NewKidCo LLC was an American video game publisher of children's titles based on popular licensed characters, for Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft consoles. The company was a subsidiary of NewKidCo International Inc. (TSE: NKC; OTC BB: NKCIF)."About NewKidCo International Inc." NewKidCo. December 29, 2001. Retrieved on July 28, 2010.
NewKidCo had subsidiary offices in Burlington, Massachusetts and Midtown Manhattan, New York City."Corporate Directory." NewKidCo. October 7, 1999. Retrieved on July 27, 2010. At a later point, it was headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, with its only office being there."Corporate Directory." NewKidCo. January 4, 2002. Retrieved on July 27, 2010.
History NewKidCo Holdings, LLC was formed as a start-up company in 1997 by Henry Kaplan and Jonathan D. Harber, the latter being the former CEO of fellow video game publisher Hi Tech Expressions, with Harber also having worked for the company. Shortly afterwards, the company secured a licensing deal with Children's Television Workshop to publish Sesame Street games for the PlayStation. This was done though Kaplan's long-time partnership with the organization.
On April 21, 1998, NewKidCo Holdings, LLC announced that they had entered into a joint venture with Alpha Software Corporation, a subsidiary of SoftQuad International Inc. to secure game publishing rights; of which Alpha Software would own a majority stake in the business.https://web.archive.org/web/20000104032617/http://www.newkidco.com/press_releases/4-21-98_1.html On the same day, the venture announced that the Sesame Street titles would release in the Fall of 1998.https://web.archive.org/web/19991009012454/http://www.newkidco.com/press_releases/4-21-98_2.html The joint-venture with Alpha Software was finalized on June 10 as NewKidCo LLC, with Alpha holding 75% in the combined company. SoftQuad International soon announced a possible diversion of its hardware assets to focus strictly on video games.https://web.archive.org/web/19991104055341/http://www.newkidco.com/press_releases/6-9-98.html At E3 1998, the company secured its third license: Tiny Toon Adventures with the announcement of Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster and the Beanstalk. SoftQuad International was delisted from the NASDAQ on October 9, and on November 10, they had entirely sold SoftQuad Inc.'s assets to private investors and management, sending the company private. This completed the international division's move to children's video games and were renamed NewKidCo International Inc. Prior to that, the company began releasing games for the Game Boy Color with Elmo' ABCs and Elmo's 123s.https://web.archive.org/web/19991103231002/http://www.newkidco.com/press_releases/10-7-98.html
In March 1999, The Learning Company (later Mattel Interactive) secured North American distribution rights to NewKidCo's titles in North America. These rights expired in July 2000 when NewKidCo decided to open up their own distribution network.
At E3 1999, the company entered the Nintendo 64 market with enhanced ports of Elmo's Letter Adventure and Elmo's Number Journey,https://web.archive.org/web/19991104033413/http://www.newkidco.com/press_releases/5-13-99SSN64.html as well as a Game Boy Color tie-in game to the film The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.https://web.archive.org/web/19991009031902/http://www.newkidco.com/press_releases/5-13-99GLD.html The company also secured a license to release video games based on Hello Kitty from Sanrio.https://web.archive.org/web/19991104012939/http://www.newkidco.com/press_releases/5-13-99GK1.html On June 15, NewKidCo International Inc. purchased out NewKidCo Holdings LLC's 25% share in NewKidCo LLC, becoming a fully owned subsidiary.https://web.archive.org/web/19990829052008/http://www.newkidco.com/press_releases/6-15-99.html On October 7, the company entered into a publishing deal with Disney Interactive to release titles based on the Winnie the Pooh franchise, as well as a PlayStation port of Disney's Animated Storybook: Mulan.https://web.archive.org/web/19991127230108/http://www.newkidco.com/press_releases/10-7-99.html On December 18, the company secured a license from Sony Pictures Family Entertainment Group to release Dragon Tales video games.
At E3 2000, the company secured the E.T. license from Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment and Tom & Jerry from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. In July 2000, Ubi Soft signed a publishing deal with the company to allow them to release the company's titles in PAL region territories. The partnership was extended in January 2001.
In April 2002, NewKidCo signed a deal with Nickelodeon to release games based on Dora the Explorer. In November 2002, the company signed a new North American distribution deal with Jack of All Games.https://web.archive.org/web/20041210021559/http://www.newkidco.com/press_releases/11-06-02.html Leveraging by their distribution deal, NewKidCo and Take-Two Interactive decided to start co-publishing games shortly before the company shut down. One of the co-published games, Dora the Explorer: Super Spies, went through Gotham Games, the others Dora the Explorer: Barnyard Buddies and the Game Boy Advance version of Dragon Tales: Dragon Adventures was co-published by Global Star Software.
Games Title Platform(s) Developer(s) Year(s) Tiny Toon Adventures: The Great Beanstalk PlayStation Terraglyph Interactive Studios 1998 Sesame Street: Elmo's Letter Adventure Nintendo 64, PlayStation Realtime Associates 1998 (PS)1999 (N64) Sesame Street: Elmo's Number Journey Disney's Story Studio: Mulan PlayStation Revolution Software 1999 Hello Kitty's Cube Frenzy Game Boy Color, PlayStation Culture Publishers (PlayStation)Torus Games (Game Boy Color) Sesame Street: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland Game Boy Color Bonsai Interactive Corporation Sesame Street: Elmo's 123s Bonsai Entertainment Sesame Street: Elmo's ABCs Doug's Big Game ImaginEngine/Magellan Interactive 2000 Dragon Tales: Dragon Seek PlayStation Zed Two Game Design Studio Dragon Tales: Dragon Wings Game Boy Color Tigger's Honey Hunt Nintendo 64, PlayStation Doki Denki Studio Tom and Jerry in Fists of Furry Nintendo 64, Windows VIS Entertainment Tom and Jerry in House Trap PlayStation Warthog Games Tom and Jerry in Mouse Attacks! Game Boy Color Winnie the Pooh: Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood TOSE Dragon Tales: Dragon Adventures Handheld Games 2001 E.T.: Digital Companion Powerhead Games E.T.: Escape from Planet Earth Saffire E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Game Boy Advance Fluid Studios Goofy's Fun House PlayStation The Code Monkeys Sesame Street Sports Game Boy Color, PlayStation Bonsai Interactive Corporation (GBC)Realtime Associates (PlayStation) E.T.: Away from Home PC Lexis Numérique 2002 E.T.: Interplanetary Mission PC, PlayStation Lexis Numérique (PC)Digital Eclipse Software (PlayStation) E.T.: Phone Home Adventure PC Lexis Numérique E.T. and the Cosmic Garden Game Boy Color Zed Two Game Design Studio Little League Baseball 2002 Game Boy Advance Handheld Games Muppet Pinball Mayhem Digital Eclipse Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring Cave+Barn Studios Droopy's Tennis Open Warthog Games Tom and Jerry in Infurnal Escape CinéGroupe Dora the Explorer: The Search for Pirate Pig's Treasure Tom and Jerry in War of the Whiskers GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox VIS Entertainment 2002 (PS2)2003 (NGC/Xbox) Dr. Seuss: Green Eggs and Ham Game Boy Advance Handheld Games 2003 Dr. Seuss: The Cat in the Hat PlayStation DC Studios 2004 The Cat in the Hat Game Boy Advance Game Titan 2005
Canceled
Droopy's Miniature Golf (Game Boy Advance) E.T.: Return to the Green Planet (PlayStation 2) E.T.: Salerian Project (Game Boy Advance) E.T.: Search for Dragora (GameCube, Xbox) Little League Baseball 2002 (GameCube) The Super-Stoo-Pendus World of Dr. Seuss (Game Boy Advance) U.S. Youth Soccer: Power-Up Soccer (Game Boy Advance)
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