Cryo Interactive

Cryo Interactive Entertainment is a French video game development and publishing company founded in 1992, but existing unofficially since 1989 as a developer group under the name Cryo. In 2008 Microïds acquired Cryo.

History
Cryo was formed by members of ERE Informatique who left Infogrames (proprietor of ERE since 1986) — among these were Philippe Ulrich, Rémi Herbulot and Jean-Martial Lefranc.

The first game developed under the Cryo Interactive moniker was the hit Dune, which granted the newly-formed software company both publicity and funding for further games under Virgin until 1996, when Cryo started self-publishing inside the European market, and in North America through then partially-owned Canadian publisher DreamCatcher Interactive.

Cryo made its name mostly through adaptations of already existing stories (such as Riverworld, based on Philip José Farmer's novel and Ubik by Philip K. Dick) or those based on historical scenarios (like KGB, a game set days before the collapse of the Soviet Union and several games based in Ancient Egypt, Qing Dynasty's China and Louis XIV's France, developed with Cryo's Omni3D engine). Although most of the post-Virgin games managed to capture and stay true to the original settings, poor interfaces and the lack of worldwide distribution turned little profit from each game.

Cryo Networks
A Cryo Interactive subsidiary called Cryo Networks, aimed at developing and publishing online applications exclusively, was established in December 1997. Aside from online multiplayer games (Deo Gratias, FireTeam, Mankind and Scotland Yard being some of the titles released under this label), Cryo Networks also maintained a proprietary online multimedia development framework named SCOL (Standard Cryo On Line).

Cryo Networks was dismantled in 2002, shortly earlier than its parent company, leaving its then-ongoing project DUNE Generations unfinished. The SCOL technology was subsequently released as an open source project.

2002–present
In July 2002, not long after Frank Herbert's Dune flopped, Cryo's situation was no longer sustainable, and the company was declared bankrupt. After much negotiation, most of the assets and development teams of Cryo Interactive were absorbed by DreamCatcher Interactive, forming the base for DreamCatcher Europe.

On 20 October 2008 Microïds acquired the brands and intellectual property of Cryo Interactive. Microïds have also said that they intend to distribute Cryo's older games digitally, and that they are developing new games based on Cryo's IPs.

Notable games published or developed
Below is a selection of video games and series thereof, which were published or developed by Cryo Interactive or Cryo Networks during their lifetime. The list is in chronological order and non-Cryo developers are mentioned where appropriate.

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 * Extase (1991)
 * Dune (1992)
 * KGB (1992)
 * MegaRace series (1993–2001)
 * Dragon Lore series (1994–1996)
 * Commander Blood (1994)
 * Lost Eden (1995)
 * Timecop (1995)
 * Versailles series (1997–2002)
 * Atlantis series (1997–present) continued by The Adventure Company
 * Mankind (1998) developed by Vibes Online Gaming
 * Riverworld (1998)
 * Black Moon Chronicles (1999)
 * The Devil Inside (2000) developed by Gamesquad
 * Hellboy: Dogs of the Night (2000)
 * Frank Herbert's Dune (2001) developed by Widescreen Games

Developed and published

 * 360: Three Sixty (1999) (PlayStation)
 * The 3rd Millennium (1997) (Windows)
 * Black Moon Chronicles (1999) (Windows)
 * Deo Gratias (2001) (Windows)
 * Dreams: to Reality (1997) (MS-DOS, PlayStation, Windows)
 * Egypt 1156 B.C.: Tomb of the Pharaoh (1997) (PlayStation, Windows)
 * Egypt II: The Heliopolis Prophecy (2000) (PlayStation, Windows)
 * Foot Quiz Challenge (2002) (Windows)
 * The Guardians of Darkness (1999) (PlayStation, Windows)
 * Hellboy: Dogs of the Night (2000) (PlayStation, Windows)
 * The New Adventures of the Time Machine (2000) (Windows)
 * Pax Corpus (1997) (PlayStation, Windows)
 * Persian Wars (2001) (Windows)
 * Riverworld (1998) (Windows)
 * The Sacred Amulet (1999) (PlayStation, Windows) also known as Aztec
 * Saga: Rage of the Vikings (1999) (Windows)
 * Ubik (1998) (PlayStation, Windows)
 * Virus: It Is Aware (1999) (PlayStation)
 * Zero Zone (1998) (Windows)

Developed only

 * Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure (1995) (MS-DOS)
 * Arthur's Knights: Tales of Chivalry (2000) (Windows)
 * Arthur's Knights II: The Secret of Merlin (2001) (Windows)
 * Atlantis: The Lost Tales (1997) (MS-DOS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn)
 * Atlantis II (1999) (Macintosh, Windows) known as Beyond Atlantis in North America
 * Atlantis III: The New World (2001) (PlayStation 2, Windows) known as Beyond Atlantis 2 in North America
 * Big Bug Bang (1996) (MS-DOS) sequel to Commander Blood
 * China: The Forbidden City (1998) (PlayStation, Windows)
 * Commander Blood (1994) (MS-DOS) sequel to Captain Blood
 * Curse of Atlantis: Thorgal's Quest (2002) (Windows)
 * Dragon Lore (1994) (3DO, MS-DOS)
 * Dragon Lore II (1996) (MS-DOS, Windows)
 * Dune (1992) (Amiga, MS-DOS, Sega CD)
 * Extase (1991) (Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS)
 * Frank Herbert's Dune (2001) (PlayStation 2, Windows)
 * Hard Boiled (1998) (PlayStation)
 * Hardline (1996) (MS-DOS)
 * Jekyll and Hyde (2001) (Windows)
 * KGB (1992) (Amiga, MS-DOS) released as Conspiracy in its MS-DOS CD-ROM version
 * Lost Eden (1995) (3DO, Macintosh, CD-i, MS-DOS)
 * MegaRace (1993) (3DO, MS-DOS, Sega CD)
 * MegaRace 2 (1996) (MS-DOS)
 * MegaRace: MR3 - Nanotech Disaster (2001) (PlayStation 2, Windows)
 * Monsterville (2002) (Windows)
 * The Mystery of the Nautilus (2002) (Windows)
 * Necronomicon: The Dawning of Darkness (2001) (PlayStation, Windows)
 * Pink Panther: Pinkadelic Pursuit (2002) (Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, Windows)
 * The Raven Project (1995) (MS-DOS, PlayStation)
 * Salammbo: Battle for Carthage (2003) (Windows) completed posthumously
 * Timecop (1995) (SNES)
 * Treasure Hunter (1997) (Windows)
 * Versailles 1685 (1997) (PlayStation, Windows)
 * Versailles II (2002) (PlayStation 2, Windows)
 * Woody Woodpecker: Escape from Buzz Buzzard Park (2001) (PlayStation 2, Windows)

Published only

 * Agassi Tennis Generation (2002) (PlayStation 2, Windows)
 * Asterix & Obelix Take on Caesar (1999) (PlayStation, Windows)
 * The Devil Inside (2000) (Windows)
 * Egypte Kids (2001) (Windows)
 * FireTeam (1999) (Windows)
 * From Dusk Till Dawn (2001) (Windows)
 * The Gift (2000) (PlayStation 2, Windows) also known as Gifty
 * Hopkins FBI (1998) (Windows), French release only
 * Jerusalem: The Three Roads to the Holy Land (2002) (Windows)
 * Mankind (1998) (Windows)
 * Millennium Racer: Y2K Fighters (1999) (Windows)
 * Money Mad (2000) (Windows)
 * Ring: The Legend of the Nibelungen (1999) (Windows)
 * Roland Garros French Open 2000 (2000) (Game Boy Color, Windows)
 * Roland Garros French Open 2001 (2001) (PlayStation, Windows)
 * Scotland Yard (1998) (Windows)
 * The Shadow of Zorro (2003) (PlayStation 2, Windows)
 * Stealth Combat (2002) (Windows)
 * Timescape: Journey to Pompeii (2002) (Windows) also known as Pompei: The Legend of Vesuvius

Unreleased
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 * Dune Generations
 * Zidane Football Generation (was released independently as Calcio 2003 by developer Trecision after the demise of Cryo )