Kinesoft
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video game development |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Founder | Peter Sills |
| Fate | Ceased operations in 2001 |
| Headquarters | Illinois , United States |
Key people | Peter Sills, Mark Achler (president from 1994), Andrew Glaister (Technology Director) |
| Products | Exodus development platform, Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure (Windows 95), Earthworm Jim (Windows), Gex (Windows), WinCD, It's a Wonderful Life (CD-ROM) |
Number of employees | 22 (1997) |
Kinesoft Development Corporation was a United States-based video game developer established by Peter Sills in 1991. Headquartered in Illinois, the company employed approximately 22 staff members by 1997. In 1994, Mark Achler assumed the role of president. Together with Technology Director Andrew Glaister, Sills developed the Exodus development platform for Windows 95, which was further enhanced by Glaister.
The Exodus environment garnered attention from major industry players such as IBM, Intel, Sega, and Microsoft. Microsoft incorporated ideas from Kinesoft's work into the creation of DirectX, a core component for gaming on the Windows platform. Kinesoft’s adaptation of Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure became the inaugural commercial game released for Windows 95 and was showcased by Bill Gates at COMDEX as a demonstration of DirectX technology, despite the game itself not utilizing DirectX. Other titles developed using the Exodus framework included Windows versions of Earthworm Jim and Gex.
Legal dispute with SoftBank and company closure
On May 25, 1995, Kinesoft and SoftBank formalized the "Game Porting Agreement," whereby SoftBank committed to providing console games for Kinesoft to convert to PC formats. These converted games were distributed through GAMEBANK Corporation, a partnership between SoftBank and Microsoft aimed at bringing Sega Genesis titles to the Japanese Windows 95 market. In the United States, some ports were published by Interplay Entertainment. The agreement was later extended to cover titles from Nintendo and early Sony PlayStation platforms.
Kinesoft initiated legal action against SoftBank for breach of contract, with SoftBank acknowledging it had not delivered the specified quantity of games. The dispute was settled in 1997, with Kinesoft relinquishing its claims against SoftBank. Nevertheless, in November 1999, Kinesoft filed another lawsuit alleging that SoftBank violated the settlement terms by failing to pay $10 million owed between June 1997 and October 1998. The court case was scheduled for June 2001. Shortly after this trial, Kinesoft ceased operations in 2001.
Products
In addition to its work in game development, Kinesoft produced WinCD, a software CD player application, and released the film It's a Wonderful Life on CD-ROM designed for Windows 3.1.