Titus Interactive

Titus Interactive SA, known as Titus France SA until March 1999, was a French software publisher that produced and published video games for various platforms. Its head office was located in Parc de l'Esplanade in Lagny sur Marne in Greater Paris. At one time, it was instead located in Montfermeil, also in Greater Paris.
The company's mascot was Titus, the title character of Titus the Fox.
History
The company was founded by brothers Eric Caen and Hervé Caen in France in 1985.
In 1991, Titus purchased Palace Software, the gaming division of the Palace Group.
In 1998, the company purchased the developers BlueSky Software and Digital Integration Ltd.
Interplay Entertainment Partnership and distribution agreements (1999-2002)
In late-1999, the company acquired shares in struggling publisher Interplay Entertainment, including a stake in publisher/distributor Virgin Interactive.
Throughout the next few years, Titus signed North American distribution deals with smaller publishers. They signed a deal with Cryo Interactive in March 2000, with Rage Software in September 2000, and Microids in May 2001. In 2002, Titus Japan K.K. signed a similar distribution deal with Konami for Japan.
In August 2000, they signed a deal with Viacom Consumer Products to publish games based on the Top Gun franchise.
In August 2001, Titus took the control of Interplay. However prior to this, Titus took over distributing their own titles in the North American market as well as Virgin's from them.
Closure
In June 2004, Titus filed for bankruptcy, declaring an unseeable future for Interplay. On January 9, 2005, a French district commercial court declared Titus bankrupt with a €33 million (US$43.8 million) debt. Titus' French subsidiaries were later closed down, while their assets were soon purchased by Interplay.
Games
Titus began releasing titles for home computers such as the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and IBM PC compatibles before moving on to consoles like the Master System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, and Game Boy Color, PlayStation, Dreamcast and Nintendo 64, followed by games for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.
Titus designed games such as Virtual Kasparov, Automobili Lamborghini, Virtual Chess 64, Roadsters (the Nintendo 64 version), Incredible Crisis (developed by Polygon Magic), Prehistorik Man and Lamborghini American Challenge, that were given positive reviews. Titus however was also involved in the creation of games that were notable due to their negative reception. Superman for the Nintendo 64 was notorious for its negative status among gamers. GameTrailers called it the worst game of all time. As of 2018, it holds a score of 23% at GameRankings. Similarly, the 2003 game RoboCop also received negative reviews. GameSpot gave it 2.2/10 saying "RoboCop has a bevy of horrible problems that render the game practically unplayable".
1988
Crazy Cars
Fire and Forget
Galactic Conqueror
Off Shore Warrior
1989
Crazy Cars 2
Titan
Knight Force
1990
Crime Does not Pay
Dark Century
Dick Tracy
Fire & Forget II
Un Indien dans la ville (Little Indian: An Indian in the City for US release), developed by TF1 Video and Titus
Wild Streets
1991
The Blues Brothers
Prehistorik
1992
Battlestorm
Crazy Cars 3
Titus the Fox (aka Moktar)
1993
Ardy Lightfoot (developed by ASCII and published by Titus in North America)
Prehistorik 2
Super Cauldron
1994
Monster Max
Lamborghini American Challenge
Quik the Thunder Rabbit
1995
Virtua Chess
1996
Metal Rage
The Brainies
Incantation
Oscar (SNES version)
Power Piggs of the Dark Age
Prehistorik Man
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame (SNES version)
1997
Virtual Chess 2
Superman (Game Boy)
Automobili Lamborghini
1998
Virtual Chess 64
Quest for Camelot (published by Nintendo America Inc.)
1999
Rival Realms (developed by Activ Pub)
Roadsters
Superman: The New Superman Adventures
Evil Zone (developed by YUKE's Future Media Creators)
Xena: Warrior Princess: The Talisman of Fate (developed by Saffire)
2000
Incredible Crisis
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Carmageddon 64
Blues Brothers 2000
Kao the Kangaroo (Dreamcast/PC versions)
F/A-18E Super Hornet
Rox (GBA version only)
Subsidiaries
Titus had several subsidiaries. The United States subsidiary, Titus Software Corporation, had its head office in Chatsworth, Los Angeles. The Japanese subsidiary, Titus Japan K.K., had its head office on the eighth floor of the Kotubuki Dogenzaka Building in Dōgenzaka (JA), Shibuya, Tokyo. The UK subsidiary, Titus Software UK Limited, had its head office in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.
References
External links
Titus Interactive (Archive)
Titus Games (Archive)
Defunct video game companies of France
Video game companies established in 1985
Video game companies disestablished in 2005
Video game development companies
Video game publishers
French companies established in 1985
French companies disestablished in 2005