Humongous Entertainment

Humongous, Inc.

Logo used since Tommo's purchase of the brand; earlier versions of this logo were purple

Formerly| Humongous Entertainment, Inc. (1992–2005)
Type| Subsidiary
Industry| Video games
Fate| Chapter 11 bankruptcy, assets split off
Founded| March 1992; 34 years ago (1992-03) in Woodinville, Washington, US
Founder|

* Ron Gilbert
* Shelley Day

Defunct| 2013; 13 years ago (2013)
Headquarters|

Bothell, Washington

Parent| Atari, Inc. (1996–2005)
Atari SA (2005–2013)
Website| humongous.com

Humongous, Inc. (formerly Humongous Entertainment, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Bothell, Washington. Founded in 1992, the company developed multiple edutainment franchises, most prominently Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam, Spy Fox, and Backyard Sports, which, combined, sold over 15 million copies and earned more than 400 awards of excellence.[1]

Humongous Entertainment was acquired by GT Interactive (later renamed Infogrames, Inc., then Atari, Inc.) in July 1996. By October 2000, sales of Humongous games had surpassed 16 million copies.[2] GT, which had by that point became Atari, Inc. sold the Humongous business to its parent company, Infogrames (later renamed Atari SA), in August 2005 and reduced the company solely as a management firm for their assets until its bankruptcy in 2013, in which the assets were sold to Tommo, who re-released some of its games on digital distribution channels using the Humongous Entertainment brand name.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 1.1 Formation (1992–1996)
* 1.2 Acquisitions, decline, dissolution (1996–2006)
* 1.3 Humongous, Inc. (2005–2013)
* 1.4 Purchase of assets by Tommo (2013–present)
* 2 Games developed
* 2.1 Putt-Putt
* 2.2 Freddi Fish
* 2.3 Pajama Sam
* 2.4 Spy Fox
* 2.5 Fatty Bear
* 2.6 Blue's Clues
* 2.7 Big Thinkers
* 2.8 Junior Field Trips
* 2.9 Backyard Sports
* 2.10 Other
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## History

### Formation (1992–1996)

Humongous Entertainment was formed by Shelley Day and Ron Gilbert in March 1992,[3] then based in Woodinville, Washington.[4] The name Humongous Entertainment was suggested by Gilbert's ex-LucasArts colleague, Tim Schafer.[5] It became known for creating four point-and-click adventure game series intended for young children, branded collectively as "Junior Adventures", with the four series being the Putt-Putt, the Freddi Fish, the Pajama Sam and the Spy Fox series. Characters from one series do not cross over with ones in another (with the exception of Putt-Putt and Fatty Bear's Activity Pack) and instead appear as cameos or Easter eggs in any of the three other series. All of Humongous's games until 2003 were built on the SCUMM game engine, which Gilbert had developed for LucasArts years prior; following his departure from the company, LucasArts agreed to grant Humongous a license to use SCUMM for its games, on the condition that Gilbert continue to develop updates to the engine for both companies' use.[6] By 1995, the company had become the third largest children's educational-software company.[7]

In 1995, Gilbert and Day established a company division, Cavedog Entertainment, in Seattle, set to develop games of alternative genres, and released Total Annihilation, a real-time strategy (RTS) game, in 1997. This was followed by two expansion packs in 1998, as well as a variation called Software:Total Annihilation: Kingdoms plus an expansion pack in 1999.[8]

### Acquisitions, decline, dissolution (1996–2006)

In July 1996, Humongous Entertainment was purchased by GT Interactive for US$76 million.[9] In November 1997, Humongous Entertainment signed a five-year worldwide deal with Nickelodeon to develop games based on the Nick Jr. series, Blue's Clues, making it the first and only time that Humongous has developed games based on a licensed character as opposed to its original characters.[10] The same year, Humongous released their first Backyard Sports title, Backyard Baseball. Backyard Sports would go on to become the company's longest-running series. In November 1999, GT Interactive was acquired by Infogrames and renamed to Infogrames, Inc. In 2000, Humongous Entertainment released a One-Stop Fun Shop activity center game for each Junior Adventure series, with the exception of Spy Fox.[11] The co-founders tried to buy Humongous Entertainment back from Infogrames, Inc., using external funding, but the day of the planned purchase was the day of the dot-com collapse, wherefore the funding was pulled. The founders soon left Humongous, alongside many other key employees, and formed a new studio, Hulabee Entertainment, in 2001. In June 2001, Infogrames, Inc. laid off 82 personnel, over 40% of staff from Humongous Entertainment.[12] In May 2003, after Infogrames, Inc. purchased Hasbro Interactive, which owned the rights to the Atari brand, the company was renamed Atari, Inc.

### Humongous, Inc. (2005–2013)

In Atari, Inc.'s fourth quarter results in June 2005, the company announced that they would divest and dispose of various "non-core" assets that they no longer saw as part of their upcoming strategic visions or creative directions, with Humongous Entertainment being the only named division to fulfill this purpose.[13] Shortly afterward, Atari laid off much of the development portion of the company and renamed them from Humongous Entertainment, Inc. to solely Humongous, Inc. around the same time.[14][15] During this time, Atari, Inc. was in the midst of heavy financial struggles and was cutting costs as much as they could.

On August 22, 2005, Atari, Inc. announced that it would transfer Humongous, Inc. over to its majority parent, Infogrames Entertainment SA, for shares worth US$10.3 million. The deal would include all licensing rights, trademarks, intellectual property, and existing inventory. The deal would also allow for Atari, Inc. to use a fifth of the payment as a down payment, alongside continuing to exclusively distribute Humongous titles in North America and Mexico up until March 31, 2006.[16][17] In October 2005, Infogrames announced they would relaunch the Humongous brand, and hired Alyssa Padia and Lauren Schechtman as the new CEOs. Infogrames stated that Humongous would focus mainly on new entries in the Backyard Sports franchise and will follow up with a business strategy to relaunch the Junior Adventure series.[14][18] In March 2006, Atari, Inc.'s distribution deal with Humongous, Inc. was extended another year through to March 2007.[19]

Following the expiration of the Atari deal aside from Backyard Sports, Humongous began to publish games on their own and in October 2007, they had signed a retail exclusivity deal with Target to release remastered versions of select Junior Adventure titles.[20][21] In March 2008, Interactive Game Group LLC (I2G) and Humongous, Inc. signed a North American publishing deal with Majesco Entertainment to allow the latter to publish a selection of Junior Adventure titles for the Wii. These titles were the first installments of each title in the series, except Putt-Putt. Atari Europe would handle publication and distribution in European territories.[22][23] The ports were developed by Mistic Software, but their availability was greatly limited by a legal conflict concerning their development.[24][1] In November of the same year, Humongous and Atari released the Nintendo DS game Freddi Fish: ABC Under The Sea in European territories.[25]

In April 2008, Infogrames announced that they would purchase out the remaining shares of Atari, Inc. that they didn't own previously and would merge with them.[26][27] Following this merger, Infogrames Entertainment's company name was changed to Atari SA, who would go on to publish numerous more Backyard Sports titles.[28] Beginning in November 2011, in collaboration with Nimbus Games, Atari began releasing Android and iOS ports of several Humongous Entertainment Junior Adventure titles.[29] These releases continued into 2012.[30]

### Purchase of assets by Tommo (2013–present)

In January 2013, following continued financial struggles from their parent company Atari SA, Humongous, Inc., and the rest of Atari's US operations all filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in an attempt to secure independence from its profit-losing parent.[31] During Atari's bankruptcy sale on July 19, Humongous' assets were separated as they all went to different owners. Backyard Sports was sold to private equity firm The Evergreen Group,[32] while Moonbase Commander went to Rebellion Developments.[33] The Humongous brand and assets concerning the Junior Adventure and Junior Arcade series were sold to Tommo alongside a selection of other Atari-owned properties.[34]

At the start of 2014, Tommo officially relaunched the Humongous Entertainment brand by re-releasing the original Junior Adventure and Junior Arcade titles for Windows and Mac; ports for most of these titles were also released for mobile devices.[34]

Beginning in 2022, Tommo and Hong Kong-based business Billionsoft began releasing ports of Junior Adventure titles for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 consoles.[35][36][37] A digital compilation of the first six releases, titled Humongous Classic Collection was released in December 2022 for both systems, while a Nintendo Switch exclusive physical compilation was released in 2023.[38][39][40] In May 2024, a digital compilation of all five of the Freddi Fish Junior Adventure games titled Freddi Fish Collection was released.[41][42][43]

## Games developed

Template:Col 2

### Putt-Putt

* Putt-Putt Joins the Parade (1992)
* Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon (1993)
* Putt-Putt's Fun Pack (1993)
* Putt-Putt and Fatty Bear's Activity Pack (1994)
* Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo (1995)
* Putt-Putt and Pep's Balloon-o-Rama (1996)
* Putt-Putt and Pep's Dog on a Stick (1996)
* Putt-Putt Travels Through Time (1997)
* Putt-Putt Enters the Race (1999)[44]
* Putt-Putt's One-Stop Fun Shop (2000)
* Putt-Putt Joins the Circus (2000)
* Putt-Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise (2003)

### Freddi Fish

Main article: Software:Freddi Fish

* Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds (1994)
* Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse (1996)
* Freddi Fish and Luther's Maze Madness (1997)[45]
* Freddi Fish and Luther's Water Worries (1997)[45]
* Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell (1998)
* Freddi Fish 4: The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch (1999)
* Freddi Fish's One-Stop Fun Shop (2000)
* Freddi Fish 5: The Case of the Creature of Coral Cove (2001)

### Pajama Sam

Main article: Software:Pajama Sam

* Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside (1996)
* Pajama Sam's Sock Works (1997)
* Pajama Sam 2: Thunder and Lightning Aren't so Frightening (1998)
* Pajama Sam's Lost & Found (1998)
* Pajama Sam 3: You Are What You Eat from Your Head to Your Feet (2000)
* Pajama Sam's One-Stop Fun Shop (2000)
* Pajama Sam: Games to Play On Any Day (2001)
* Pajama Sam: Life Is Rough When You Lose Your Stuff! (2003)

### Spy Fox

Main article: Software:Spy Fox

* Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal" (1997)
* Spy Fox in "Cheese Chase" (1998)
* Software:Spy Fox 2: "Some Assembly Required" (1999)
* Spy Fox in "Hold the Mustard" (1999)
* Software:Spy Fox 3: "Operation Ozone" (2001)

### Fatty Bear

* Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise (1993)
* Fatty Bear's Fun Pack (1993)
* Putt-Putt and Fatty Bear's Activity Pack (1994)

### Blue's Clues

* Blue's Birthday Adventure (1998)
* Blue's ABC Time Activities (1998)
* Blue's 123 Time Activities (1999)
* Blue's Treasure Hunt (1999)
* Blue's Reading Time Activities (2000)
* Blue's Clues: Blue's Art Time Activities (2000)

### Big Thinkers

* Big Thinkers Kindergarten (1997)
* Big Thinkers 1st Grade (1997)

### Junior Field Trips

Main article: Software:Junior Field Trips

* Let's Explore the Farm (1994)
* Let's Explore the Airport (1995)
* Let's Explore the Jungle (1995)

### Backyard Sports

* Backyard Baseball (1997)
* Backyard Soccer (1998)
* Backyard Football (1999)
* Backyard Baseball 2001 (2000)
* Backyard Soccer MLS Edition (2000)
* Backyard Football 2002 (2001)
* Backyard Basketball (2001)
* Backyard Baseball 2003 (2002)
* Backyard Hockey (2002)
* Backyard Soccer 2004 (2003)
* Backyard Football 2004 (2003)
* Backyard Basketball 2004 (2003)
* Backyard Baseball 2005 (2004)
* Backyard Hockey 2005 (2004)
* Backyard Skateboarding (2004)
* Backyard Football 2006 (2005)
* Backyard Skateboarding: Game of the Year Edition (2005)

### Other

* MoonBase Commander (2002)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Majesco Brings Humongous' Best-Selling Children's Properties to Wii". GameZone. March 25, 2008. http://www.gamezone.com/news/majesco_brings_humongous_best_selling_children_s_properties_to_wii.
2. ↑ Kubin, Jacquie (October 1, 2000). "There's Humongous Rewards in Edutaining Little Kids". Animation World Network. https://www.awn.com/animationworld/theres-humongous-rewards-edutaining-little-kids.
3. ↑ "Humongous Entertainment Fast Facts". Humongous Entertainment. August 26, 1997. http://www.humongous.com/about/pr/more/corp.html.
4. ↑ "Humongous Entertainment's Child's Play Develops Maturity". Los Angeles Times. September 15, 1997. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-sep-15-fi-32531-story.html.
5. ↑ Dave Grossman (June 19, 2009). "Q&A With the Team". https://community.telltale.com/discussion/comment/138550/#Comment_138550. "True fact: It was Tim Schafer who suggested the name "Humongous Entertainment"."
6. ↑ "Interview with Ron Gilbert". June 22, 2014. https://www.nightdivestudios.com/interview-ron-gilbert/.
7. ↑ Robert Sorbo. "Cyber Elite - Shelley Day". http://time.com/time/digital/cyberelite/24.html.
8. ↑ "Cavedog Entertainment". December 12, 1998. http://www.cavedog.com/aboutfrm.html.
9. ↑ "Company News; GT Interactive acquires Humongous Entertainment". New York Times. July 11, 1996. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/11/business/company-news-gt-interactive-acquires-humongous-entertainment.html.
10. ↑ "Nickelodeon and Humongous Entertainment Ink Exclusive Five-Year Worldwide Deal To Create CD-ROMs for Blue's Clues, Nick Jr.'s Top-Rated Preschool TV Show". Humongous Entertainment and Nickelodeon. November 6, 1997. http://humongous.com/parents/Pr/More/news/bluesclues.html.
11. ↑ "Humongous Entertainment's One-Stop Fun Shops". May 4, 2012. http://www.gamezone.com/news/humongous_entertainment_s_one_stop_fun_shops.
12. ↑ "Humongous cuts 40% of its staff". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. June 15, 2001. http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Humongous-cuts-40-of-its-staff-1057280.php.
13. ↑ "Atari Reports Fiscal 2005 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results". June 15, 2005. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-reports-fiscal-2005-fourth-quarter-and-year-end-results.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Infogrames Announces Relaunch for Humongous Brand". https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/infogrames-announces-relaunch-for-humongous-brand.
15. ↑ "Stock Transfer Agreement - Infogrames Entertainment SA, Atari Inc. And Atari Interactive Inc. - Sample Contracts and Business Forms". https://contracts.onecle.com/atari-inc/infogrames-transfer-2005-08-22.shtml.
16. ↑ "Infogrames Buys Humongous". August 26, 2005. https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/08/26/infogrames-buys-humongous.
17. ↑ "Atari Sells Humongous to Infogrames for $10.3 Million". Business Week. August 28, 2005. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2005-08-28/atari-sells-humongous-to-infogrames-for-10-dot-3-million.
18. ↑ "Humongous Announces New Team and Focus". 17 October 2005. http://www.backyardsports.com/corporate/press/NewTeam.pdf.
19. ↑ "Form 10-K". Atari, Inc.. June 29, 2006. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1002607/000095012306008390/y22324e10vk.htm.
20. ↑ "Backyard Sports". http://www.backyardsports.com/corporate/index.php.
21. ↑ "Pajama Sam: Don't Fear the Dark (Only at Target Edition) - PC - GameSpy". http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/pajama-sam-dont-fear-the-dark-only-at-target-edition/.
22. ↑ "Majesco Entertainment and Interactive Game Group Bring Humongous' Best-Selling Children's Properties to Wii in the U.S.". March 26, 2008. https://purenintendo.com/majesco-entertainment-and-interactive-game-group-bring-humongous-best-selling-childrens-properties-to-wii-in-the-us/.
23. ↑ "TWiG 2008-08-25: A Week with the Shovel, PopMatters" (in en-US). 2008-08-24. https://www.popmatters.com/twig-2008-08-25-a-week-with-the-shovel-2496125092.html.
24. ↑ Moss, Richard (January 16, 2012). "Maniac Tentacle Mindbenders: How ScummVM's unpaid coders kept adventure gaming alive". Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/01/maniac-tentacle-mindbenders-of-atlantis-how-scummvm-kept-adventure-gaming-alive/.
25. ↑ "Freddi Fish: ABC Under The Sea - Nintendo DS - GameSpy". http://ds.gamespy.com/nintendo-ds/freddi-fish-abcs-under-the-sea/.
26. ↑ Infogrames Entertainment S.A. and Atari, Inc. Announce Agreement to Merge: Financial News Yahoo! Finance
27. ↑ "Atari GB". Corporate.infogrames.com. October 9, 2008. http://corporate.infogrames.com/infogramesgb/2008/10/infogrames_entertainment_sa_an_1.php.
28. ↑ "Infogrames Entertainment Fiscal Year 2008/2009 Earnings". Infogrames. May 29, 2009. http://files.atari.com/corporate/0908-GB_annual report.pdf.
29. ↑ Atari. "Atari Brings Award Winning HUMONGOUS Kids Edutainment Games to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch for the First Time". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved January 17, 2024.
30. ↑ "Nimbus Games to bring their newest title, Spy Fox in Dry Cereal, to Android" (in en-GB). May 16, 2012. https://www.droidgamers.com/news/game-news/nimbus-games-to-bring-their-newest-game-spry-fox-in-dry-cereal-to-android/.
31. ↑ "Atari US operations file for bankruptcy protection". BBC News. January 21, 2013. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21124214.
32. ↑ "The Evergreen Group Has Agreed to Acquire Backyard Sports Video Game Franchise". Business Week. July 24, 2013. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130724006402/en/Evergreen-Group-Agreed-Acquire-Backyard-Sports-Video.
33. ↑ "Wargaming, Rebellion and Stardock all bid on Atari assets". Gamasutra. July 22, 2013. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/wargaming-rebellion-and-stardock-all-bid-on-atari-assets.
34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Clark, Nicole (May 9, 2019). "From 'Putt Putt' to 'Freddi Fish'—How Humongous Entertainment Made Edutainment Fun" (in en). https://www.vice.com/en/article/from-putt-putt-to-freddi-fishhow-humongous-entertainment-made-edutainment-fun/.
35. ↑ Humongous [@HumongousEnt] (February 3, 2022). "Get your adventure on with four of the best games you've ever played, arriving for #NintendoSwitch on February 10th.". https://twitter.com/HumongousEnt/status/1489282536366690306.
36. ↑ Humongous [@HumongousEnt] (December 27, 2021). "Freddi Fish 3 and Putt-Putt Travels Through Time on January 3rd, 2022!". https://twitter.com/HumongousEnt/status/1475506007992246276.
37. ↑ "Once trapped in fragile plastic diskettes...". November 2, 2022. https://twitter.com/humongousent/status/1587973171080097792.
38. ↑ "Humongous Classic Collection". https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP2035-CUSA33979_00-8565719255820321.
39. ↑ "Amazon.com: Humongous Classic Collection - Nintendo Switch: Video Games". https://www.amazon.com/Humongous-Classic-Collection-Nintendo-Switch/dp/B0BPDVVTPX.
40. ↑ "Humongous Classic Collection for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Official Site" (in en-US). https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/humongous-classic-collection-switch/.
41. ↑ "The Freddi Fish Collection" (in en). https://www.humongous.com/games-switch/the-freddi-fish-collection.
42. ↑ "Freddi Fish Collection for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Official Site" (in en-US). https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/freddi-fish-collection-switch/.
43. ↑ "Freddi Fish Collection". https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10010196.
44. ↑ "Humongous Entertainment Brings a New Perspective to Children's Software; Putt-Putt's Newest Junior Adventure™ Puts Kids in the Driver's Seat Putt-Putt Enters the Race™ Hits Retail Stores This Week; Humongous.com Kicks off Online Launch Party for Putt-Putt on January 14" (Press release). Humongous Entertainment. January 5, 1999. Archived from the original on October 2, 1999.
45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 "Remember the fun of creating mazes when you were a kid". 1997-02-23. http://www.humongous.com:80/company/pr/more/news/freddilutherarcade.html.

## External links

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Humongous Entertainment

Putt-Putt|

* Joins the Parade
* Goes to the Moon
* Saves the Zoo
* Travels Through Time
* Enters the Race
* Joins the Circus
* Pep's Birthday Surprise

Freddi Fish|

* Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds
* 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse
* 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell
* 4: The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch
* 5: The Case of the Creature of Coral Cove

Pajama Sam|

* No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside
* 2: Thunder and Lightning Aren't so Frightening
* 3: You Are What You Eat from Your Head to Your Feet
* Life Is Rough When You Lose Your Stuff!

Spy Fox|

* "Dry Cereal"
* 2: "Some Assembly Required"
* 3: "Operation Ozone"

Backyard Sports|

* Baseball
* Soccer
* MLS Edition
* Football
* Basketball
* Hockey
* Nintendo DS

Other games|

* Big Thinkers
* Blue's Birthday Adventure
* Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise
* Junior Field Trips
* MoonBase Commander
* Ron Gilbert

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