Chris van der Kuyl founded VIS Interactive in 1996, alongside Peter Baillie, some former developers from
DMA Design, and other "techy people" from outside the
video game industry. A
Dundee native, van der Kuyl headed the company as
president and
chief executive officer. In 2000, VIS Interactive was renamed VIS Entertainment. In April 2003, the company acquired the
London-based development studio of
BAM! Entertainment. In the same year, VIS Entertainment faced financial issues as reimbursements to investors meant that it could not finance its active projects. As a result, the company closed its studio on the
Isle of Wight in July of that year, laying off all staff. The company further announced the impending closure of its London studio in September 2003, citing project delays and cancellations. In November, VIS iTV, a Dundee-based
joint venture between VIS Entertainment and cable operator
Telewest, laid off 75% of its staff. Jane Karowoski, VIS Entertainment's
chief operating officer whose task it was to implement
cost reductions, subsequently announced her resignation. VIS iTV's sole product, the "interactive virtual
horseracing" project
I-Race, was to debut on the newly established sports
satellite channel iSports TV, but these plans never materialised and VIS iTV was placed into
administration in December 2004. In January 2005, Bellwether Group, a California-based
venture capital group, acquired VIS iTV and
I-Race and hired five of its previous staff, intending to market the product in the United States. On 18 February 2004, BAM! Entertainment announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire VIS Entertainment and its
subsidiary State of Emergency Development, which had been set up to fund development for
State of Emergency 2, for
shares worth roughly . The acquisition was completed by 25 May 2004. Despite the acquisition, VIS Entertainment was placed into administration on 7 April 2005. Tom Maclennan and Kenny Craig of Tenon Recovery were installed as administrators. Subsequently, VIS Entertainment's Dundee studio was shut down and its 26 employees laid off. Another 28 positions were cut at the Edinburgh headquarters, with the remaining 42 "sent home" during the administration process. VIS Entertainment founder van der Kuyl established
4J Studios on 19 April. The rights to
State of Emergency 2 were sold to
DC Studios announced in May 2005, and the company intended to hire between 10 and 40 former VIS Entertainment developers. The administration ended in March 2007 and, following its
liquidation, the entity was
dissolved in July 2014. == Games ==