TDK Mediactive, Inc. (formerly
Sound Source Interactive, Inc., later renamed
Take-Two Licensing, Inc.) was an American
video game publisher based in
Westlake Village, California. Founded as Sound Source Interactive by Vincent Bitetti in 1988, the company acquired
BWT Labs in March 1998. In September 2000, the company was acquired by
TDK and became TDK Mediactive.
Take-Two Interactive acquired the company's North American operations in September 2003, renaming itself as Take-Two Licensing the following December. With the foundation of Take-Two Interactive's
2K Games label in January 2005, Take-Two Licensing was effectively folded into the new
subsidiary.
History Sound Source Interactive was founded in 1988 by Vincent Bitetti. In March 1998, Sound Source Interactive announced that it had acquired
BWT Labs, a
Berkeley, California-based
video game developer. On September 11, 2000,
TDK acquired a 72%
controlling stake in Sound Source Interactive, with an initial investment of , followed by another of , totaling to . The buyout resulted in Sound Source rebranding under the TDK Mediactive name, with the company's founder, Vincent Bitetti, remaining
chief executive officer and Shin Tanabe,
President of
TDK Recording Media Europe and the European division of TDK Mediactive, becoming the publisher's
chief operating officer. As TDK Mediactive, the company published various video games, of which many based on licensed properties. With this, TDK inherited Sound Source's existing licenses with
Universal Pictures for
The Land Before Time and
The Harvey Entertainment Company for the
Harvey Comics characters, among others. On December 20, 2000, the company signed an exclusive video game licensing deal with
DreamWorks SKG to produce and publish games based on
Shrek. On April 13, 2001, the company signed a five-year deal with clothing brand No Limits to publish games based on the license. At
E3 2001, the company secured the video game licensing rights to
RoboTech from
Mattel. The company later signed a deal with The Beanstalk Group to produce games based on
Dinotopia. On September 27, 2001, the company announced a two-year co-publishing agreement with
Activision Value to handle the
Right of first refusal for TDK's PC titles. In November 2001, the company announced to publish games for the
GameCube. This was followed with a licensing agreement from
DC to produce video games based on
Aquaman in December. The company continued gaining exclusive video game rights to franchises through 2002. It secured a deal with
Jim Henson Interactive to produce games based on
The Muppets in April, an extension of its
Shrek license to also include video game rights to
Shrek 2, a deal with
Mattel for
He-Man, a Nintendo-only deal with
Hasbro for the
Tonka franchise in May (under a sub-licensing agreement with
Infogrames), and
Disney Interactive with
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and
The Haunted Mansion from
Disney Interactive in July. On October 18, 2002, the company launched TDK Impulse, a publishing label intended for games that had "broad consumer appeal and a low price point". In January 2003, the company purchased the video game licensing rights to the
UFC from
Crave Entertainment. May 2003, the company announced its
Shrek 2 video game tie-in would be a co-publishing collaboration with
Activision. On September 3, 2003, TDK Mediactive, Inc. announced that it was to be acquired by
Take-Two Interactive for an estimated . The transaction was finalized on December 2, 2003, with 23,005,885 shares, valued at , and another in cash awarded to TDK. Afterwards, Take-Two rebranded TDK Mediactive, Inc. as Take-Two Licensing, Inc. and received all its licenses except for the
Shrek license, which was fully obtained Activision after it signed a new deal with DreamWorks, with Activision terminating its previous existing licensing agreement it previously had with TDK for
Shrek 2 games. On February 11, 2004, Take-Two announced a licensing agreement with
Cartoon Network to publish video games based on Cartoon Network shows, with
Codename: Kids Next Door – Operation: V.I.D.E.O.G.A.M.E. being the first under the deal. On January 25, 2005, Take-Two Interactive announced the opening of publishing label
2K Games, into which Take-Two Licensing was folded.
Games published As Sound Source Interactive As TDK Mediactive As Take-Two Licensing == References ==