Argonaut Games PLC

Founded by Jez San, Argonaut Games Plc was a large independent games developer with a 17 year history of producing games.

The company was based in Edgware, north London, UK, and at its peak boasted over 300 employees. Argonaut created numerous games, most notably Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, Alien: Resurrection and the first Harry Potter on the PlayStation for EA.

Additionally, Argonaut developed the Super FX chip (used in the original SNES Star Fox title) for Nintendo, which ultimately became the foundation for a spin-off sister company, Argonaut RISC Cores.

Argonaut worked with a wide-range of publishers including Sega, Nintendo, Virgin, Koei, Mitsui, 20th Century Fox, Electronic Arts, Sierra and Ubisoft.

In 2000, the Argonaut board decided to float the company on the London AIM (Alternative Investments Market) stock-exchange, raising over £20m in working capital. A series of acquisitions followed, adding several small studios to the group, including Just Add Monsters (now Ninja Theory) and Particle Systems. However, the group struggled with both its new overheads and the fresh challenges in the transition from PlayStation to PS2 and Xbox.

The company also had an office in Woodside, California, Argonaut USA.

By 2004, after various setbacks, Argonaut's cash reserves were severely depleted, leading to the eventual closure of all of its studios, and the loss of several hundred jobs.

Aside from Ninja Theory, London-based developer Rocksteady Studios rose from Argonaut's ashes, while another acquisition, mobile developer Morpheme, was active until 2008.

Jez San went on to found online 3D poker company PKR.com.