Argonaut Games company

Argonaut Games was one of the largest indie games developers in the world with a 17 year history of producing groundbreaking games. The company was based in Edgware, north London, UK, and at its peak boasted over 300 employees. Argonaut created numerous hit games, most-notably Croc: The Legend of the Gobbos, Alien: Resurrection and the first Harry Potter on PlayStation. Additionally, Argonaut developed the Super FX chip (used in the original SNES Star Fox title) for Nintendo, which ultimately became the foundations for a spin-off sister company, ARC. In 2000 the Argonaut board decided to float the company. A series of acquisitions followed, adding several small studios to the group. However, the group struggled with both its new overheads and the fresh challenges in the transition from PS1 to PS2 and XBOX. By 2004, after various setbacks, Argonaut's cash reserves were severely depleted, leading to the eventual closure of all of its studios, and the loss of several hundred jobs.