| Formerly | Geoff Brown Holdings Limited (1997–2000) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | January 1997 |
| Founder | Geoff Brown |
| Defunct | 9 September 2003 |
| Fate | Receivership |
| Headquarters | England |
Key people | Geoff Brown |
| Subsidiaries |
Kaboom Studios Limited (formerly Geoff Brown Holdings Limited) was a British holding company established by Geoff Brown in January 1997 to pursue video game development investment.
In December 1996, Geoff Brown acquired a 75% stake in Silicon Dreams Studio for at least £500,000.[1] Silicon Dreams Studio was founded by Brown in March 1994, as in-house development team for his publishing company, U.S. Gold, until the entire CentreGold umbrella (including U.S. Gold and Silicon Dreams) was sold to Eidos Interactive in April 1996.[2] In January 1997, Brown also acquired Attention to Detail, and opened Geoff Brown Holdings to manage the majority ownerships in the two studios.[3] A motion capture studio, Audiomotion, was established under the Geoff Brown Holdings umbrella in 1997,[4] and Pivotal Games, another developer, was acquired by the company in August 2000.[5]
In 2003, Kaboom Studios faced major financial issues, resulting in the closure of Attention to Detail and Silicon Dreams Studio on 28 August 2003 and 3 September 2003, respectively.[6][7] Meanwhile, Audiomotion's Mick Morris performed a management buyout for the company, in order for Audiomotion to "reboot" itself and avoid closure.[4][8] Kaboom Studios went into receivership on 9 September 2003,[7] with all assets being transferred to Ernst & Young, of which the still-active Pivotal Games was put up for sale.[9] On 29 September 2003, SCi Games acquired Pivotal Games from Ernst & Young for a total of £2.36 million.[10]