From selling fertilizer to making mobile games
To explore Gameloft’s origins, we have to start with another company, Ubisoft. In the 1980s, in the province of Brittany in the northwest of France, there was a Guillermotte family whose business was mainly selling fertilizers and farm implements to farmers in France and England. There were five brothers in this family, before they went to university. I help my family with the sales, accounting and management of the company. After going to college, the five brothers learned a lot of business knowledge, so after they graduated, they began to apply what they learned and began to expand the family business. Some sell CDs, some sell computer software, and of course games.
Group photo of five brothers from left: Michael, Yves, Gerard, Christian, Claude
The five brothers have good business acumen. They quickly discovered that selling computer software was a lucrative business. In 1984, they set up their own company to specialize in computer software business. In just two years, the company’s revenue reached 4 million francs. But the vision of the five brothers didn’t stop there. They quickly realized that computer games would be the next field that could make a lot of money, so they decided to devote themselves to game research and development. In 1986, they established Ubisoft Software Company and officially entered the game industry. . Let’s fast-forward to 1999, the year Nokia debuted the S40 platform and WAP browser, and shipped the Nokia 7110 phone.
This year, China Mobile has not yet been established, and the first mobile phone that supports all Chinese has just been launched.
CD928+, the first mobile phone that supports all Chinese. At that time, the mobile phone could only run “page games” through WAP. The concept of mobile games for most people was the small games that come with mobile phones such as Tetris and Snake. It was in such an era that the five brothers made an advanced prediction: mobile games can be popular, and they have to admire their business acumen. So they started a company called Ludiwap SA, which focused on developing WAP games on mobile phones.
This site is still in operation
Then it’s time for our protagonist to appear. In 1999, Michael, one of the five brothers, founded Gameloft.com SA, a subscription-based game website. In 2001, ludigames SA and Gameloft SA merged to form an independent company Gameloft, still managed by Michael of the five brothers, and Gameloft was officially born.
early company logo
Java era
When Gameloft was established, Michael noticed the potential of Java technology. Java games were suitable for running on mobile phones with weak performance at the time, and the experience was much better than WAP games. Michael decisively decided to reduce his investment in WAP games and bet the company’s future on Java mobile games. At that time, there were not even more than 10 mobile phones that could run Java games .
In October 2001, Gameloft’s first Java game, Lock’em up, was released.
This puzzle-solving game looks no different from the mini-game that came with the mobile phone at that time. The picture is simple and the gameplay is simple. As Gameloft’s first work in JAVA, it did not make much waves.
In 2002, “Cartel Wars” was released, and although it still seems rather crude, it is already a huge improvement compared to the previous game.
At that time, there were not many companies capable of making mobile games of this level, so they received a “big job” to develop the first mobile game in the series for “Prince of Persia”. Gameloft’s first masterpiece “Harem Adventures” was released in 2002, but there were too few mobile phones supporting Java games at that time, so even if there was the golden signboard of “Prince of Persia”, this game did not get the Too much attention.
However, the cooperation with “Prince of Persia” paved the way for Gameloft to receive more orders from AAA game companies, and they developed the first mobile game “Broken Wing” for “Tom Clancy: Rainbow Six”. “.
It may be hard to believe that this game is Rainbow Six with the humble black and white graphics, but Gameloft will soon show their true strength.
to glory
In 2003, the mobile game “Tom Clancy: Splinter Cell” developed by Gameloft was released. Although limited by the performance of the mobile phone, the game can only be made into a 2D horizontal version of the sneak gameplay, but by the standards of the time, it was quite beautiful. Coupled with the in-depth gameplay, this may be the first time that mobile game players realize that “there are serious game masterpieces on mobile phones.”
“Tom Clancy: Splinter Cell” is a milestone for Gameloft’s official rise in the era of Java mobile games. In the same year, they launched “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”, which was well received by players and the media. It was also my Java player back then. Tour Enlightenment. IGN even commented on the game that “if you’re going to buy a new phone, make sure it can run the game”.
Time came to 2003, and mobile games began to develop rapidly. Nokia launched the classic N-Gage. I believe that old players who have experienced that era must be very impressed with this mobile phone. Before the arrival of the touch screen mobile phone era, it was definitely a mobile phone A gamer’s dream machine.
Gameloft was not idle, and immediately began to develop games for N-Gage. They invited French stars to endorse and launched “Marcel Desailly Professional Football”, which was the best game that could be played on mobile phones at that time. One of the football games.
Several masterpieces in a row made Gameloft the top player in the mobile game field at that time. In that era when mobile games were just beginning to sprout, “Gameloft produced, must be a boutique” is almost the consensus of mobile game players. And Gameloft’s next milestone in the Java era is just around the corner. After launching several classic IP-licensed mobile games in succession, Gameloft began to create its own original IP, including shooting games and sports games. What they have to do next is to add the last piece of “Car Gun Ball”. puzzle. In 2004, “Asphalt: Urban GT” was released. Although the first-generation works had many defects in the hand, this series later became Gameloft’s signature work. For a long time, the “Asphalt” series It is the top masterpiece of stand-alone racing mobile games.
In 2005, Gameloft’s other milestone work “Midnight Billiards” was released. It may not be the best billiards mobile game at the time, but it is of great significance to Gameloft and even the entire mobile game industry.
Because before this, when the words “mobile game” and “porting” were linked, everyone thought of porting console games to mobile phones. As the original IP of a mobile game, “Midnight Billiards” was moved to the Wii console in 2008. This may be nothing special. After all, both the console and Steam of mobile games have become routine operations. But this was a fairly rare situation at the time, and this wave of “backporting” also proved that mobile games can also create influential original IPs.
Classic never goes out of style
Gameloft’s classics of this period are too many to count. Even after more than ten years, there are still players who continue to revisit these past works. Gameloft also launched the “Gameloft 20 Years Classic Collection” on the Google Store on the 20th anniversary of its establishment, including 30 classic works of the Java era, so that old players can also find their memories on the new mobile phone.
The era of Java mobile games is the glorious beginning of Gameloft, and the works of this period are also the memories of countless old players who have experienced the Nokia S40 and S60 eras. I still remember when I was in college, some of my classmates in the dormitory used an iPhone, and some used a Nokia N72, but it was the small Nokia 5310 that I bought when I graduated from high school that accompanied me throughout my college career. It accompanies me to spend countless nights after the lights in the dormitory are turned off.
The screen with a resolution of only 240 × 320 and the T9 buttons that have been polished to fade, record the youthful years that have gradually become blurred in our memory.
In the first issue of Gameloft’s story, we will talk about this. In the next issue, let us talk about the 3D era of Gameloft, so stay tuned.
References
The ups and downs of Gameloft: how it all began and what games were at the start https://ift.tt/IUlyBdX
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