1986–1998 Majesco was first known as a reissuer of old titles that had been abandoned by their original publisher. By cutting the prices and eventually arranging the rights to self-manufacture games for both
Nintendo and
Sega systems, the company found a sustainable market niche. Later, Majesco arranged with Sega to manufacture a version of its
Genesis (known as Mega Drive outside
North America) 16-bit console, which had been superseded by the 32-bit
Saturn. It released this in 1998 as the Genesis 3 and followed up with a version of the handheld
Game Gear called the Game Gear Core System. In 1998, it signed a deal with
Hasbro Interactive to publish their titles for the 8-bit handheld and 16-bit console formats, notably the
Game Boy Color.
1998–2016 The company's focus shifted to in-house game development, initially under the brand Pipe-Dream Interactive since few believed they could make the transition successfully. It was originally by two lead producers who were employees of
Morning Star Multimedia, Dan Kitchen and Kevin Mitchell. Majesco had a licensing agreement with publisher
Red Storm Entertainment to bring ''
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six to the Sega Dreamcast platform in 1999. Pipe Dream Interactive, a Majesco subsidiary would eventually produce their titles for Hasbro Interactive on the Game Boy Color and the Sega Dreamcast in 2000, most notably Q*Bert''. In 2000, Majesco had a licensing agreement with
Activision to publish ports of their classic titles for various platforms, most notably the
PlayStation 2 and the
Game Boy Advance. The following year, Majesco signed an agreement with
THQ to bring its vast catalog for the Game Boy Advance for the European market, and the following year, had an agreement with
Codemasters to publish two titles for PlayStation 2. Majesco focused on developing for console systems, such as
GameCube, Game Boy Advance,
Xbox, and PlayStation 2. A few of the titles it released, involving popular characters, included a few
Bomberman titles for the GameCube and Game Boy Advance. Majesco also published
computer games with
Terminal Reality as the developer, such as
BloodRayne and
BloodRayne 2. In 2003, Majesco was slated to publish
Black 9, but producers forced the developers, Taldren, Inc., to shut down when the game was about 85% complete. The publisher had reached financial trouble with its larger-budget games, such as
Psychonauts, which sold poorly although receiving several awards and critical acclaim, and
Advent Rising, which generated intense hype but was ultimately panned by critics for being released prematurely and without adequate bug testing. Around this time, the company's best-selling titles in the last few years was the series of
GBA Videos for the Game Boy Advance. It also published the game
Jaws Unleashed. On January 19, 2006, the company's financial situation worsened to the degree that it had to cancel two games it was going to publish:
Demonik, developed by Terminal Reality, and
Taxi Driver, a sequel to the
1976 film of the same name. Majesco's president, Jesse Sutton, said that in the future the company would "focus primarily on publishing value and handheld video games." Since that announcement, the company has followed through with publishing successful budget titles in North America like
Cooking Mama for the
Nintendo DS. On September 14, 2006, Majesco released
Advent Rising and re-released
BloodRayne and
BloodRayne 2 on
Steam. On November 6, 2007, Majesco announced the opening of a new development facility in the Los Angeles area dedicated to the development of casual game products and properties. On December 10, 2007, Majesco announced that they would be publishing a rhythm-based game, ''
Major Minor's Majestic March, exclusively for the Wii developed by NanaOn-Sha. Majesco has announced that it will be launching an internet version of Bananagrams on August 18, 2008, that will be available on Facebook, a social networking website. On November 4, 2009, Majesco released BloodRayne
and BloodRayne 2'' on
GOG.com. On June 6, 2011, Majesco announced that it was acquiring the assets of social game developer Quick Hit and
Quick Hit Football to build out its social gaming strategy. After a disastrous fiscal year of 2013, the company was expected to enjoy a recovering growth in 2014. It has an online casino gambling subsidiary GMS Entertainment. However, this proved incorrect, as they continued to lose large amounts of money in 2014, resulting in the closure of Midnight City and the cancellation of the console port of
Gone Home. On August 12, 2015, Majesco announced that they had appointed a new CEO, and that only five employees would remain in the company. The company's focus also shifted to develop mobile and downloadable titles. Two new titles,
Glue and a new installment in the
A Boy and His Blob franchise, were announced after the reconstruction. On December 9, 2016, Majesco announced it was ceasing operations in the entertainment industry, and merged with biotech firm PolarityTE. Polarity will obtain Majesco's NASDAQ symbol name, COOL. On June 29, 2017, PolarityTE divested itself entirely of and subsequently sold, Majesco Entertainment's assets, which were subsequently taken private, leading to the rebirth of the company as an independent corporation.
2017–present On November 9, 2017, Majesco announced that it had re-entered the video game business after having previously been brought back to a privately held company, releasing their
Romans from Mars onto Steam. On January 15, 2018, 51 percent of Majesco was bought by Liquid Media Group, and Jesse Sutton became LMG's Gaming Advisor. On June 15, 2020, Ziggurat Interactive purchased a number of IP formerly owned by Majesco Entertainment, including the rights to
BloodRayne,
Advent Rising, ''
Flip's Twisted World, and Raze's Hell. On the same day, Ziggurat announced that the PC release of BloodRayne'' would receive updates to improve compatibility with current-day systems, with updates done by original developer Terminal Reality. They also announced plans to continue the franchise. In 2021, Majesco announced
Monster Tale for the Nintendo Switch with an expected release later that year. As of February 2025, the game has still not been released. Liquid Media Group no longer lists Majesco Entertainment among its subsidiaries, though no announcement of a divestment has been made. Jesse Sutton still lists himself as a member of the board, though he is no longer employed by Liquid Media Group and is actively involved in two other companies. == Controversies and lawsuits ==