BAM! Entertainment, Inc. (formerly Bay Area Multimedia, Inc.) was an American video game publisher based in San Jose, California, that was founded by Ray Musci in October 1999. BAM!'s partnership with Cartoon Network in 2000 led to the development of a number of licensed video games featuring Cartoon Network IPs, including The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Ed, Edd n Eddy.
A 2001 distribution deal allowed French publisher Ubi Soft to distribute BAM!'s games internationally. BAM! suffered financial turmoil beginning in 2002, during which time the NASDAQ threatened to delist it from the stock exchange. The company sold off its London-based development studio to VIS Entertainment in 2003. BAM! acquired VIS in 2004 but was delisted from the NASDAQ. The company continued to publish licensed games until 2005, when the company went defunct after filing for bankruptcy.
History Formation American entrepreneur Ray Musci founded Bay Area Multimedia on October 7, 1999. The company signed a deal with Takara in April 2000 to localize and publish Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals for the Nintendo 64 in North America as a rental-only release. The company also signed distribution deals with Virgin Interactive and Victor Interactive Software to distribute Jimmy White's 2: Cueball and Contender 2 for the North American market.
In 2000, Bay Area Multimedia secured an exclusive licensing deal with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Cartoon Network to publish games based on Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, and Yogi Bear. The company also secured a licensing agreement with Franchise Pictures to publish video games based on its films. A separate licensing agreement with Warner Bros. and DC Comics was also made for the licensing of Sgt. Rock.
Expansion In December 2000, the company was renamed BAM! Entertainment.
Shortly afterward, the company opened an office in the United Kingdom to publish their games in Europe. They soon signed a deal with Ubi Soft in February 2001 for the distribution of BAM!'s games in the entirety of Europe except for the United Kingdom. The company launched its first Palm OS titles, Strike it Rich and CardTopia, at the end of June 2001. From September onward the company secured more publishing and licensing deals, including a deal to publish the Game Boy Advance port of Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars on September 17 and a licensing agreement with Spyglass Entertainment for a video game based on Reign of Fire on October 9 and 16.
By February 2001 the company had a staff of 20 in its UK studio and 10 employees in San Jose, California.
On January 8, 2002, BAM! announced that its Cartoon Network partnership would expand to include Samurai Jack and later and Ed, Edd n Eddy. Shortly afterwards, BAM! signed a five-year agreement with Aardman Animations to publish games based on Wallace and Gromit. In February, the company announced a port of Driven as its first GameCube title, and at the end of the month signed a publishing agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to release World Rally Championship in North America. The SCEE agreement soon expanded to include Wipeout Fusion and Dropship: United Peace Force in March. In June, a deal was made with Riverdeep for video games based on the Carmen Sandiego educational franchise. In November, BAM! signed a publishing deal with Disney Interactive to release two Winnie the Pooh educational titles and My Disney Kitchen for the PlayStation.
Fate and bankruptcy In 2002, BAM! started to suffer from financial problems, which led to the NASDAQ threatening to delist the company.
In April 2003, the company's London-based development studio was purchased by VIS Entertainment, however, VIS later announced that the studio would close following the completion of its remaining projects. In the same year, following the expiration of its distribution deal with Ubi Soft, BAM! entered into a new distribution deal with Acclaim Entertainment in August. Unlike the Ubi Soft partnership, the Acclaim deal included all PAL region countries. The deal ended after Acclaim's bankruptcy the following year.
In 2004, BAM! acquired VIS Entertainment and fellow subsidiary State of Emergency Development. The NASDAQ finally delisted BAM!'s stock in the same year. VIS Entertainment was placed into bankruptcy in April 2005; BAM! then sold the rights to VIS's State of Emergency 2 to DC Studios in May that year and filed for bankruptcy shortly thereafter.
Games Year Title Platform(s) Developer(s) 2000 Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals PlayStation Takara Nintendo 64 The Powerpuff Girls: Bad Mojo Jojo Game Boy Color Sennari Interactive Dexter's Laboratory: Robot Rampage Game Boy Color Altron The Powerpuff Girls: Paint the Townsville Green Game Boy Color Sennari Interactive Yogi Bear: Great Balloon Blast Game Boy Color Taito Sgt. Rock: On the Frontline Game Boy Color Altron Contender 2 PlayStation Victor Interactive Software Jimmy White's 2: Cueball PlayStation Awesome Developments 2001 The Powerpuff Girls: Battle Him Game Boy Color Sennari Interactive Xtreme Wheels Game Boy Color Spike Fire Pro Wrestling Game Boy Advance Spike Hot Potato Game Boy Advance Pukka Games Sports Illustrated for Kids: Baseball Game Boy Advance Sennari Interactive Dexter's Laboratory: Deesaster Strikes! Game Boy Advance Virtucraft The Powerpuff Girls: Mojo Jojo's Pet Project Microsoft Windows Intelligent Games The Powerpuff Girls: Gamesville Microsoft Windows Intelligent Games Dexter's Laboratory: Science Ain't Fair Microsoft Windows Intelligent Games The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-Traction PlayStation VIS EntertainmentAsylum Entertainment Nintendo 64 Driven PlayStation 2 BAM! Studios Europe Game Boy Advance Crawfish Interactive The Powerpuff Girls: Mojo Jojo A-Go-Go Game Boy Advance Sennari Interactive 2002 Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars Game Boy Advance Revolution Software WRC: World Rally Championship PlayStation 2 Evolution Studios Wolfenstein 3D Game Boy Advance Stalker Entertainment Driven GameCube BAM! Studios Europe Savage Skies PlayStation 2 Irock Interactive Dexter's Laboratory: Mandark's Lab? PlayStation Red Lemon Studios Star X Game Boy Advance Graphic State Dropship: United Peace Force PlayStation 2 Team Soho Way of the Samurai PlayStation 2 Acquire Wipeout Fusion PlayStation 2 Studio Liverpool Kong: The Animated Series Game Boy Advance Planet Interactive Riding Spirits PlayStation 2 Spike Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever II Game Boy Advance Crawfish Interactive Ed, Edd n Eddy: Jawbreakers! Game Boy Advance Climax Group Fire Pro Wrestling 2 Game Boy Advance Spike Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver Xbox I-Imagine Interactive Dexter's Laboratory: Chess Challenge Game Boy Advance Virtucraft Reign of Fire PlayStation 2 Kuju Entertainment GameCube Xbox Game Boy Advance Crawfish Interactive The Powerpuff Girls: HIM and Seek Game Boy Advance Vicarious Visions Runabout 3: Neo Age PlayStation 2 Climax Entertainment Disney's Winnie the Pooh: Preschool PlayStation Hi Corp Disney's Winnie the Pooh: Kindergarten PlayStation Hi Corp My Disney Kitchen PlayStation Atlus The Powerpuff Girls: Relish Rampage PlayStation 2 VIS Entertainment 2003 Samurai Jack: The Amulet of Time Game Boy Advance Virtucraft Sports Illustrated for Kids: Football Game Boy Advance Sennari Interactive 4x4 Evo 2 PlayStation 2 Terminal Reality Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo PlayStation 2 Frontier Developments GameCube Xbox Microsoft Windows The Powerpuff Girls: Relish Rampage - Pickled Edition GameCube VIS Entertainment 2004 A Sound of Thunder Game Boy Advance Möbius Entertainment Carmen Sandiego: The Secret of the Stolen Drums PlayStation 2 Artificial Mind and Movement GameCube Xbox Bujingai: The Forsaken City PlayStation 2 Taito 2005 Ice Nine Game Boy Advance Torus Games
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