Virgin Interactive Entertainment

Virgin Interactive (VI), a division of Spelling Entertainment Group, Inc., is a leading worldwide developer and publisher of award-winning computer and video games. With global headquarters in Irvine, California, international headquarters in London, England, and Westwood Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada - the company is dedicated to delivering top-quality, ground-breaking interactive entertainment to gamers across leading platforms, worldwide. VI maintains its extensive global presence with further offices in Paris, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Madrid, Singapore and Sydney, employing more than 550 of the industry's most talented professionals. Westwood Studios, a wholly owned subsidiary of Virgin Interactive, is a prominent developer of best-selling PC, Mac and next-generation console games. Formed in 1985, Westwood Studios has released several popular titles including: Dune II, Blade Runner, The Lands of Lore series, The Kyrandia Adventure trilogy, Monopoly for the Internet and the Command & Conquer universe of games, which has sold more than 5 million units worldwide since 1995.

In addition to Westwood Studios, VI's headquarters in Irvine and London house on-site development facilities composed of design studios, a state-of-the-art video production stage with digital betacam and a 32-track digital music and post-recording studio. VI's Irvine-based internal development team is responsible for such critically acclaimed titles as Disney's The Jungle Book, Toonstruck and SubSpace. Virgin Interactive also has an external development team that works with targeted third party developers, overseeing the creative direction and business management of each title.

Currently, VI maintains strategic alliances with Nintendo of America, Sony Computer Entertainment and Sega of America for products developed both internally and by third parties. Martin Alper founded Virgin Interactive as Mastertronics ltd. in the U.K. in 1983 and is credited for establishing the budget category of software in Europe, making interactive entertainment accessible to the masses. With a fully established European presence, Alper opened the North American headquarters of VI in 1986. Through a number of strategic partnerships, he quickly mirrored his European successes. In 1987, Mastertronics became a subsidiary of the Virgin Group of Companies.

With Alper's guidance, VI pioneered the PC CD-ROM revolution with such titles as The 7th Guest, rode the 16-bit video game boom with Disney's The Lion King and formed strategic alliances with such notables as Hasbro and Caesar's World merchandising. In 1992, Alper oversaw the acquisition of Westwood Studios, a move which has resulted in bringing one of the world's leading interactive intellectual properties -- the Command & Conquer franchise -- to the VI family.

In 1994, Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation and the Virgin Group announced the acquisition of VI by Blockbuster, which acquired 75 percent of VI's stock and purchased the remaining shares held by Hasbro. Shortly thereafter, Blockbuster sold its entire VI interest to Spelling Entertainment Group and later in 1994, Blockbuster merged with Viacom Inc., owners of MTV and Paramount Studios. The result is that VI is now a part of one of the world's largest entertainment companies.