Personal Software Services

Personal Software Services (PSS) was a British software company based in Coventry, founded by Gary Mays and Richard Cockayne in 1981.[1] The company was acquired by Mirrorsoft in 1987.[2] PSS produced video games for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, Atari 8-bit family, Amstrad CPC, and IBM PC compatibles.

PSS was known for strategic wargames, such as Theatre Europe and Falklands '82. Several games produced by the French company ERE Informatique were distributed in Britain by PSS, including Get Dexter.

History

Personal Software Services was founded in Coventry, England, by Gary Mays and Richard Cockayne in 1981.[3] The company had a partnership with French video game developer ERE Informatique, and published localised versions of their products to the United Kingdom.[4] In 1986, Cockayne took a decision to alter their products for release on 16-bit consoles, as he found that smaller 8-bit home computers such as the ZX Spectrum lacked the processing power for larger strategy games. The decision was falsely interpreted as "pull-out" from the Spectrum market by a video game journalist.[5]

Following years of successful sales throughout the mid 1980s, Personal Software Services experienced financial difficulties, in which Cockayne admitted that "he took his eye off the ball." The company was acquired by Mirrorsoft in February 1987,[6] and was later dispossessed by the company due to strains of debt.[7]

Games

After Mirrosoft acquisition

References
  1. Your Computer, June 1986, p. 84
  2. The Independent, 25 March 1995, "Taking pain out of gain"
  3. "History of PSS". Your Computer. 6 (6): 84–85. 13 June 1986. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  4. "Personal Software Services overview". Retro Aisle. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  5. Jarratt, Steve (May 1988). "Seasonal Drought". Crash (52): 7. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  6. "Mirrorsoft has new strategy with PSS". Personal Computing Weekly. 6 (7): 6. 12 February 1987. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  7. Arnot, Chris (26 March 1995). "Taking pain out of gain". The Independent. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  8. http://www.crashonline.org.uk/03/lguide10.htm
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.