Perfect Entertainment
TypeProprietary limited company
IndustryVideo games
Founded1991
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Key people
Angela Sutherland, CEO and Co-founder
Gregg Barnett, Creative Director and Co-founder
Colin Fuidge, Producer
Paul Mitchell, Art Director
ProductsSee complete products listing
Number of employees
70

Perfect Entertainment was an independent British computer game developer, which ceased production in 1999.[1] It began in 1991 as Teeny Weeny Games headed by Angela Sutherland but changed names when merging exclusively with Gregg Barnett's Perfect 10 Productions, a company previously known as Beam Software (UK).[2][3]

History

Perfect Entertainment is notable for its popular point-and-click adventure games Discworld, Discworld II: Missing Presumed...!? and Discworld Noir, which are based on the Terry Pratchett novels. Teeny Weeny Games was the initial funding source of Perfect Entertainment's speculative product demo of Discworld. Perfect Entertainment produced the majority of Psygnosis games ported to the Sega Saturn, since Sony (who owned Psygnosis at that time) wasn't willing to fund games for a rival console.

Perfect Entertainment's Manchester offices were destroyed in the 1996 IRA bombing. They were developing Discworld II and Saturn port of FIFA 97 at the time.[4]

Most of the assets, staff and risks of Perfect Entertainment were absorbed into what became Teeny Weeny Games' second incarnation in 1999 on the completion of the Discworld Noir. Partly due to a costly and protracted legal dispute with Psygnosis over unpaid royalties and fees which were eventually settled out of court and partly due to arguments at board level, it was decided to scale the company down to allow unhappy stakeholders to leave. Tantalus Entertainment (now Tantalus Media) in Melbourne, Australia was sold back to its original directors. In early 2000, Teeny Weeny Games was contracted by 20th Century Fox to supply "The World's Scariest Car Chases" on a $3,600,000 contract, a game already under development for over a year. The producer of this project and various other staff bought a majority shareholding and took over the company. Teeny Weeny Games closed a year later.

Court case

Perfect Entertainment's shrinking and subsequent demise came largely due to the aforementioned court case with Psygnosis/Sony Entertainment. Originally it was believed Perfect had signed contracts for a multi-game deal with Sony, but issues arose when it was contested three of these games should have been Discworld titles. When negotiations broke down and Discworld's third title, Discworld Noir, was not offered to Sony, the court case ensued. While in development staff payments became late, the deadline for Noir was heavily rescheduled and staff began to leave amid fears of job security. By the time Discworld Noir was finished the development team was running at half the size it was when it began. Discworld Noir was eventually released by GT Interactive in 1999, it was the last game Perfect Entertainment developed that was to be published.

Games

Teeny Weeny Games

Perfect 10 Productions

Perfect Entertainment

Teeny Weeny Games (post-Perfect Entertainment)

References

  1. "Perfect Entertainment game company". 20 April 2002. Archived from the original on 20 April 2002. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  2. "GameSpot - /games.html". 28 June 2011. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  3. "Perfect 10 Productions games". MobyGames. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  4. Yarwood, Jack (6 December 2023). "How An IRA Bomb Derailed FIFA '97 On Sega Saturn". Time Extension. Hookshot Media. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  5. "Press release: 1999-09-05: Fox Interactive Eyes Sega Dreamcast for Hot Entertainment Properties". Sega Retro. 10 June 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
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