Factor 5 GmbH
Factor 5, Inc (US branch)
FORMER TYPE Private INDUSTRY Video game industry FATE Closed, properties sold FOUNDED 1987
1997 (US branch) DEFUNCT May 2009 (US branch) HEADQUARTERS Cologne, Germany
San Rafael, California, USA (US branch) KEY PEOPLE Achim Mollar, CEO
Julian Eggebrecht, President (US branch) PRODUCTS Lair
Rogue Squadron series
Turrican series
MusyX: Dolby Sound Tools
DivX For Games SDK WEBSITE http://www.factor5.com
Factor 5 GmbH is an independent software and video game developer. The company was originally co-founded by five former Rainbow Arts employees in 1987 in Cologne, Germany, which served as the inspiration behind the studio's name.In order to have a stronger relationship with Factor 5's North American partners like LucasArts, Factor 5, Inc was established in the USin May 1996 with legal help support from LucasArts, and in late 1996 the core of the development team in Germany was relocated to the North American company headquarters in San Rafael, California.[1][2] Julian Eggebrecht, one of the five initial co-founders, served as President of Factor 5's US branch.The US company was closed in May 2009, following the closure of Brash Entertainment, with which the company had multiple contracts.[3] The original German company, headed by CEO Achim Mollar, remains active due to its unrelated business policy and operations with the North American company, and is still looking for future projects in the industry.[4][5]Factor 5 started out developing games under partnership with Rainbow Arts for the Amiga computer, where they had their earliest moderate success with Katakis, a R-Type clone of impressive technical performance that even granted them the official conversion rights of the Irem game to those platforms, acquired by Rainbow Arts. Their first important success, however, came with Turrican, a game designed by Rainbow Arts' designer Manfred Trenz. Factor 5 handled the Amiga and Atari ST versions of the game, and together with the originalCommodore 64 version and several others, Turrican was a major hit across Europe in 1990.After they finished work on Turrican II for the Amiga and Atari ST in 1991, Factor 5 built their own development kits and software environments for the SNES and Mega Drive/Genesiscodenamed Pegasus SNES and Pegasus Mega Drive. Subsequently, they decided to focus their efforts towards console game development in 1992 with several projects for the SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis, including new Turrican games and other titles contracted by companies like LucasArts, Hudson Soft and Konami, the latter of which had also Game Boydevelopment contracts with them. In 1993, Factor 5 produced their last Amiga effort, an Amiga conversion of Mega Turrican handled with programming support from fellow company Neon Studios. They would develop games for the SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis and Game Boy until 1996, when they switched their efforts to the PlayStation.
With the development of PlayStation games for LucasArts, the Germans found several communication difficulties in working with their North American partner due to the distance between both countries and the net lines speed of that time being insufficient for the big transfer data the console required. It was this, together with the legal help support offered by LucasArts, which made the company up to the decision of opening a new Factor 5 branch in the US, in which the core of the development team from Germany was established after they finished work with their PlayStation games in late 1996.For a long time, the North American branch of Factor 5 was an exclusive, prominent development partner with both LucasArts and Nintendo, developing both game titles for the former and middleware tools for the latter. During that time, the studio gained considerable critical and commercial praise for its technical proficiency, producing what are often cited as some of the most visually advanced titles on the Nintendo 64 and the Nintendo GameCube, all based on LucasArts properties. Two high profile middleware tools were also developed by the company for Nintendo, MusyX, a sound system produced in cooperation with Dolby Laboratories, and the DivX For Games SDK, integrating the functionality of the popular video codec into Nintendo's development tools.In late December 2008, several online media outlets reported that Brash Entertainment (Factor 5's publisher of their current project) would close at the end of the month after encountering financial problems. This sudden interruption in funding left Factor 5 with their own funding difficulties, eventually causing its closure in May 2009.[3]Factor 5 is currently involved in litigation with its former employees in the defunct North American Factor 5 company. The suit alleges that Factor 5 did not pay its employees for work during November and December, that employees were laid off without the required notice by law, that employees did not receive their vacation pay, and that the company misled the employees. The suit is filed in Marin Superior Court
| FORMER TYPE | Private |
|---|---|
| INDUSTRY | Video game industry |
| FATE | Closed, properties sold |
| FOUNDED | 1987 1997 (US branch) |
| DEFUNCT | May 2009 (US branch) |
| HEADQUARTERS | Cologne, Germany San Rafael, California, USA (US branch) |
| KEY PEOPLE | Achim Mollar, CEO Julian Eggebrecht, President (US branch) |
| PRODUCTS | Lair Rogue Squadron series Turrican series MusyX: Dolby Sound Tools DivX For Games SDK |
| WEBSITE | http://www.factor5.com |
Factor 5 GmbH is an independent software and video game developer. The company was originally co-founded by five former Rainbow Arts employees in 1987 in Cologne, Germany, which served as the inspiration behind the studio's name.
In order to have a stronger relationship with Factor 5's North American partners like LucasArts, Factor 5, Inc was established in the USin May 1996 with legal help support from LucasArts, and in late 1996 the core of the development team in Germany was relocated to the North American company headquarters in San Rafael, California.[1][2] Julian Eggebrecht, one of the five initial co-founders, served as President of Factor 5's US branch.
The US company was closed in May 2009, following the closure of Brash Entertainment, with which the company had multiple contracts.[3] The original German company, headed by CEO Achim Mollar, remains active due to its unrelated business policy and operations with the North American company, and is still looking for future projects in the industry.[4][5]
Factor 5 started out developing games under partnership with Rainbow Arts for the Amiga computer, where they had their earliest moderate success with Katakis, a R-Type clone of impressive technical performance that even granted them the official conversion rights of the Irem game to those platforms, acquired by Rainbow Arts. Their first important success, however, came with Turrican, a game designed by Rainbow Arts' designer Manfred Trenz. Factor 5 handled the Amiga and Atari ST versions of the game, and together with the originalCommodore 64 version and several others, Turrican was a major hit across Europe in 1990.
After they finished work on Turrican II for the Amiga and Atari ST in 1991, Factor 5 built their own development kits and software environments for the SNES and Mega Drive/Genesiscodenamed Pegasus SNES and Pegasus Mega Drive. Subsequently, they decided to focus their efforts towards console game development in 1992 with several projects for the SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis, including new Turrican games and other titles contracted by companies like LucasArts, Hudson Soft and Konami, the latter of which had also Game Boydevelopment contracts with them. In 1993, Factor 5 produced their last Amiga effort, an Amiga conversion of Mega Turrican handled with programming support from fellow company Neon Studios. They would develop games for the SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis and Game Boy until 1996, when they switched their efforts to the PlayStation.
With the development of PlayStation games for LucasArts, the Germans found several communication difficulties in working with their North American partner due to the distance between both countries and the net lines speed of that time being insufficient for the big transfer data the console required. It was this, together with the legal help support offered by LucasArts, which made the company up to the decision of opening a new Factor 5 branch in the US, in which the core of the development team from Germany was established after they finished work with their PlayStation games in late 1996.
For a long time, the North American branch of Factor 5 was an exclusive, prominent development partner with both LucasArts and Nintendo, developing both game titles for the former and middleware tools for the latter. During that time, the studio gained considerable critical and commercial praise for its technical proficiency, producing what are often cited as some of the most visually advanced titles on the Nintendo 64 and the Nintendo GameCube, all based on LucasArts properties. Two high profile middleware tools were also developed by the company for Nintendo, MusyX, a sound system produced in cooperation with Dolby Laboratories, and the DivX For Games SDK, integrating the functionality of the popular video codec into Nintendo's development tools.
In late December 2008, several online media outlets reported that Brash Entertainment (Factor 5's publisher of their current project) would close at the end of the month after encountering financial problems. This sudden interruption in funding left Factor 5 with their own funding difficulties, eventually causing its closure in May 2009.[3]
Factor 5 is currently involved in litigation with its former employees in the defunct North American Factor 5 company. The suit alleges that Factor 5 did not pay its employees for work during November and December, that employees were laid off without the required notice by law, that employees did not receive their vacation pay, and that the company misled the employees. The suit is filed in Marin Superior Court
Games
Factor 5 GmbH
[edit]Amiga
- 1988: Katakis
- 1989: R-Type
- 1990: Turrican
- 1990: Masterblazer (intro only)
- 1991: Turrican II: The Final Fight
- 1992: BC Kid
- 1993: Turrican 3 (conversion program by Neon Studios)
[edit]Atari ST
- 1990: Turrican
- 1991: Turrican II: The Final Fight
[edit]Super Nintendo Entertainment System
- 1993: Super Turrican
- 1994: Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
- 1995: Super Turrican 2
Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
- 1993: Mega Turrican
- 1994: Mega Bomberman 8-players (unpublished demo)
- 1995: Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures (unpublished)
- 1996: International Superstar Soccer Deluxe
Game Boy
- 1994: Contra: The Alien Wars
- 1995: Animaniacs
PC
- 1994: Tony & Friends in Kellogg's Land [6]
PlayStation
- 1996: Ballblazer Champions
- 1996: Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire
Factor 5, Inc
Nintendo 64
- 1998: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
- 1999: Resident Evil 2 (Sound Compression Technology)
- 2000: Star Wars: Episode I: Battle for Naboo
- 2000: Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
PC
- 1999: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 3D
- 2001: Star Wars: Episode I: Battle for Naboo
Nintendo GameCube
- 2001: Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
- 2003: Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
- Thornado (not released)
PlayStation 3
- 2007: Lair
- 2007: Untitled project for Sony Computer Entertainment (cancelled)
- 2008: Superman (cancelled) [7]
Wii
- 2008: Superman (cancelled) [7]
- 2009: Untitled flight project for Nintendo [7]
- 2009: Untitled project for LucasArts [7]
Xbox 360
- 2008: Superman (cancelled) [7]
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