Cryo

Cryo first came into being in 1990 following the rebranding of the ERE Informatiques label, EXXOS.

Cryo Interactive Entertainment was established as entirely independant developer in January 1992 by legendary developers Jean-Martial Lefranc, Philippe Ulrich and Rémi Herbulot. Within three years the company established itself as one of the largest development studios in Europe, working for prestigious international publishers such as Virgin, Sega, GTE, Mindscape, Viacom or MGM.

At the end of this first successful stage, Cryo decided in 1995 to give a new dimension to its growth by launching a publication business. The founders decided in this regard to welcome into their operation 'Financière Agache', one of the holding companies of the Bernard Arnault group, to obtain the necessary capital for this second stage. At the end of 1996, the first products published by Cryo were to be very successful, first of all with 'Versailles, A Game of Intrigue at the Court of Louis XIV', in which Cryo innovated by creating the cultural game genre, followed up swiftly by a full range during 1997 including 'Egypt 1156 B.C Tomb of the Pharaon' and ' Atlantis'. Cultural games, adventures or games of strategy therefore form a reference creative panoply that includes since that time: 'Gadget', 'Dreams', Ubik', 'The 3rd Millennium'. Installed in premises covering more than 1,600 m2 in Paris, Cryo managed to gather together, in an environment based on the model of the cinema studios of the '30s, a team of almost 200 people with complementary abilities in areas as varied as drawing, manufacturing maquettes, graphics, 2D and 3D animation, writing original screenplays, programming, musical composition and creation and audiovisual production. Cryo also chose to concentrate its efforts on research, integrating within its structure a Research & Development department responsible for developing new technologies such as Omni 3D and Omni Sync or the creation of graphic development drivers.

Considered throughout the world as one of the finest creators in the sector, Cryo concentrated its publishing approach on adventure games targeting the general public whilst often integrating spectacular technological innovations.

Sadly the company hit on hard times, when in 2002 it failed to secure additional funding. Without this essential financial backing, the company was forced to close its doors.

Software Highlights from Credited Titles

Cryo's first work that SPOnG is aware of is the 1990 title, "Extase" (Amiga).

The company has been involved titles released on the PC, PS2, Xbox, PlayStation, Game Boy Color, Saturn, SNES, Amiga, ST and 3DO.

The company's most recent involvement was on the 2003 release "MegaRace 3: Nanotech Disaster" (PS2).

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