Daydream Software

Daydream Software was a Swedish video game developer founded in 1994.[1] They released four games[2] (with another in the works)[3] before closing in 2003.

Daydream Software
Public
IndustryVideo games
FoundedNovember 1994
Defunct2004
HeadquartersUmeå, Sweden
Key people
  • Jan Phersson-Broberg
  • Erik Phersson
  • Nigel Papworth

History

Early years (1994–1996)

Daydream Software was established in November 1994 in Umeå, Sweden.[4] Its founding members were Jan Phersson-Broburg, Erik Phersson, Jörgen Isaksson, Nigel Papworth and Leif Holm. All but Papworth were employees of Sombrero AB,[5] a local computer services company co-founded by Isaksson and the Phersson brothers in 1993.[6] Daydream initially formed for the purpose of making Safecracker, a project conceived earlier in 1994 by Papworth and Isaksson, influenced by Myst and the board game Mastermind. The company's founders chose to make nonviolent gameplay their guiding principle in Safecracker and all future titles. Daydream soon obtained a handshake deal with publisher Warner Music Sweden for Safecracker, but this arrangement fell through shortly after. However, the Safecracker plan was revived during the 1994 Christmas party at Daydream's new office space, when the team was contacted by Warner Interactive Entertainment (WIE) about the game.[5]

Daydream Software was among Sweden's earliest major computer game companies, and was the only game developer in Umeå (pictured) by 1996.

Following a period of negotiations,[7] Daydream signed with WIE in March 1995,[4][6] as part of a three-year, multi-title deal set to run until March 1998.[5][4] Funding was provided via an advance against royalties of 2.5 million kr; Daydream was set to earn 50 kr per unit sold, while Warner retained all revenues for the first 50,000 sales of the game.[4][8] In retrospect, Papworth felt that Daydream was "lucky" to have joined the game industry when it did, as many of "the big record companies" were entering the computer game business with low standards as to the content they financed.[9] Safecracker had a tumultuous production, starting when GT Interactive bought initial publisher Warner Interactive Europe.[7]

Public offering and expansion (1997–2000)

Daydream Software went public in late 1996.[5][8] The company's goal was to increase its economic and decision-making freedom, and to secure the ability to select a publisher at the end of each game's development rather than at the beginning.[8] President Jans Phersson-Broburg argued that self-financing Daydream's future games with money from Swedish investors, instead of obtaining "funding linked to specific projects" from publishers, would offer the developer more stability, flexibility and room for growth.[4] For Daydream's public launch, roughly 20 million kr worth of shares, or 45.5% of the company, were offered to investors in Sweden.[8] The initial public offering was a success,[10] and Daydream opened on the Stockholm Stock Exchange's Stockholm Börsinformation (SBI) list in January 1997.[11] Daydream was eventually able to buy back the rights to Safecracker.

Their next title would be Traitors Gate (a game initially pitched to GT Interactive in 1996), an adventure game using an interface similar to Safecracker but with an espionage theme. The game was released in 1999 and (as with Safecracker) was published by DreamCatcher Interactive. The game received mostly positive reviews,[12] and proved a financial success for the company, selling over 300,000 copies.[7]

Daydream's next game was a more ambitious title called Clusterball, a futuristic sports game released in late 2000 for PC computers after a successful run as a downloadable title on Real.com. The game garnered mixed to positive reviews[13] but low sales for the company.[14]

Final years (2001–2003)

Their next project was Ski-Doo: X-Team Racing, a snowmobile racing game. The title was released by Simon & Schuster Interactive in 2001 for PC computers. The game received little media attention.

In 2003, the company announced Campfire: Become Your Nightmare, for the Microsoft Xbox and Sony Playstation 2 consoles. It was dubbed as a "reverse survival horror game" (similar to Rockstar's Manhunt and 505 Games' Naughty Bear) that put the player in the role of a serial killer on a campground.[3] The game was inspired by slasher films of the 1970s and 1980s. However, the game received little press other than a trailer and concept artwork, and thus it was cancelled in 2004 for unknown reasons.[15]

Closing

Daydream Software was put through liquidation in February 2003[1] before closing in 2004. Most employees moving on to form a new development company: Resolution Interactive, which focused on iPhone games.[16] The company filed for bankruptcy in 2012.[17]

Associated titles

Most of Daydream Software's games were continued by other companies later.

  • Safecracker received an unrelated sequel for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii, as well as PC computers in 2006 by The Adventure Company called Safecracker: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure.
  • Traitors Gate 2: Cypher was released in 2003, also by The Adventure Company. The game is unrelated to the original and, unlike its predecessor, the game was universally panned by critics.
  • Clusterball received a sequel, originally titled Clusterball 2 and renamed Clusterball Arcade, for the iPhone in 2008.[18]
  • The rights to Campfire were eventually sold to Nordic VFX in 2009,[19] who began developing the game for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3, although the company has not made any further announcements and the game is assumed to be cancelled.

Games developed
gollark: It's direct attach or something.
gollark: Which the internet is not.
gollark: Because it isn't viable, because most of the interesting stuff to do with lots of GPUs requires them to be linked over very good network links.
gollark: A rack lets you stack multiple servers and switches and such.
gollark: You obviously have multiple servers to a rack.

References
  1. "Daydream Software AB", www.mobygames.com, retrieved July 30, 2013
  2. "Daydream Software Company Information", www.gamefaqs.com, retrieved July 30, 2013
  3. "Campfire Preview", www.ign.com, retrieved July 30, 2013
  4. Inbjudan till förvärv av aktier i Daydream Software AB (PDF) (Report). Daydream Software. November 26, 1996. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 10, 2003. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  5. Staff. "Daydream – om ett företag före sin tid" [Daydream - about a company before its time] (in Swedish). Umeå. Archived from the original on August 21, 2018.
  6. "Background". Daydream Software. Archived from the original on April 8, 2000.
  7. "Developers Postmortem: Safecracker", www.adventureclassicgaming.com, retrieved July 29, 2013
  8. Lindstrand, Niclas (December 12, 1996). "Nyemission för Umeåföretag. Daydream får in 20 miljoner. Spelet "Safecracker" mot internationell marknad". Dagens Nyheter. Archived from the original on August 21, 2018.
  9. Granade, Stephen (April 8, 2000). "Chat With The Traitors Gate Team". About.com. Archived from the original on February 19, 2001. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  10. Latour, Almar (June 13, 2000). "Back in the Game?". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on August 21, 2018. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  11. Inbjudan till förvärv av aktier i Daydream Software AB [publ] (PDF) (Report). Daydream Software. June 6, 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 10, 2003. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  12. "Traitors Gate MobyRank", www.mobygames.com, retrieved July 30, 2013
  13. "Clusterball MobyRank", www.mobygames.com, retrieved July 30, 2013
  14. "Clusterball (Game)", www.giantbomb.com, retrieved July 30, 2013
  15. "Campfire [PS2/XBOX - Cancelled]", www.unseen64.net, retrieved July 30, 2013
  16. "Resolution Interactive AB", www.mobygames.com, retrieved July 30, 2013
  17. "Resolution Interactive (Company)", www.giantbomb.com, retrieved July 30, 2013
  18. "'Clusterball Arcade' Lands on the iPhone", www.toucharcade.com, retrieved July 30, 2013
  19. ""Campfire: Become Your Nightmare" Slasher Game", www.softpedia.com, retrieved July 30, 2013
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