Majesco Entertainment

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Majesco Entertainment is an American game publisher founded in 1986 under the name "Majesco Sales, Inc." In its early years, they just resold old titles that were abandoned by their original publishers. Gradually, they entered the publishing business and created their first internal development brand Pipe Dream Interactive in 1999. The company experienced deep financial trouble after their titles failed commercially, especially Psychonauts in 2005. After barely escaping bankruptcy, Majesco shifted to the casual game market. Since 2006, they were exclusively publishing for the Wii and Nintendo DS, but later started publishing to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. In December 2016, the company exited the video game business after merging with biotech firm PolarityTE. However, it was reactivated in 2017 through a management buyout by CEO Jesse Sutton. In 2018, 51% of the company was purchased by Liquid Media Group.



1st Logo (August 13, 2001-April 15, 2005)


Visuals: There is a blue-outlined oval shield containing the stylized blue letter "M" with its middle part cut down and "MAJESCO" placed there. There is a website URL below, written in burgundy italics.

Variants:

  • On many games, the background is black and the website uses the regular white font. Early games had no website URL.
  • On Dark Arena, the logo is zoomed in.
  • On Earthworm Jim 2 for GBA, the logo is occupied by the game characters.
  • On games co-developed by Terminal Reality, the logo appears in a red fire fall, followed by said company's logo made in the same way.
  • A variant appears on Game Boy Advance Video cartridges: On a white background, a 2D Majesco logo fades in. Then, "DIGITAL" and "VIDEO" appear from the left and right respectively and flash. "DIGITAL" is black and "VIDEO" is shiny gray, and both words have rainbow trails near them.

Technique: A still digital graphic.

Audio: None for the still version, harsh blows and sounds for the animated version.

Availability: The first game to have this logo was Fortress for Game Boy Advance, and the last game to have this logo was Game Boy Advance Video: Cartoon Network Collection - Platinum Edition.

2nd Logo (April 19, 2005-February 24, 2012)


Visuals: Lines come out into the screen on a black background, with a green dotted light before the logo is on the background, and a few blue lines appear. A light traces the gray bottom squiggly lines until the logo hits the background again and the company name appears.

Variants:

  • There is an animated version with no "ENTERTAINMENT" used on Psychonauts.
  • There is a version with a white background seen on the trailer for Jaws Unleashed and a few games like Cooking Mama.
  • The still version is much more common.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: None or an electronic tune.

Availability: This was used on Advent Rising, Psychonauts, Jaws Unleashed, and on a huge amount of casual games for Wii and DS. The animated version was used on Infected for PSP for instance. The logo also appears on GBA Video cartridges of Shrek, Shrek 2 and Shark Tale.

3rd Logo (September 11, 2012-December 21, 2020)


Visuals: There is a light blue (and lime green on the other side) ribbon which comes and flips to the screen. A blue sphere rises up quickly before the ribbon flips, and falls down and bounces above, together forming a stylized person. The name slides out and unfolds with the logo.

Technique: CGI designed by Element18, and animated by Henk Dawson, created with the Modo app.

Audio: A 9-note soft tune, accompanied with sound effects when the sphere falls into place.

Availability: Seen on later games from the company, like Harley Pasternak's Hollywood Workout for Wii.

Majesco Sales, Inc.
Majesco Entertainment
Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies.