MC2-Microïds
Overview
Founded in 1985 by
Elliot Grassiano, Microïds is a French company which was involved in developing games for the first 10 years, expanding into publishing and distribution in 1995.
Some of the best sellers in the company's large games library are primarily in the adventure genre:
Amerzone,
Syberia I and II,
Still Life and
Obscure.
The company employed over 200 people, 105 of which were based in their Montreal, Canada, development division.
Divisions active in April 2003 were:
- Microïds France (Vélizy, France near Paris): Publishing, Sales, Distribution, Marketing
- Microïds Canada Inc. (Montreal, Quebec, Canada): Development
- Microïds Ltd (Milton Keynes, United Kingdom): Publishing, Sales, Distribution, Marketing
- Microïds Italia (Milan, Italy): Publishing, Sales, Distribution (now Blue Label Entertainment Srl)
In 2003, Microïds merged with MC2 and changed its name to
MC2-Microïds. In Sept. 2003, the company acquired
Wanadoo Edition including its complete catalog. The merging resulted in the forming of
MC2 France. Founder
Elliot Grassiano left the company and
Emmanuel Olivier became CEO.
Within the next year, the Italian branch broke away from the company and changed its name to
Blue Label Entertainment Srl.
In March 2005,
Ubi Soft acquired Microïds Canada, the company's Canadian development operations.
Ubisoft Canada Inc, Ubisoft's Montreal Branch, got 50 of the employees who were integrated into Ubisoft's Montreal development teams. Only the Canadian division was effected. All other MC2-Microïds branches were not involved, and MC2-Microïds retained all assets and rights to their previous releases as well as projects in development.
In Nov. 2007, the company announced the relaunch of the "MICROÏDS" label lead by
Emmanuel Olivier and other original founders of
Index+. The primary functions of the company are publishing, marketing and distribution. Future releases are being published under the names
MICROÏDS Montreal or
MICROÏDS Paris. The headquarters are located in Montrouge, France, a close suburb of Paris.
It appears that the company is using the names
MC2: Microïds and
MC2 interchangeably at this point in time.
Contributed by
Indra Depari of 'da Clan Depari 
(12310) on Jun 09, 2003. [
revised by :
Jeanne (46250)].
