Akella was a Russian software company specialising in the development, publishing and distribution of video games and multimedia products. The founders met in 1993 and decided to start a company together and in 1995 formed Akella. The company comprised five in-house development teams, a publishing house, a distribution center, a localisation team and a quality assurance department; in total, 250 people were employed by Akella. There were several sub-brands owned by Akella, such as Macho Studios, that developed erotic games and published Japanese hentai dating sims.