Kikaku was founded in 1978 ...

's full lineup in Europe which includes the ''

Metal Slug is a Japanese run and gun video game series originally created by Nazca Corporation before merging with SNK in 1996 after the completion of the first game in the series. Spin-off games include a third-person shooter to commemorate the 10th a ...

'' series, ''

Samurai Shodown ''Samurai Shodown'', known in Japan as is a fighting game series by SNK. The series began in 1993 and is known for being one of the earliest in the genre with a primary focus on weapon-based combat. Plot The stories in the series take place ...

'' series as well as ''

The King of Fighters ''The King of Fighters'' (''KOF'') is a series of fighting games by SNK that began with the release of '' The King of Fighters '94'' in 1994. The series was developed originally for SNK's Neo Geo MVS arcade hardware. This served as the main ...

'' series. In 2005, the company had several games planned, including '' Mercury'', '' The King of Fighters Neowave'' and ''Pool Paradise International''. The company had acquired the rights to the tactical role-playing game ''Spectral Force Genesis''. The game was released later that year in North America and Europe. On 20 April 2007, the company announced the completion of their acquisition by UTV Software Communications, a media conglomerate based in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. On 17 December 2007, they announced the opening of two development studios – Ignition Florida, and Ignition Tokyo. Both studios were said to be working on proprietary intellectual property for next-generation platforms. The Tokyo studio was composed of former members of

Clover Studio was a Japanese video game development studio founded by Capcom. The studio developed the PlayStation 2 port of ''Viewtiful Joe'', both versions of ''Viewtiful Joe 2'' for the GameCube and PlayStation 2, and the PS2 titles ''Ōkami'' and ''God H ...

and

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It has created a number of multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being '' Resident Evil'', '' Monster Hunter'', '' Street Fighter'', '' Mega Man'', '' ...

, worked on the game '' El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron''. On 21 April 2009, Ignition announced that they would be publishing '' Muramasa: The Demon Blade'' for the Wii in North America. On 22 October, they announced they would be publishing '' Arc Rise Fantasia''. Ignition Entertainment also published '' The King of Fighters XII'' in North America and Europe for

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

and

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

during Summer 2009. On 2 November 2010, sources at UTV confirmed the closing of the Florida-based studio. Staff were given opportunities to relocate to Texas or find other work. This announcement followed the widespread allegations of sexual harassment by former boss Paul Steed and mismanagement of company funds. The title they were producing, ''

Reich ''Reich'' (; ) is a German noun whose meaning is analogous to the meaning of the English word " realm"; this is not to be confused with the German adjective "reich" which means "rich". The terms ' (literally the "realm of an emperor") and ' (l ...

'', had completed 2 of 9 major levels' costing roughly US$23 million. Despite major setbacks, the London office continued on in a more limited scope. Leaked footage of ''Reich'' was uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

in November 2010 by an unknown source.

Games published

References

{{Authority control Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game companies established in 2002 Video game companies disestablished in 2012 Video game publishers 2002 establishments in the United Kingdom Defunct companies based in London The Walt Disney Company subsidiaries UTV Software Communications