Cryo Interactive

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Cryo Interactive Entertainment

Type	Unknown
Founded	Paris, France (1992)
Headquarters	Paris, France
Industry	Computer and video games
Products	Dune Lost Eden Atlantis: The Lost Tales Ring Frank Herbert's Dune
Subsidiaries	Cryo Studios North America Dreamcatcher Interactive

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

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

[edit] Published titles

1991: Extase (as Cryo)
1992: Dune
1992: KGB
1993: MegaRace
1994: Dragon Lore
1994: Commander Blood (sequel to Captain Blood)
1995: Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure
1995: Lost Eden
1996: Hardline
1996: MegaRace 2
1997: Dragon Lore II
1997: Versailles 1685
1997: Hard Boiled
1997: Atlantis: The Lost Tales
1997: The 3rd Millennium
1997: Dreams: To Reality
1997: Egypt 1156 B.C. - Tomb of the Pharaoh
1997: Pax Corpus
1997: Big Bug Bang (sequel to Commander Blood)
1998: Ubik
1998: ZeroZone
1998: Atlantis: The Lost World
1998: Riverworld
1999: Ring
1999: 360: Three Sixty
1999: S.A.G.A.: Rage of the Vikings
1999: China: The Forbidden City
1999: The Guardian Of Darkness
1999: VIRUS: It Is Aware...
1999: Jekyll and Hyde
2000: Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar
2000: Hellboy: Dogs of the Night
2000: The New Adventures of The Time Machine
2000: Aztec
2000: Beyond Atlantis
2000: The Devil Inside
2001: Egypt II - The Heliopolis Prophecy
2001: Necronomicon: The Dawning Of Darkness
2001: Roland Garros French Open 2001
2001: Frank Herbert's Dune
2002: Curse of Atlantis: Thorgal's Quest
2002: MegaRace 3 - Nanotech Disaster
2002: The Mystery of the Nautilus
2002: Pink Panther: Pinkadelic Pursuit
2002: Salammbo: Battle for Carthage (finished independently after Cryo's bankruptcy)