In the autumn of 1990 the Bitmap Brothers, which AMIGA POWER called “certainly the industry’s best known programming team”, walked away from Mirrorsoft and started a publishing label with a record company. The partner was Rhythm King, the independent record label behind Bomb the Bass, whose “Megablast” had played over the title screen of Xenon 2. The idea came from the music business: records sold on the artist’s name, not the label’s, so Renegade would sell games on the names of the people who made them and share the profits with them. AMIGA POWER called it “the nearest thing to self-publishing on a major scale that the UK industry had ever seen”. For five years it published a short list of very good Amiga games, and then a Time Warner company bought it.
Fast facts
- Founded: 1990, launched at the Computer Entertainment Show that autumn.
- Founders: the Bitmap Brothers (Mike Montgomery, Steve Kelly and Eric Matthews), Rhythm King Records, and Tom Watson, who ran the label day to day.
- Address: Metropolitan Wharf, Wapping Wall, London E1.
- The offer: profits split 50/50 between developer and label once costs were paid, and the developer’s name at the front of the marketing.
- Distribution: Mindscape in the UK from 1991; Gametek in the United States from 1993; Warner Interactive Entertainment from 1995.
- Published: Gods and Magic Pockets (1991); Fire & Ice and Sensible Soccer (1992); The Chaos Engine, Turrican 3 and Uridium 2 (1993); Ruff ‘n’ Tumble, Elfmania and Sensible World of Soccer (1994); Flight of the Amazon Queen and Virocop (1995).
- Ended: bought by Warner Interactive Entertainment, part of Time Warner; by the end of 1995 its games were appearing under Warner’s name.
A record label for programmers
The Bitmaps’ dealings with Rhythm King began with Xenon 2, Amiga Format explained in 1991. Talking to the record company, they noticed that “in the music business it’s standard practice to promote artists first and the label second”. In October 1990 The One reported that the Bitmaps had become “the first programming group to sign up” with Rhythm King, and that the new label would reward its developers with a new kind of deal: after costs, half the money would go to the developer and half to the label. A month later the magazine named the company’s founders as the three Bitmap Brothers, Rhythm King Records and Tom Watson.
Watson was the one with publishing experience. He had been a journalist on Popular Computing Weekly from 1984, joined Telecomsoft as a marketing manager in 1986, and then moved to Mirrorsoft, where he said his hardest job had been selling Tetris: persuading people that moving blocks about the screen was enormous fun. At Mirrorsoft he met the Bitmaps. “We believe in marketing teams, not our corporate body,” he told The One, and he described the aim as doing “for the software industry what Rhythm King achieved for the record industry”. Rhythm King’s managing director, Martin Heath, was a keen games player, and in 1993 Amiga Format listed Heath, Watson and two of the Bitmaps among Renegade’s directors.
Not everyone believed in it. An unnamed publisher told The One, “This isn’t the record business, and these people are very naive to think they can just come in and change things around just like that.” Watson said he had “chuckled enormously” at the remark.
Tom Watson is Renegade
When AMIGA POWER visited in May 1991, Renegade had just shipped its first game. “At the moment, to all intents and purposes, Tom Watson is Renegade,” Matt Bielby wrote. The company had other directors, from the Bitmaps and Rhythm King, but no other employees. It had spent six months building a reputation, and a loud one, before it had released anything.
That first game was the Bitmaps’ own Gods, which came out early in 1991, followed later that year by Magic Pockets, whose music was built from Betty Boo’s Rhythm King hit “Doin’ the Do”. Renegade did not sell the games through its own sales force: in 1991 Mindscape’s European director Geoff Heath signed a deal to distribute them.
Beyond the Bitmaps
The label only worked if other developers signed up, and in 1992 they did. Graftgold brought Andrew Braybrook’s Fire & Ice, and Sensible Software brought Sensible Soccer, which topped the charts for four months. Looking back on the year for Amiga Format, Watson counted “the establishment of Renegade as a creative force in the software industry”, with programmers from “the Bitmap Brothers, Graftgold and Sensible”.
The Bitmaps’ The Chaos Engine followed early in 1993, then Braybrook’s Uridium 2 and Factor 5’s Turrican 3. In 1994 came Ruff ‘n’ Tumble, a platform shoot-’em-up by Wunderkind, Elfmania, a beat-’em-up by the Finnish group Terramarque, and Sensible’s Sensible World of Soccer. Most of these sold at £25.99. By 1993 Renegade was also selling Speedball 2, first published by Image Works, in a Bitmap Brothers compilation, and it brought its catalogue to the Amiga CD32. Watson told Amiga Joker in 1994 that Factor 5 were doing Renegade’s German translations.
Renegade kept looking for new ways to sell its games. In 1993 it signed with Triton Interactive Television to adapt its library, Sensible Soccer, The Chaos Engine and Speedball 2 included, for live television, played down a phone line with the keypad as a joystick. Watson called it “a real opportunity” for Renegade to show “its leadership”.
Warner
In October 1994 the Italian magazine K reported that Renegade was about to become part of Warner, in a new company called Warner Interactive Entertainment. The new company belonged to the Time Warner group but was separate from Time Warner Interactive, and would use Warner’s distribution. By May 1995 Amiga Format was describing Warner Interactive Entertainment as “incorporating Accolade and Renegade”. Watson went with it: the programme for the European Computer Trade Show that spring listed him under Warner Interactive Entertainment.
The last games with Renegade’s name on them came out in 1995. They included Graftgold’s Virocop, an action game designed by Braybrook, and the adventure Flight of the Amazon Queen. The advertisements now described Renegade as a Warner Interactive Entertainment company, “A Time Warner Company”, with the games “distributed by Warner Interactive Entertainment Limited”. By November 1995 CU Amiga was calling Flight of the Amazon Queen “another ex-Renegade product”. The next month it reported that Time Warner Interactive and Warner Interactive Entertainment, “who own Renegade”, had merged. The Bitmaps’ next games, The Chaos Engine 2 and Z, came out in 1996 under Time Warner Interactive. Graftgold’s International Moto X was published by Warner too. By 1999 PC Zone was describing Time Warner Interactive as “now owned by GT Interactive”.
Sources
- The One issue 25, October 1990: news of the Bitmaps’ deal with Rhythm King, Tom Watson, the profit split, the anonymous publisher’s comment, and Gods and Magic Pockets.
- The One issue 26, November 1990: Laurence Scotford’s feature on Renegade (the founders; the 50/50 deal; Watson’s replies and quotes).
- Amiga Format issue 20, March 1991: the launch at the 1990 Computer Entertainment Show, Rhythm King and the artist-first model.
- AMIGA POWER issue 1, May 1991: “Renegade and the Bitmap Brothers” interview special by Matt Bielby (“self-publishing on a major scale”; “Tom Watson is Renegade”; the directors; Gods as the first release).
- Amiga Computing issue 35, April 1991: Rhythm King and its boss, Martin Heath.
- ACE issue 46, July 1991: industry profiles (Geoff Heath of Mindscape: “Signed a distribution deal with Renegade”).
- Amiga Format issue 26, September 1991: Betty Boo’s “Doin’ the Do” as the Magic Pockets soundtrack.
- Amiga Format Special issue 2, 1992: Tom Watson looks back on 1992 (Fire & Ice, Sensible Soccer, The Chaos Engine; the Bitmaps, Graftgold and Sensible).
- Amiga Format Special issue 7, 1993: Bitmap Brothers profile with Steve Kelly (Rhythm King and Renegade; the directors).
- Amiga Computing issue 63, August 1993: Gametek to handle sales and distribution for Renegade in the United States.
- Amiga Format issue 50, September 1993: the Triton Interactive Television deal.
- AMIGA POWER issue 25, May 1993: charts (The Chaos Engine, “Renegade/Mindscape”, £25.99). Issue 31, November 1993: Turrican 3 advertisement (Metropolitan Wharf, Wapping Wall; Rainbow Arts and Factor 5, “Published by Renegade”) and Uridium 2. Issue 36, 1994: Elfmania preview (Terramarque). Issue 42, October 1994: Ruff ‘n’ Tumble review.
- Amiga Format issue 60, June 1994: Ruff ‘n’ Tumble (Wunderkind with Renegade).
- Amiga Joker, February 1994: interview with Tom Watson (his career, the 50 per cent share, Tetris, the CD32 and Factor 5’s translations).
- K issue 65, October 1994: Renegade to join Warner Interactive Entertainment.
- Amiga Format issue 71, May 1995: Warner Interactive Entertainment “incorporating Accolade and Renegade”.
- Edge issue 19, April 1995: European Computer Trade Show seminar listing (Tom Watson, Warner Interactive Entertainment).
- AMIGA POWER issue 49, May 1995: Virocop preview (Renegade/Time Warner, Graftgold). Issue 51, July 1995: Virocop and Speedball 2 CD32 advertisements (Renegade as a Time Warner company, distribution by Warner Interactive Entertainment). Issue 52, August 1995: Flight of the Amazon Queen review (Renegade, £30).
- 576 KByte issue 57, June 1995: Virocop (Renegade/Warner Interactive; Andrew Braybrook).
- CU Amiga, November 1995 and December 1995: news (the “ex-Renegade” Flight of the Amazon Queen; the Warner merger).
- Amiga Computing issue 101, July 1996: Time Warner Interactive to publish The Chaos Engine 2. Edge issue 23, August 1995: Z preview (Time Warner).
- PC Zone issue 73, February 1999: Time Warner Interactive “now owned by GT Interactive”.