Gone But Not Forgotten Video Game Developers/Publishers Lost 2000-2017 - Bullfrog Productions Part 3 - Hospital to the Morgue

Gone But Not Forgotten Video Game Developers/Publishers Lost 2000-2017

The year Is now 1996, with Peter Molyneux now a vice president at EA his corporate role meant that he had more and more responsibilities within EA rather than with Bullfrog with Molyneux having to make frequent trips to EA’s San Francisco offices, growing tired and frustrated of this Molyneux who wanted to return to game design, rather than become a mere employee.

In 1996 Molyneux decide to resign from Bullfrog, as you can image the overlords that are EA were not impressed or happy and as a result of him resigning from Bullfrog he was banned from EA’s offices. Resulting in Molyneux working on Dungeon Keeper at home, Molyneux has speculated that he was banned from their offices out of fear of him taking people with him.

Dungeon Keeper would be the last game Molyneux would work on for Bullfrog

Molyneux decided to leave EA once Dungeon Keeper was completed despite feeling pretty dissatisfied with the corporate side of the games industry Molyneux did accept that he had learnt a lot while vice president and wished success for Bullfrog, It would later turn out Molyneux resigned as a result of been drunk and would take back his resignation if he could have.

It was around this time that EA began digging its claws into the back of Bullfrog, Molyneux was not the only member of the Bullfrog team that were dissatisfied with EA’s role. Lead artist of Dungeon Keeper Mark Healey stated the company felt more like a chicken factory since EA took over. Healey also compared the takeover as being similar to being assimilated by the Borg.

Assimilated by the Borg. How Mark Healey described the EA takeover of Bullfrog

Really 1997 was the end of Bullfrog and not the eventual absorption in 2001, 1997 also saw the final high for Bullfrog with both Dungeon Keeper and Theme Hospital releasing, (he latter is still one of my favourite games). Produced and developed by the soon to be departing Mark Webley, Theme Hospital was a hospital business sim with the player operating their own private hospital but with a far more humours take on the medical world rather than a more serious take, who can forget Bloaty Head, Corrugated Ankles, Slack Tongue and Spare Ribs.

 The joys of Slack Tongue removals and popping Bloaty Heads in Theme Hospital from 1997

Dungeon Keeper was the final game that Molyneux would work on for Bullfrog a strategy game where the player plays the role of dungeon keeper trying to keep out the hero’s by building and managing your dungeon while the hero’s attempt to destroy its monster inhabitants and steal the wealth accumulated by the player. With the players goal to destroy the heroic forces and rival dungeon, as well as a multiplayer mode for up to four players.

Dungeon Keeper took over two years to develop with the soon to be leaving Molyneux putting every thing into making this game great, and it was the game received critical acclaim with the games gameplay and uniqueness frequently praised sadly the game was not the commercial success that had been hoped selling around 700.000 copies by 2003 in comparison the studios Theme Park which sold millions. Even so post Molyneux the game would receive a sequel and the franchise is still active today, albeit a soulless microtransaction filled cesspit.

Upon the completion of Dungeon Keeper and Theme Hospital, Peter Molyneux, Tim Rance and Mark Webley all left Bullfrog, the same year the trio would go on to found Lionhead Studios, in the time between the founding of Lionhead and the release of their first game Black & White the company had already made a home for several Bullfrog team members.

 Peter Molyneux, Tim Rance and Mark Webley all left Bullfrog in 1997 and founded Lionhead Studios together.

  

Artist Andy Bass who had worked on Theme Hospital, Russell Shaw who had worked on several Bullfrog games over the years as a composer, James Leach who was a script writer a Bullfrog, Paul McLaughlin who worked on the unreleased aquatic strategy game Creation and Dungeon Keeper programmer Jonty Barnes all jumping the ship, which by this time the iceberg is only half a mile away.

1997 saw even more key staff members haemorrhage from Bullfrog with the founding of Mucky Foot Productions, with Project Leader and Lead Programmer and Lead Designer of Syndicate Wars Mike Diskett as well as Finn McGechie who was the lead Artist of Magic Carpet and Guy Simmons all heading to pastures new, Gary Carr would also go on to join them at Mucky Foot in 1998.

With Molyneux and a very number of key members of the Bullfrog team gone 1998 was a vital year for Bullfrog with two titles earmarked for release the bigger of the two was the third entry in the Populous series, titled Populous The Beginning it would be the first entry in the series to use 3D graphics with the game being delayed for graphics technology to catch up to their vision for the game.

 Populous The Beginning was the first in the series to be 3D

The game received plenty of praise from critics but there were plenty of complaints out there, the games AI was a major issue for some as well as the indecision of the games design between the real time strategy elements and the god sim elements of the game. Overall it was considered a good game but without the quintessential quality that defined Populous according to GamePro’s Peter Olafson.

Also releasing in 1998 was another entry in the Theme series, this time Theme Aquarium for the Japanese only market, a market that Bullfrog unlike many western developers had found success in with Theme Park and Populous both being successful in Japan. The game would eventually get a North American windows release in 2000.

The following year saw another two new entries into established franchises with the Dungeon Keeper sequel and a new entry in the Theme series, the second Theme Park game would release titled Theme Park World also know as Sim Theme Park in the US, working with their sister company Maxis and using the Sim brand in order to try and establish their games in the region.

With Bullfrog already decimated by the mass exodus in 1997 Theme Park World was mostly developed by  Mindscape who were brought on to the project on mass. Another Theme game was also in development at this time In Theme Resort however this was cancelled with the team moving to the Theme Park World development. Theme Prison, Theme Ski Resort and Theme Airport were all being considered for development as well in the closing years of Bullfrog however none ever came to fruition.

 Theme Park World was one of the last games developed by Bullfrog

1999 was another bad year for Bullfrog on the staffing front with co founder of the company Les Edgar would stand down as chairman of Bullfrog, Glenn Corpes also left the company to found Lost Toys along with fellow Bullfrog members Jeremy Longley and Darren Thomas. With Corpes quoted as saying he was inspired by Mucky Foot Productions running their own affairs and admitted it was quite embarrassing to be still working for the Borg.

By late 1999 plans were In the work for the fourth entry in the Populous series, the game called Genesis: The Hand of God was to be headed up by Ernest Adams however Bullfrog’s management had serious concerns about the game similarities to Lionhead Studio’s game Black & White, as a result the game was cancelled.

Adams was shifted onto the third entry in the Dungeon Keeper series, with the previous entry not selling as well as hoped Adams and his team were instructed by the Borg to make the game more accessible, however at this time the Borg’s focus was changing, with the Borg in negotiations with J K Rowling and New Line Cinema for the rights to Harry Potter and The Lord of The Rings.

Work began on Dungeon Keeper 3 in November of 1999 but just five months later the game was canned with the Borg preferring the easy cash grab of movie tie ins. Bullfrog endured as part of the Borg dominium until 2001 when there final release Theme Park Inc was released, however by this point the majority of the development had been done by another company. With most of Bullfrog already absorbed by EA UK shortly after the remains of Bullfrog were consumed by EA UK rendering the Bullfrog name defunct.

Many of the Bullfrog team escaped the dreaded clutches of EA Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley, and Tim Rance as already stated went on to found Lionhead Studios. With Molyneux later going on to found 22Cans after he left Lionhead. Steve Jackson went on to co found Games Workshop and also became an author writing the Fighting Fantasy books.

Mucky Foot Productions founded by Mike Diskett, Fin McGechie, and Guy Simmons and joined by Gary Carr were founded in 1997 and developed Urban Chaos, Startopia, and Blade II with Eidos Interactive before they closed in 2003.

Mark Healey who had reffered to EA as the Borg went on to found Media Molecule along with Alex Evans, Dave Smith, and Kareem Ettouney with the company still going today with their current project Dreams on its way in the near future, Media Molecule obviously most famous for the LittleBigPlanet series.

Intrepid Computer Entertainment founded by Joe Rider and Matt Chilton were first party developers for Microsoft until their closure in 2004 with the majority of staff moving to Lionhead when they did close. Big Blue Box Studios also worked closely with Lionhead and were aquired by Peter Molyneux company in 2005.

The most recent company to come out of Bullfrog’s demise is Two Point Studios who were founded in 2016 by Gary Carr and Mark Webley as well as Ben Hymers, the studio signed a publishing deal with Sega in may of this year. Two Point is said to be developing a simulation game with an initial announcement earmarked for early 2018.

When it comes to Bullfrog IP’s however things do not look too good since the demise of Bullfrog in 2001 we have seen freemium releases for both Theme Park and Dungeon Keeper and lets be honest both are a steaming pile of crap a bit like EA.

 Theme Park and Dungeon Keeper have become nothing but microtransaction infested cesspit's under EA

Written by

P J Gibbon