Rise and Fall of Ocean Software

Ocean was awesome. You knew you were going to get something special when you saw that logo. Sure, some games weren't great but 9/10 times you knew you were going to have a fun time. 😊

AVGN: They’re like the British version of LJN.

Thanks, always wondered what happened to them (I'm in my mid-40s). Wasn't too clear though, and even wikipedia seems like it glosses over it. Basically they got merged and afterwards their name was no longer used. Nothing mentioned about the founders/owners - I imagine they saw where things were headed and cashed out. Can't really blame them I guess, it IS a business after all. Still, seems like kind of a sad end, fading out like that. Granted, I wasn't a huge fan, and most of their licenses appeared to be movie tie-ins and I don't really have the fondest memories of those, but hey at least they were memorable. And everywhere. You'd definitely have heard of them even if you weren't a fan.

So many memories and good games in this video. Thank you :)

Cracking video. Ocean had some amazing hits as u say and some terrible games too..think they had most success on the 8 bits as lots of 16bit games quite poor

Was a sad day when infrograms ditched the the ocean name .

❤️

I remember when you used to go into a games shop and if Ocean or Imagine were on the cover you knew the game had a good chance of being quality:) The first video game I ever played on my ZX Spectrum was Daley Thompsons supertest:)

Was the best company for spectrum...but for amiga they where others that have better games like psygnousis,

I've enjoyed your channel over the past few days, subscribed:)

Hello ! I'm an MSX enthusiat. Im Brazilian and here, during late 80's and 90's MSX was a fever. Hundreds of magazines, software developers and so on.
I would like to ask you if you remember a game where you drive a bump car, like the ones on a theme park and you must colide strong to have the computer oponnent fly high and then you try to run you car over him. I think the game name is El Kart Diabolico. Do you have further information on this game ? Thanks in advance !

Zee X Spectrum.. ZEE??? no, No, NO mate. its Zed X, ZED.

Ok, I like your videos, and I know this is an old one, but please, it's a ZED X Spectrum not a ZEE X Spectrum. And as it was made, invented and loved in the UK ZED X Spectrum it should be everywhere in the world, you can't just pronounce Z how you want. So there.... 🤓

era um "gigante" do mundo dos videojogos que nos brindou com tantos jogos míticos . pessoalmente gosto de realçar ( Robocop ) para as Arcadas ! imortal para mim .

If I knew this guy I would get him to say stuff like "I will crush you" all the time

Really well made history video. good production value. needs more views!

Absolutely brilliant video thank you so much. I am go into through all your videos and love them all. I wish I had a games player like you as a friend. Take care. Steven.

Excellent excellent video :)

Muito bom saber historia desta empresa joguei muita jogo dela grande abraço adorei mesmo...:)

The end is sad. Is nothing left of Ocean today? Is there nobody making games today who can trace their heritage back to Manchester?

I remember, certainly in my circle, Ocean being seen as license hacks that now and again stumbled on a good game. I don't have a lot of fond memories of the company personally. It's always nice to look back over these things though, so thanks for the video.

The OCEAN logo still warms my heart till this day :)

Robocop and Batman for the Speccy impressed the hell out of me!

Ahhhh, Ocean... what a mixed bag. I love the way you show all versions, like Robocop, on screen at once.

The conversions from arcade down to spectrum were always top quality, I was never disappointed with any game I bought with Ocean on the front.

I enjoyed that, thanks! Ocean are one of my favourite game companies so it's always great to see videos on them.

Gostei muito :) Por acaso tens algum vídeo sobre a Gremlin Graphics?

Thank you for this, Ocean were the stuff of my chilghood and I as a Speccy child miss them very much.

To summarize, the rise was due arcade and film licensing, and plenty of investment funds. The fall is not so clear. Why did it have to be brought out and then later restructured away? Also, Mission Impossible was released between July 1998 and 2000, beofore and after GT.

Very interesting. I am from Manchester and used to buy lots of Ocean software games for the spectrum and Amiga. I'm nearly 41 now and always wondered what happened to ocean software. Thank you for the detailed insight.

Great vids,very educational ...

Your voice is even better than FPS Russia :)

That was great!!

Street Hawk was not released

Awesome video, I hope you will do more of these videos about old videogames companies, I still wonder what happened to Rainbow Arts, Gremlin, Domark, Krisalis, Simulmondo, Silmarils and many more

Love your content man!

Excellent video! Loads of great memories. Kickass accent, by the way. Cheers from Brazil!

Ocean were giants? Almost every game they published sucked donkey...

Be nice Billy, he's foreign, like you. ;)

Nice video.
Cool to get a name-check.
Imagine did not develop titles for Ocean. Ocean simply bought the name and published titles as Imagine.
The Liverpool company Imagine went bankrupt but the name still had good memories for the players.
 

That was well researched a good watch. I saw your thread on Amibay :)

Great details on Ocean!