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U.S. Gold
Units 2/3 Holford Way
Holford, Birmingham B6 7AX
United Kingdom
Year Founded: 1984
Year Defunct: 1996
Formed February 1984 (Source: HCW 3 July 1984).
U.S. Gold is a British video game developer and distributor from the mid 1980s through the mid-1990s.
It was founded in Birmingham in 1984 by Geoff Brown as the publishing division of Centresoft. At the time it was established it was porting several US Atari and Commodore 64 games to the 8-bit home computer format in Europe. Over time it gained the rights to port well known games such as Street Fighter, Final Fight, Ghouls n Ghosts, Forgotten Worlds among others. However, a number of their more lucrative licensing deals, particularly one with LucasArts, fell through, threatening to affect their income. In order to help consolidate their finances, they joined forces with UK software distributor CentreSoft to form the CentreGold Plc Group. Internal game development studios owned by U.S. Gold were the internally formed Silicon Dreams and acquired Core Design. The three-way partnership at the heart of CentreGold didn't last long, however, as the group was acquired by Eidos Interactive in April 1996.
From 1984 press release: US Gold is a well-established software house dedicated to licensing the best of American software, and producing it at Bntish prices. The success of the initial products such as Beachhead, Soloflight, and Zaxxon amongst others, indicate the high quality and standards that the end user can confidently expect from US Gold in the future. Over the next few months there will be more titles available and US Gold will ensure that for Commodore 64 and Atari the end user will have plenty of high quality products to look forward to.
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HCW 3 July 1984:
US GOLD TITLES:
Aztec Challenge, Caverns of Khafka, Slinky, Beach Head, Solo Flight, Mystic Mansion, Dallas Quest, Bruce Lee, Pooyan, Zaxxon, O'Riley's Mine, Forbidden Forest, Textpro, Datapro.
The sales charts for this month has Beach Head at the top, only that publisher listed is Centresoft. Solo Flight at 5th place, also publisher listed is Centresoft.
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US GOLD CLUB MEMBERS NEWSLETTER 1988:
Highlights:
May 1983 Centresoft established as limited company.
July 1984 US GOLD established.
August 1984 Head Office and warehouse factories moved to 15.000 square feet complex.
October 1985 US GOLD established offices in Germany, France and Spain.
June 1986 Head office and warehouse facilities moved to 40.000 square feet complex.
December 1986 US GOLD opens in Italy.
April 1987 Centresoft obtains distribution contact for Boots Company Plc.
January 1988 International expansion in the United States of America and Japan.
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Page 102 of June 1988 Zzap64 they announce that USGOLD have lost their distribution of both Microprose and Cosmi titles in UK, which from then on will be handled by Microprose (US/Europe). Cosmi says their much more advanced packing will benefit them, so lined up for release by Microprose was Cosmi titles like: Defcon 5, The President is Missing, and Super Huey III (Amiga obviously).
Same information is given in US GOLD members magazine: USGOLD bulletin Summer 1988: "American software publishers Datasoft and Cosmi will have re-positioned their forthcoming product ranges in the European market outside US GOLD. We would like to take the opportunity to thank both companies for their four-year support and contribution to the success of US GOLD and wish them every success in the future".
Units 2/3 Holford Way
Holford, Birmingham B6 7AX
United Kingdom
Year Founded: 1984
Year Defunct: 1996
Formed February 1984 (Source: HCW 3 July 1984).
U.S. Gold is a British video game developer and distributor from the mid 1980s through the mid-1990s.
It was founded in Birmingham in 1984 by Geoff Brown as the publishing division of Centresoft. At the time it was established it was porting several US Atari and Commodore 64 games to the 8-bit home computer format in Europe. Over time it gained the rights to port well known games such as Street Fighter, Final Fight, Ghouls n Ghosts, Forgotten Worlds among others. However, a number of their more lucrative licensing deals, particularly one with LucasArts, fell through, threatening to affect their income. In order to help consolidate their finances, they joined forces with UK software distributor CentreSoft to form the CentreGold Plc Group. Internal game development studios owned by U.S. Gold were the internally formed Silicon Dreams and acquired Core Design. The three-way partnership at the heart of CentreGold didn't last long, however, as the group was acquired by Eidos Interactive in April 1996.
From 1984 press release: US Gold is a well-established software house dedicated to licensing the best of American software, and producing it at Bntish prices. The success of the initial products such as Beachhead, Soloflight, and Zaxxon amongst others, indicate the high quality and standards that the end user can confidently expect from US Gold in the future. Over the next few months there will be more titles available and US Gold will ensure that for Commodore 64 and Atari the end user will have plenty of high quality products to look forward to.
----
HCW 3 July 1984:
US GOLD TITLES:
Aztec Challenge, Caverns of Khafka, Slinky, Beach Head, Solo Flight, Mystic Mansion, Dallas Quest, Bruce Lee, Pooyan, Zaxxon, O'Riley's Mine, Forbidden Forest, Textpro, Datapro.
The sales charts for this month has Beach Head at the top, only that publisher listed is Centresoft. Solo Flight at 5th place, also publisher listed is Centresoft.
----
US GOLD CLUB MEMBERS NEWSLETTER 1988:
Highlights:
May 1983 Centresoft established as limited company.
July 1984 US GOLD established.
August 1984 Head Office and warehouse factories moved to 15.000 square feet complex.
October 1985 US GOLD established offices in Germany, France and Spain.
June 1986 Head office and warehouse facilities moved to 40.000 square feet complex.
December 1986 US GOLD opens in Italy.
April 1987 Centresoft obtains distribution contact for Boots Company Plc.
January 1988 International expansion in the United States of America and Japan.
------------------------
Page 102 of June 1988 Zzap64 they announce that USGOLD have lost their distribution of both Microprose and Cosmi titles in UK, which from then on will be handled by Microprose (US/Europe). Cosmi says their much more advanced packing will benefit them, so lined up for release by Microprose was Cosmi titles like: Defcon 5, The President is Missing, and Super Huey III (Amiga obviously).
Same information is given in US GOLD members magazine: USGOLD bulletin Summer 1988: "American software publishers Datasoft and Cosmi will have re-positioned their forthcoming product ranges in the European market outside US GOLD. We would like to take the opportunity to thank both companies for their four-year support and contribution to the success of US GOLD and wish them every success in the future".