Data Design Interactive

Data Design Interactive
Private
Founded United Kingdom (1983)
Founder Stewart Green
Defunct DDI UK in 2009 (2009)
Headquarters Florida, United States

Data Design Interactive was a British-American video game developer and video game publisher. It was founded in 1983, became a limited company in 1999 and set up a US division Data Design Interactive LLC in May 2008.[1] The UK office ceased trading in 2009.[2]

History

The company was founded by Stewart Green as a single programmer, on 8 bit consoles, Sinclair Spectrum, Amstrad CPC he designed, programmed, created graphics, wrote music, manually recorded the games, and sold units at computer fairs and by mail order. The company mostly does work for hire for publishers, including Hasbro and Lego. DDI was a developer for Lego Media, and created rendered animations for all the LEGO Media titles, including Harry Potter. They later developed the Game Orientated Development System (GODS), a game engine for rapid cross-platform games development by re-using large amounts of code between titles.

Popcorn Arcade

The Popcorn Arcade was Data Design Interactive's publishing label intended to fill a lack of Wii titles, and especially establish a low price Wii budget range. From 2007 DDI released over 30 'family friendly' titles on its Popcorn Arcade label, specializing in family friendly, multi-user children's titles. Under the label, it sold over 6 million units of which over 2 million were in the first year alone. Sales peaked at 40% of the European market for Wii games in this price segment.[3] Later titles such as Kidz Sports Crazy Mini Golf sold over 400,000 units.[4]

Critical response to Popcorn Arcade

The Popcorn Arcade range of titles received overwhelmingly negative reviews, highly critical of the products' quality.[5] The press strongly criticized poor graphics, flawed gameplay, unresponsive controls and lack of polish all associated with rushed production schedules or "shovelware" games.

Data Design Interactive's Kidz Sports Series were IGN's Worst Reviewed Wii Games,[6] with all 3 titles receiving 1.0 out of 10. None of Data Design Interactive's Wii games had received a review score higher than 3.0 out of 10. The lowest score of all DDI titles was 0.8 out of 10, given to Action Girlz Racing.[7]

In 2008, games reviewers on IGN and GameSpot UK declared DDI were damaging the Wii games market's credibility by saturating the market with substandard products. One review called for Nintendo to refuse publishing DDI games on the grounds that they were killing public interest in the Wii.[8]

Notable games

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/109723/Data_Design_Interactive_Opens_US_Office.php
  2. ↑ "WebCHeck - Select and Access Company Information". Wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  3. ↑   (15 September 2008). "Popcorn Arcade Hits 40% Market Share of the European Value-Priced Wii Games - Wii News at IGN". Uk.wii.ign.com. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  4. ↑ "Popcorn Arcade Range exclusive preview | Retail Biz | MCV". Mcvuk.com. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  5. ↑ Lyon, James (16 October 2007). "Popcorn Arcade Roundup Wii Review - Page 1". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  6. ↑ "Worst Reviewed Nintendo Console Games - Wii Feature at IGN". IGN. 7 July 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  7. ↑ Thomas, Lucas M. "Action Girlz Racing Review". IGN. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
  8. ↑ Surette, Tim (18 September 2007). "Wii getting 13 from Data Design". GameSpot. Retrieved 30 August 2010.

References

External links

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