BAM! Entertainment
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessor | Bay Area Multimedia, Inc. |
| Founded | October 7, 1999 in San Jose, California, United States |
| Founder | Ray Musci |
| Defunct | 2005 |
| Fate | Filed for bankruptcy and shut down operations |
| Headquarters | San Jose , United States |
Area served | North America, Europe |
Key people | Ray Musci (founder) |
| Products | Licensed video games based on Cartoon Network properties, Wallace and Gromit, Carmen Sandiego, and others |
BAM! Entertainment, Inc. (originally known as Bay Area Multimedia, Inc.) was a United States-based video game publisher headquartered in San Jose, California. Established by Ray Musci in October 1999, the company collaborated with Cartoon Network in 2000 to create licensed games featuring popular properties such as The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Ed, Edd n Eddy.
In 2001, BAM! entered into an agreement allowing the French publisher Ubi Soft to distribute its games internationally. Starting in 2002, the company faced financial struggles that eventually risked its listing on NASDAQ. BAM! sold its London branch to VIS Entertainment in 2003, then proceeded to acquire VIS in 2004 before being removed from the stock exchange. Despite continuing to publish licensed titles, BAM! ultimately filed for bankruptcy and shut down operations in 2005.
Establishment
Ray Musci founded Bay Area Multimedia on October 7, 1999. By April 2000, the firm partnered with Takara to localize and release Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals for the Nintendo 64 exclusively as a rental title in North America. The company also secured distribution agreements with Virgin Interactive and Victor Interactive Software, covering releases such as Jimmy White's 2: Cueball and Contender 2 within the North American market.
During 2000, Bay Area Multimedia obtained exclusive publishing rights from both Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Cartoon Network for games based on Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, and Yogi Bear. Additional licensing contracts included partnerships with Franchise Pictures for film-inspired games as well as agreements with Warner Bros. and DC Comics related to the Sgt. Rock series.
Growth
In December 2000, the company rebranded itself as BAM! Entertainment.
Shortly thereafter, BAM! established a UK office to handle European game publishing and signed a distribution contract with Ubi Soft in February 2001 for all European territories except the UK. By June of that year, BAM! introduced its first Palm OS games titled Strike it Rich and CardTopia. Starting in September, the company secured significant publishing and licensing arrangements including a Game Boy Advance adaptation of Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars and a deal with Spyglass Entertainment to develop a Reign of Fire video game.
In January 2002, BAM! broadened its collaboration with Cartoon Network to include titles based on Samurai Jack and subsequently Ed, Edd n Eddy. The same period saw BAM! enter into a five-year agreement with Aardman Animations to publish games inspired by Wallace and Gromit. February marked BAM!'s entry into the GameCube platform through a port of Driven along with securing a publishing contract with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) to distribute World Rally Championship in North America. This partnership with SCEE later expanded to incorporate titles such as Wipeout Fusion and Dropship: United Peace Force.
By June 2002, BAM! teamed up with Riverdeep to develop educational video games based on the Carmen Sandiego franchise. In November, the company finalized a publishing agreement with Disney Interactive for two educational games centered on Winnie the Pooh as well as My Disney Kitchen for PlayStation.
Financial Decline and Insolvency
In 2002, BAM! encountered monetary challenges, leading to a warning from the NASDAQ about potential removal from the stock exchange.
By April 2003, the London-based development division of BAM! was purchased by VIS Entertainment, which subsequently announced it would shut down after finishing the projects in progress. That same year, following the conclusion of their distribution contract with Ubi Soft, BAM! entered into a new agreement with Acclaim Entertainment to cover all PAL territories. This collaboration ceased after Acclaim filed for bankruptcy the following year.
In 2004, BAM! took over VIS Entertainment along with its subsidiary State of Emergency Development. Nevertheless, BAM!'s shares were delisted from NASDAQ during that year. VIS Entertainment declared bankruptcy in April 2005; shortly after, BAM! sold the rights to VIS's State of Emergency 2 to DC Studios and soon after filed for bankruptcy itself.
Games
rowspan="27" | 2002 rowspan="4" | Reign of Fire rowspan="8" | 2003 rowspan="4" | Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo rowspan="5" | 2004 A Sound of Thunder || Game Boy Advance || Möbius Entertainment rowspan="3" | Carmen Sandiego: The Secret of the Stolen Drums || PlayStation 2 || Artificial Mind and Movement Bujingai: The Forsaken City || PlayStation 2 || Taito 2005 Ice Nine || Game Boy Advance || Torus Games| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Developer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals | PlayStation | Takara |
| Nintendo 64 | |||
| The Powerpuff Girls: Bad Mojo Jojo | Game Boy Color | Sennari Interactive | |
| Dexter's Laboratory: Robot Rampage | Game Boy Color | Altron | |
| The Powerpuff Girls: Paint the Townsville Green | Game Boy Color | Sennari Interactive | |
| Yogi Bear: Great Balloon Blast | Game Boy Color | Taito | |
| Sgt. Rock: On the Frontline | Game Boy Color | Altron | |
| Contender 2 | PlayStation | Victor Interactive Software | |
| Jimmy White's 2: Cueball | PlayStation | Awesome Developments | |
| 2001 | The Powerpuff Girls: Battle Him | Game Boy Color | Sennari Interactive |
| Xtreme Wheels | Game Boy Color | Spike | |
| Fire Pro Wrestling | Game Boy Advance | Spike | |
| Hot Potato | Game Boy Advance | Pukka Games | |
| Sports Illustrated for Kids: Baseball | Game Boy Advance | Sennari Interactive | |
| Dexter's Laboratory: Deesaster Strikes! | Game Boy Advance | Virtucraft | |
| The Powerpuff Girls: Mojo Jojo's Pet Project | Microsoft Windows | Intelligent Games | |
| The Powerpuff Girls: Gamesville | Microsoft Windows | Intelligent Games | |
| Dexter's Laboratory: Science Ain't Fair | Microsoft Windows | Intelligent Games | |
| The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-Traction | PlayStation | VIS Entertainment Asylum Entertainment | |
| Nintendo 64 | |||
| Driven | PlayStation 2 | BAM! Studios Europe | |
| Game Boy Advance | Crawfish Interactive | ||
| The Powerpuff Girls: Mojo Jojo A-Go-Go | Game Boy Advance | Sennari Interactive | |
| Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars | Game Boy Advance | Revolution Software | |
| WRC: World Rally Championship | PlayStation 2 | Evolution Studios | |
| 'Wolfenstein 3D' | 'Game Boy Advance' | 'Stalker Entertainment' | |
| 'Driven' | 'GameCube' | 'BAM! Studios Europe' | |
| 'Savage Skies' | 'PlayStation 2' | 'Irock Interactive' | |
| 'Dexter's Laboratory: Mandark's Lab?' | 'PlayStation (console)' | 'Red Lemon Studios' | |
| 'Star X' | 'Game Boy Advance' | 'Graphic State' | |
| 'Dropship: United Peace Force' | 'PlayStation 2' | 'Team Soho' | |
| 'Way of the Samurai' | 'PlayStation 2' | 'Acquire (company)' | |
| 'Wipeout Fusion' | 'PlayStation 2' | 'Studio Liverpool' | |
| 'Kong: The Animated Series' | 'Game Boy Advance' | 'Planet Interactive' | |
| 'Riding Spirits' | 'PlayStation 2' | 'Spike (company)' | |
| 'Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever II' | 'Game Boy Advance' | 'Crawfish Interactive' | |
| 'Ed, Edd n Eddy: Jawbreakers!' | 'Game Boy Advance' | 'Climax Group' | |
| 'Fire Pro Wrestling 2' | 'Game Boy Advance' | 'Spike (company)' | |
| 'Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver' | 'Xbox (console)' | 'I-Imagine Interactive' | |
| 'Dexter's Laboratory: Chess Challenge' | 'Game Boy Advance' | 'Virtucraft' | |
| PlayStation 2 | Kuju Entertainment | ||
| GameCube | |||
| Xbox | |||
| Game Boy Advance | Crawfish Interactive | ||
| The Powerpuff Girls: HIM and Seek | Game Boy Advance | Vicarious Visions | |
| Runabout 3: Neo Age | PlayStation 2 | Climax Entertainment | |
| Disney's Winnie the Pooh: Preschool | PlayStation | Hi Corp | |
| Disney's Winnie the Pooh: Kindergarten | PlayStation | Hi Corp | |
| My Disney Kitchen | PlayStation | Atlus | |
| The Powerpuff Girls: Relish Rampage | PlayStation 2 | VIS Entertainment | |
| Samurai Jack: The Amulet of Time | Game Boy Advance | Virtucraft | |
| Sports Illustrated for Kids: Football | Game Boy Advance | Sennari Interactive | |
| 4x4 Evo 2 | PlayStation 2 | Terminal Reality | |
| PlayStation 2 | Frontier Developments | ||
| GameCube | |||
| Xbox | |||
| Microsoft Windows | |||
| The Powerpuff Girls: Relish Rampage - Pickled Edition | GameCube | VIS Entertainment | |
| GameCube | Artificial Mind and Movement | ||
| Xbox | Artificial Mind and Movement |
External links
- Articles with short description
- 1999 establishments in California
- 2005 disestablishments in the United States
- Companies disestablished in 2005
- Former Nasdaq-listed companies
- Defunct American video game firms
- Video game companies founded in 1999
- Video game publishing companies
- Defunct video game companies of the United States