GTE Interactive Media was a video game development company located in Carlsbad, California. Its focus was on the development of videos, of interactive television platforms, and of interactive video game products for arcade machines, home console cartridges, and CD-ROMs, including development and publishing under the GTE Entertainment brand.[1][2][3] It folded in 1997.[1]
| Formerly | GTE ImagiTrek GTE Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Video games Interactive television |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Defunct | March 14, 1997 |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 1 (1997) |
| Owner | GTE Corporation |
Number of employees | 120 high in 1996, 85 end (1997) |
| Parent | GTE Vantage |
| Website | www.im.gte.com |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
History
editGTE Interactive was founded as GTE ImagiTrek in 1990 by Richard E. Robinson, as a division of GTE Vantage,[2] a wholly owned subsidiary of the now-defunct telecommunications provider GTE. Originally named GTE ImagiTrek, it was renamed GTE Interactive Media in 1994.[citation needed] Richard Scott, vice president of New Ventures at GTE said "At its inception, GTE Interactive Media was viewed as a complementary adjunct to GTE's plans to develop broadband video services networks."[4]
In January 1995, the division entered a partnership with Nintendo for the development of arcade games and of online networking.[5] In the same month, the partnership previewed its first title, FX Fighter, at Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.[6]
In 1995, the division experienced a high of 120 employees. Experiencing difficulties in the video game market and with the Telecommunications Act of 1996 putting a pinch on GTE due to deregulation, the division began to steadily lay off staff. The parent company GTE planned to cease its own content creation in favor of feeding its networks with the rapidly expanding market of third party content.[4]
Failing to find a buyer or partner, the division announced in January 1997 that it would lay off 85 employees and cease operations on March 14, 1997.[4] The remaining "skeleton staff" would provide technical support and further shutdown services through June 30.[7] Citing hardships in the entire CD-ROM market, Dick Nordman, finance director for GTE's New Ventures group in Irving, Texas, explained, "In the beginning, the idea was that we wanted to get into the content business. Now, with everything else going on in the telecommunications industry, we felt our energies would be better spent in the telco arena."[1]
List of games
editThis is a list of video games designed in whole or in part by GTE Interactive Media.[8]
| Title | Platform | Developer | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time Traveler Hologram | Arcade | GTE Interactive Media (for Sega) |
1991 |
| M.C. Hammer's Soulfire | Genesis | Unknown | Unreleased |
| StreetSports Jammit | PC 3DO SNES Genesis |
GTE Interactive Media | 1994 |
| Vitsie Visits Dinosaurs | PC Mac |
GTE Interactive Media (under the Interactive Toys brand) | |
| Vitsie Visits Space | |||
| Vitsie Visits the Ocean | |||
| FX Fighter | PC | Argonaut Games | 1995 |
| Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge | Second Vision | ||
| Forrest Gump: Artists, Music, and Times | GTE Interactive Media | ||
| NCAA Championship Basketball | |||
| Street Hockey '95 | SNES | ||
| Night Light | PC Mac |
GTE Interactive Media (under the Interactive Toys brand) | |
| Tank Girl | PC | Argonaut Games | Unreleased |
| Dust: A Tale of the Wired West | Cyberflix | 1995 | |
| Sea Legends | Ocean Software | May 31, 1996 | |
| Skull Cracker | Cyberflix | September 30, 1996 | |
| Timelapse | PC Mac |
GTE Interactive Media | October 16, 1996 |
| Titanic: Adventure Out of Time | PC | Cyberflix | November 12, 1996 |
| FX Fighter Turbo | Argonaut Games | 1996 |
References
edit- ^ a b c d Kaplan, Karen (January 27, 1997). "GTE Hangs Up on Bid to Enter Multimedia". Retrieved January 27, 2015.
- ^ a b Andrews, Edmund (June 21, 1994). "GTE Introduces an Interactive Video Unit". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2008.
- ^ Scherer, Ron (June 17, 1994). "GTE Plunges Into Interactive Media". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
- ^ a b c "News for the week of January 6th". PC Gamer Online. January 6, 1997. Archived from the original on October 12, 1997. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
- ^ "GTE's Venture With Nintendo". International New York Times. The New York Times Company. January 9, 1995. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
- ^ Carlton, Jim (January 4, 1995). "Nintendo/GTE Interactive to Offer Games for Interactive-TV". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
- ^ Yans, Cindy (January 7, 1997). "GTE: RIP". CD Mag. Archived from the original on June 14, 1997. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
- ^ "GTE Entertainment Profile"GameSpot Retrieved on May 12, 2008.