Editing Telecomsoft

{{short description|British video game publisher}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Telecomsoft
| logo = 
| type = [[Division (business)|Division]]
| industry = [[Video game industry|Video games]]
| fate = Closed, labels sold
| founded = {{Start date and age|1984}}
| founder = [[Ederyn Williams]]
| defunct = {{End date|1989|05|09|df=y}}
| hq_location_city = [[London]]
| hq_location_country = England
| brands = {{Unbulleted list|Firebird|Rainbird|Silverbird}}
| parent = [[British Telecom]] 
}}

'''Telecomsoft''' was a British [[video game publisher]] and a [[Division (business)|division]] of [[British Telecom]]. The company was founded by [[Ederyn Williams]] in 1984 and operated three separate labels: '''Firebird''', '''Rainbird''', and '''Silverbird'''. The first employee was James Leavey, seconded from elsewhere in BT, who, along with Tony Rainbird, became the driving force behind the company in the early days.

==History==
Telecomsoft was founded in 1984 when [[computer games]] were the fastest growing sector within the computer software market at the time.
Despite a turnover of over £6 million in 1987/88,<ref name='gamesmachine'>{{cite magazine |title=Telecomsoft goes up for sale|magazine=The Games Machine|issue=18 |publisher=Newsfield |date=May 1989|page=7|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=1806&page=7|access-date=25 April 2020}}</ref> British Telecom sold the three labels to [[MicroProse]] in 1989 in a deal reported to be worth around £2,000,000<ref name=newcomputerexpress>{{cite magazine |title=Telecomsoft sale: It's official|magazine=New Computer Express |issue=24 |publisher=Future Publishing |date=22 April 1989|page=3|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=4796&page=3}}</ref> after a failed management buyout.<ref name='gamesmachine' /> MicroProse sold the Silverbird label soon after acquisition, but continued to use the Rainbird and Firebird labels for a short period.

==Labels==

=== Firebird ===
[[File:Telecomsoft-firebird-software-fair-use-220px.png|thumb|right|220px]]

British Telecom brought in Tony Rainbird, owner of budget software publisher Micro-Gold, to help set up the first Telecomsoft label, Firebird.<ref name='onlykidding'>{{cite magazine |title=Only Kidding|magazine=Your Sinclair |issue=31 |publisher=Dennis |date=July 1988|page=105|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=252&page=105|author=Graeme Kidd|access-date=25 April 2020}}</ref>
Originally named Firefly Software, the label had to be renamed when it was discovered that the name had already been registered by another company.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.birdsanctuary.co.uk/fb/fb_hist.php |title=The Bird Sanctuary - Firebird History |access-date=2009-10-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419140304/http://www.birdsanctuary.co.uk/fb/fb_hist.php |archive-date=2009-04-19 }}</ref>

The first titles to be published on the Firebird Silver label in November 1984 were ''[[The Wild Bunch (video game)|The Wild Bunch]]'' for the [[ZX Spectrum]], ''[[Booty (video game)|Booty]]'' for the [[Commodore 64]] and ''Bird Strike'' for the [[BBC Micro]].<ref name='pcw181084'>{{cite magazine |title=BT games|magazine=Popular Computing Weekly |volume=3|issue=42 |publisher=Sunshine Publications |date=18 October 1984|page=5|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2828&page=5|access-date=25 April 2020}}</ref> 

Although there were doubts as to whether or not the market could afford to sustain a range of budget titles, the Firebird Silver releases were successful. In February 1985, ''Booty'' was the third best selling video game in the UK, behind only [[Ghostbusters (1984 video game)|''Ghostbusters'']] and ''[[Daley Thompson's Decathlon]]''.<ref name='hcw19285'>{{cite magazine |title=Top 20 Software Compiled By Gallup|magazine=Home Computing Weekly |issue=100 |publisher=Argus Specialist Publications |date=19 February 1985|page=4|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2666&page=4|access-date=25 April 2020}}</ref> 

While Firebird Silver would release budget titles priced at £2.50, Firebird Gold would release more prestigious titles at a higher price.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.birdsanctuary.co.uk/fb/fb_hist2.php |title=The Bird Sanctuary - Firebird History2 |access-date=2009-10-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419140031/http://www.birdsanctuary.co.uk/fb/fb_hist2.php |archive-date=2009-04-19 }}</ref> Firebird Gold established itself just as well as its budget counterpart. The label became synonymous with many classic 8-bit titles such as ''[[Elite (video game)|Elite]]'', ''[[Revs_(video_game)|Revs]]'',  and ''[[The Sentinel (computer game)|The Sentinel]]''. 

In October 1985, the budget range was relaunched as the lower priced Firebird Silver 199 Range<ref name='pcw19985'>{{cite magazine |title=Hot hits from BT|magazine=Popular Computing Weekly |volume=4|issue=38 |publisher=Sunshine Publications |date=19 September 1985|page=4|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2875&page=4|access-date=25 April 2020}}</ref> and a full price label, Firebird Hot, was created to publish titles such as ''Costa Capers'', the sequel to ''[[Technician Ted]]''.<ref name=pcw19985 /> A further label called Firebird Super Silver was a short-lived mid-price range which published titles such as ''[[Chimera (video game)|Chimera]]'' and the [[Amstrad CPC]] version of ''Booty'' at £3.99.

Firebird's success allowed them to acquire a number of third party developers, see ''Telecomsoft acquisitions'' below, and they also established a deal with [[Ultimate Play the Game]], whereby they would convert and publish a number of their successful [[ZX Spectrum]] games to the Commodore 64.

As the Rainbird label became the home of Telecomsoft's premium products, the Gold and Hot labels slowly merged into a single full price range which went on to publish [[Mike Singleton|Mike Singleton's]] [[Dark Sceptre]] and the home conversions of ''[[Bubble Bobble]]''.

A final overhaul of the Firebird brand was conducted in early 1988 as the budget titles became rebranded as Silverbird.

=== Silverbird ===
[[File:Telecomsoft-silverbird-software-fair-use-220px.png|thumb|right|220px]]
Rather than attempt to juggle a potentially confusing budget label with the same branding as their full price software, Telecomsoft decided to rebrand their Silver 199 budget label as a single ''Silverbird'' range. Two price points were established for 8-bit software (£1.99 and £2.99) while a few budget 16-bit titles were priced at £9.99. These various price points were differentiated between by their own particular style of packaging.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://birdsanctuary.co.uk/history-silverbird-software/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151110061012/http://birdsanctuary.co.uk/history-silverbird-software/ |archive-date=10 November 2015 |title=The History of Silverbird Software - The Bird Sanctuary}}</ref>

Rather than simply republish their existing range of budget software, ''Silverbird'' published a range of titles that hadn't previously been released at a budget price point. This included many original new titles as well older full-price titles acquired from other publishers.

Following MicroProse's acquisition of Telecomsoft, the US publisher sold off the ''Silverbird'' label to a Tudor Enterprises, a British publisher. They published a compilation pack of old ''Silverbird'' titles and a small number of original titles before closing down their software publishing operations.

=== Rainbird ===
[[File:Telecomsoft-rainbird-software-fair-use-220px.png|thumb|right|220px]]
The Rainbird label was established in November 1985<ref name='pcw141185'>{{cite magazine |title=BT forms Rainbird to attack US|magazine=Popular Computing Weekly |volume=4|issue=45 |publisher=Sunshine Publications |date=14 November 1985|page=4|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2883&page=4|access-date=25 April 2020}}</ref>  by Tony Rainbird. For legal reasons, the label's original name, Bluebird, had to be changed, although it still retained Tony Rainbird's original idea of releasing all its games in striking blue packaging.<ref name=onlykidding />

The 16-bit home computer market, largely represented by the Atari ST and Amiga, was just beginning to take off in 1986 and the Rainbird label was an ideal opportunity to capitalise on it. Rather than concentrate on the more simplistic arcade action games that had dominated the 8-bit era, Rainbird aimed to introduce cutting edge simulators, adventure games and utilities to the full-price market.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://birdsanctuary.co.uk/history-rainbird-software/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151110060543/http://birdsanctuary.co.uk/history-rainbird-software/ |archive-date=10 November 2015 |title=The History of Rainbird Software - The Bird Sanctuary}}</ref>

Rainbird formed partnerships with a number of developers who would produce their next range of games. [[Magnetic Scrolls]] and [[Argonaut Software]] were amongst the first developers to benefit from a publishing deal with the label. [[Realtime Games]], a successful ZX Spectrum developer who specialised in fast 3D action games, converted ''[[Starglider]]'' to the ZX Spectrum and developed ''[[Carrier Command]]''.

The company republished enhanced versions of adventure games by [[Level 9 Computing]], beginning with their ''[[Middle-earth]]'' trilogy: ''[[Colossal Cave Adventure|Colossal Adventure]]'' (itself an enhanced conversion of ''Adventure'' by Will Crowther and Don Woods), ''Adventure Quest'' and ''Dungeon Adventure'', these last two featuring the Demon Lord [[Agaliarept]]. Rainbird published this sequence as ''Jewels of Darkness''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crashonline.org.uk/36/jewels.htm |title = CRASH 36 - Jewels of Darkness}}</ref> and references to [[Middle-earth]] were expunged. Rainbird also published Level 9's ''[[Silicon Dreams trilogy|Silicon Dreams]]'' trilogy: ''Snowball'' was followed by ''Return to Eden'' and ''The Worm in Paradise''.

MicroProse continued to use the Rainbird label for a number of years, after its acquisition of Telecomsoft.

===Acquisitions===

====Beyond Software====
One of Telecomsoft's earliest acquisitions was [[Beyond Software]]. Originally set up by the [[EMAP]] publishing group in 1983, Beyond published numerous titles on the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and [[Amstrad CPC]], but met with very little success until the release of [[Mike Singleton|Mike Singleton's]] ''[[Lords of Midnight]]'' in 1984. The [[Tolkien]]-esque strategy game, and allowed Beyond to establish a distribution deal with American developers [[First Star]], as well as a publishing deal with developer [[Denton Designs]].

After being acquired by Telecomsoft in late 1985<ref name="birds-beyond">Richard Hewison: [http://www.birdsanctuary.co.uk/sanct/s_beyond.php Beyond.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525032205/http://www.birdsanctuary.co.uk/sanct/s_beyond.php |date=2011-05-25 }} from: ''The Bird Sanctuary.'' Accessed on 2009-12-10</ref> for a six figure sum, Beyond continued to operate as a unique label, mostly releasing games that had already been in development for some time,<ref name='pcw171085'>{{cite magazine |title=Beyond answers Telecom's call|magazine=Popular Computing Weekly |volume=4|issue=42 |publisher=Sunshine Publications |date=17 October 1985|page=1|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2879&page=1|access-date=25 April 2020}}</ref>  as well as a number of conversions of existing titles. Telecomsoft did very little with the Beyond label beyond these releases. A number of other titles, such as ''[[Star Trek: The Rebel Universe]]'', were released on the Firebird label.

====Odin Computer Graphics====
{{main|Odin Computer Graphics}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== See also ==

* [[SCi Games]]
{{BT Group}}

[[Category:BT Group]]
[[Category:MicroProse]]
[[Category:Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Video game development companies]]
[[Category:Video game publishers]]