Phoenix Games – Europe’s only Super Budget Publisher, as they proudly presented themselves. The company also went as far as presenting themselves as a small elite team of 6 people who had specialized in licensing, marketing and publishing of value priced games.

Phoenix Games has grown out of long-term business relationships between independent developers, and publishers and is a response to the global expansion of the major corporations. As the large publishers concentrate their efforts on a small number of key products and sequels, Phoenix aims to aid independent development companies get a better deal for their products from the global market. Phoenix Games

Founded in 2002, Phoenix Games had two offices in Europe, Phoenix Games Ltd in the UK which was the main office, responsible for marketing, sales and distribution of products. The other leg of the company, Phoenix Games (Holland) B.V. was located in Nuenen, in the Netherlands, and was responsible for production, translations and packaging of products, as well as handling sales and distribution in the Benelux area of Europe, being Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg.

In the early years Phoenix Games (Japan) was also mentioned as part of the company. Phoenix Japan would sort out licensing deals with Japanese partners for products to be released in Europe by Phoenix.  However, only a few months later the mention of Phoenix Japan had been deleted from the company website. By 2007 the company also had a subsidiary in Taiwan, Phoenix Games (Asia) and the UK leg of company seems to have had been closed, leaving Phoenix Games (Holland) B.V. as the main company.

We boast the shortest time required from development to product release in the industry. Ordinarily the average development period for a game is 18 months, whereas Phoenix need a mere 3-5 months. With integrated standards in production and packaging it is now possible to realize low costs through stabilization of variable costs and suppression of fixed costs. In the case of fixed costs we are suppressing development costs per product unit by maximizing the sales volume through a low cost strategy and also both diminishing advertising and promotional costs and maximizing operating profits by securing a dependable fan base through an identifying packaging of a series. Phoenix Games

Phoenix Games’ goal was to become the leading European publisher for value priced games by Christmas 2003. The company also had aimed to make their games multi lingual or at least the box and manual should feature English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

Projected sales for the first year would be 4 to 5 million units sold worldwide.

As mentioned in the quote above, the games released by Phoenix had to have a short development time. Phoenix did not do any development in-house, but were merely a publisher. The development studios being contracted to make the games were almost always small and unknown - and with a development time of 3-5 months for a game, the games were not new blockbuster titles or something that, for the most part, would be a joy to play.

But that was, in my belief, never the idea – Phoenix just had to crank out as many games as possible, at a pace never before seen for a video game publisher, it was “products” on a low budget and the more the merrier to keep cash flowing in. The vision was different in their company profile, but I still believe it was all about shifting some inventory.

The creators of original products are usually independent development companies that have a creative dream. Commercial success is important, but the product comes first and developers live or die by the quality of the product they create. Phoenix Games

Phoenix is probably most known for their massive library of Playstation 2 titles, 96 titles published no less. Their prices were indeed low, a Playstation 2 title retailed for £7.99, however later they retailed for just £6.99. The 38 or so PSone titles they released were £6.99 and when they later released games for the Nintendo DS, these were priced at £12.99.

A lot of Phoenix Games “early” releases came from a deal they made with D3 Publisher Inc in Japan, who had already published over 100 PSone titles as part of their Simple 1500 series of games, and D3 had recently started a Simple 2000 series of games for the Playstation 2, which at the end of 2003 consisted of 60 titles.

Finally after long negotiations Phoenix has beaten off competition from various publishers and has secured the exclusive rights for the Simple 2000 Series in all PAL territories. First titles to be released will be Street Golfer, GT Road Warriors, Fist Fighter, Bust-A-Wall and Xtreme Boarders. Phoenix Games, December 23, 2003

Phoenix games products, as they called them, were sold by and targeted at pretty much any retailer out there, ready to do a quick flip of products.

The complete collection of premium budget product on these fast moving formats will be successfully sold through the many thousands of retail outlets offering quick turnover consumer goods where the general public does its everyday convenience shopping. Such as 24 hour stores, Newsagents, Garage Shops etc. marketing the ranges through these diverse outlets means they will get high exposure and this will result in high sales levels. Phoenix Games

Wikipedia and other sites state that the company was founded by Willie (Will) Horden, Paul Share and Steve Share. I have not been able to verify this myself, but a bit of a timeline from the Phoenix Games website archives goes as follows.

In 2003 European Sales were handled by Simon Hamer, UK Sales by Ian Smith. Licensing, OEM, North American and Asian sales by Paul Share. On their website at this time there was no mention of Steve Share. I later discovered that Will Horden might have been Development manager at the time, although there was no mention directly on the website, except for a press release that mentions Will.

In April 2004 UK & European Sales were handled by Simon Hamer, European Sales by Will Horden. Changes were made in June 2004 though, UK & North American sales were now handled by Paul Share, European Asian sales by Will Horden. Production was handled by Ilse van de Vossenberg Vogels.

2005, North American & Asia Sales were handled by Paul Share, UK, Europe, Australia sales by Will Horden. Ilse van de Vossenberg Vogels (Administrator) was still responsible for production and Maarten van Schaik (Development Manager), was responsible for development.

No records seem to exist from 2006, but in 2007 the company presented Paul Share as CEO/President and responsible for sales of console games in North America. Will Horden, Managing Director, responsible for sales of console games in UK, Europe and Australia. Steve Share, Sales Manager, responsible for sales of PC games in World Wide. Ilse van de Vossenberg Vogels (Administrator) was still responsible for production and Maarten van Schaik (Development Manager) was also still responsible for development.

These seems to be the last traces of the employee structure.

Phoenix Games announced some around March 2007 that they proudly now were an official licensed publisher for the Nintendo DS and told people to “stay tuned” for more information. Their first two games were actually the same game, just reskinned with different artwork, something Phoenix previously had done with Playstation 2 games too.

 

So in 2008, Phoenix Games released “Peter Pan’s Playground” and “Adventures of Pinocchio. The two games were supposedly developed by Aqua Pacific Ltd of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England – a company who had a quite extensive relationship with Phoenix Games and created the Playstation 2 versions of Pinocchio and Peter Pan.

Join Peter Pan in his playground where you can watch the cartoon movie, colour his pictures and play 4 different games. Includes Pairs, Jigsaws, Spot the Difference, Puzzle Game. Go on an adventure with Pinocchio and play 4 different games (Pairs, Jigsaw Puzzle, Spot the Difference and Puzzle Game), colour his pictures and watch the cartoon movie. Includes: Pairs, Jigsaws, Spot the Difference, Puzzle Game. Phoenix Games

The release dates are not known in detail, but as of August 2008, the two games were marked as “Available now” on the Phoenix Games website.

Phoenix Games wanted to cram out as many DS games as possible, and were supposedly in 2008 boasting about publishing 20 Nintendo DS games within a year.

Phoenix 3rd Nintendo DS game would be Valentines Day, or Lover Delivery as it was originally called. Released September 12, 2008, developed by Northpole Productions out of Bangkok, Thailand.

It's your mission to deliver all the Valentines Day presents. You have to be on time and make sure the right presents get delivered to the right people. Can you keep all of your customers happy? Including 4 different fun filled game modes. Phoenix Games

As a Valentines Day is coming, it is a time to test your ability to fill the lady’s hearts. Delivery items such as flowers, cards, accessories, etc., to match each one preference within the time limited, and see you scores rolling as they love your hard works! NorthPole Studios

The 4th Nintendo DS release followed on September 26, 2008. 12 Games, or simply 12, would be a collection of 12 “casual” mini games.

Phoenix quote: A superb collection of games for the whole family to enjoy 12 Games: Lolli Rolling / Fun Fishing / Fill Love / Dice / Testy Grill / Egg Adventure / Mr. Oil / Match 2 / Bang Bang Balloon / Moon / Kuo / Buffy Racing 2 Phoenix Games

The game was developed by Northpole Studio, a company out of Bangkok,Thailand. A company who delivered quite a few Nintendo DS titles to Phoenix Games. The remainder of Northpole Studios games went unreleased, well except for one.

January 16th, 2009 the puzzle game Coral Savior was supposed to ship for the Nintendo DS.

A fun puzzle game that tests your reflexes and intellect. Can you save the sea from the coral drought and revive the young coral? Coral Savior brings the mission right to you. Your goal is to make the young coral grow by distributing nourishing substances in the sea, once you connect 3 or more of the same a reaction will occur that makes the coral grow. Make sure not to distribute too much substance as once it floats down to the sea bottom you will cause pollution which is the exact opposite of the aim of the game. Phoenix Games

Your mission is to help safe the world marine life from extinction! With stage-of-the art equipments on board, you need to use them to build up lively corals and fight with enemies who try to get you out of their ways. Choose from various types of fighting ships and equipments and upgrade them when you are able to advance to the next stages. NorthPole Studios

For reasons unknown though, the game went unreleased by Phoenix Games, but it was released as Bermuda Triangle : Saving the Coral in the US by Storm City Games.

Other Northpole Productions games developed and ready to be published by Phoenix Games were:

Love Heart (Fill Heart), to be released January 16, 2009.

Give your best shot to win over the one of your dream! You customize your own character, play the puzzle games, get scores, buy accessories, and improve your look. The game features many hidden puzzle games for you to unlock. NorthPole Studios

Jungle Gang, release TBC.

You play as one of the 3 in the Jungle Gang – Monkey, Rabbit, Little Bear – to find the perfect way to correct all the fruit at once. Practice and test your problem solving skill by drawing the line to covering as many areas in the table as possible within the time limited. NorthPole Studios

Rat A Box, to be released March 13, 2009.

Safe the town from your long time enemy “Cat”, who now comes from the air! Your role in the front line to move the time bomb in the wooden boxes away and let your friends do their jobs – correcting foods and grow the town community. NorthPole Studios

Increase the rat population to regain control of the city. Collect food and grow your colony in 3 action-packed, puzzle-filled levels. Phoenix Games

All Northpole games were available for licensing outside of Europe, including Coral Savior – but only the latter was picked up by a publisher. Northpole Productions seems to have only been in operation for a few years, from 2008 to 2010.

Other Nintendo DS planned to be released also came from Bangkok, Thailand – from developer CyperPlanet Interactive who unfortunately did not give away any details about their Nintendo DS games on their website.

Hoppie II, release TBC
Not much is known at the time of writing, the game was released in North America by Maximum Family Games as Hoppie.

Veggy World, to be released March 13, 2009
Not much is known at the time of writing, the game was released in North America by Maximum Family Games, September 7, 2011. The game has a copyright date of 2010, which could be why Phoenix Games never managed to publish the game (spoiler alert).

Monster Eggs II, to be released March 13, 2009
Not much is known at the time of writing, but this was most likely a CyberPlanet developed game.

Iron Chef II, release date TBC

War of Heaven, release date TBC

Lion and the King 3, to be released February 13, 2009
May have been in development at The Code Monkeys, a company out of Drewsbury, England. Known for posting games to various platforms. The company did other Lion and the King games.

Dalmatians 4, to be released February 13, 2009 (initially October 24, 2008). Again, this might have been planned to be made by The Code Monkeys.

Probably the last Nintendo DS game to be released by Phoenix Games was Polar Rampage, a puzzle game developed by already mentioned CyperPlanet Interactive. According to Phoenix Games website it was set to be released on February 13, 2009.

Other Nintendo DS titles mentioned as “to be released by” Phoenix games, but no further information exists, that I have found.

Cinderella’s Fairy Tale, release TBC, genre was Education
Greatest Flood
Monster Dessert
Princess Snow White

  

Other games that may have been on Phoenix Games radar, but no indications of a Phoenix Games planning to release them.

Rock Blast (Caveman Rock) (CyberPlanet, 2008)
Underwater Attack (CyberPlanet 2008)

In total Phoenix Games had 20 Nintendo DS titles planned for release, but only 5 were actually released: Peter Pan's Playground, Adventures of Pinocchio, Valentines Day, 12 Games and Polar Rampage.

Phoenix Games B.V. declared bankruptcy on August 3, 2010 and the company was dissolved a few years later in 2012. As a side note and a bit of an oddity, Mark Hulse registered Phoenix Games Ltd on April 17, 2013, however a decision was made on July 10, 2020 to voluntarily dissolve the company. It was finally dissolved on April 5, 2022 - it is unknown what plans Mark Hulse had with the company.

While Phoenix Games is one of those companies that brought “an edge” to the world of video games, their products were not great, they were rushed and honestly for the most part not even worth the £6.99 – £12.99 price tag. Why it was so important to crank out such a large number of shovelware is beyond me, still the company managed to last for 8 years, so it must have been worth it.

I am purely guessing here, but their demise could have been due to the fact that by 2010 the Playstation 2 was really old and no one really cared, especially not for budget games. While they did try to shift towards the Nintendo DS and Wii, it might have been too little too late, and I would believe that Nintendo’s game approval and production of cartridges/cd’s might have been slower than what Phoenix Games required to stay afloat, because at those prices it had to have been about the quantity and getting rid of them fast.

Phoenix Games reputation was not great, for a reason, once you have played a few “shovelware” games, I bet most would rather save up and buy a better game, so the lack of quality most definitely must have been a driving factor in their downfall – when I saw a Phoenix Games game in a store, I couldn’t help but laugh at the horrendous boxart. 

Would I have wanted a world without Phoenix Games? Absolutely not, their quirky games and awful boxart is a funny piece of history, it’s hilarious that some people thought that the world just needed these games, or it was just a way to make a quick buck and move on. Their library is impressive, not in a good way but not in a bad one either – I have to be completely honest and say that I have picked up a few in bargain bins over the years or in second hand shops if I happened to stumble upon some. Will I be collecting the enter Playstation 2 library of Phoenix Games? Absolutely not, there is just too many and I will most definitely never play them – the Nintendo DS games are a different story though. I picked up 12 and Polar Rampage in a local shop back in the day, only because it was Phoenix Games – the rest I did not managed to grab until very recent.

That’s it, I hope the article was worth the read and once again, I have for a very long time wanted to pay a tribute to the worst Playstation 2 games ever released and while this isn’t really about the Playstaion 2 titles, but rather the Nintendo DS titles, the story of Phoenix Games B.V. is the same.

Thank you for reading.