Majesco Games Corporation (formerly Majesco Sales Inc. and Majesco Entertainment Company) is an American video game publisher and distributor located in Hazlet, New Jersey. The company was founded as Majesco Sales in Edison, New Jersey in 1986. It remained a privately owned company until it merged with ConnectivCorp, a company without operations, through a type of merger called a reverse merger. This made Majesco a public company on December 5, 2003. ConnectivCorp later changed its name to Majesco Holdings Inc. on April 13, 2004.

On December 1, 2016, Majesco Entertainment was acquired by PolarityTE, Inc., a biotech company, through another reverse merger. As a result, Majesco officially stopped all video game operations on December 8, 2016. In mid-2017, the company’s chief executive officer, Jesse Sutton, bought back the company through a management buyout and continued to operate it as a privately owned business. On January 15, 2018, Liquid Media Group announced it had acquired Majesco.

History

Majesco began by re-releasing old video games that other companies had stopped making. By lowering prices and later arranging rights to produce games for Nintendo and Sega systems, the company found a stable place in the market.

Later, Majesco partnered with Sega to make a version of its Genesis console (called Mega Drive outside North America), which had been replaced by the 32-bit Saturn. It released this as the Genesis 3 in 1998 and later made a version of the Game Gear handheld called the Game Gear Core System. In 1998, Majesco signed a deal with Hasbro Interactive to publish their games for the 8-bit handheld and 16-bit console formats, including the Game Boy Color.

The company shifted its focus to creating games internally, initially under the brand Pipe-Dream Interactive, as many doubted its ability to make the change. Two key producers, Dan Kitchen and Kevin Mitchell, who had worked at Morning Star Multimedia, were involved in this effort. Majesco secured a license with Red Storm Entertainment to bring Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six to the Sega Dreamcast in 1999. Pipe-Dream Interactive, a Majesco subsidiary, later produced games for Hasbro Interactive on the Game Boy Color and Sega Dreamcast in 2000, including Q*Bert. In 2000, Majesco signed a deal with Activision to publish classic games on the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance. The next year, Majesco partnered with THQ to bring its Game Boy Advance games to Europe, and later signed with Codemasters to publish two PlayStation 2 titles.

Majesco focused on games for systems like the GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Xbox, and PlayStation 2. It released some Bomberman titles for these platforms. The company also published computer games, such as BloodRayne and BloodRayne 2, developed by Terminal Reality.

In 2003, Majesco planned to publish Black 9 but shut down the developers, Taldren, Inc., when the game was about 85% complete. Majesco faced financial problems due to games like Psychonauts and Advent Rising, which did not sell well despite praise. Its best-selling titles in recent years were the GBA Videos for the Game Boy Advance and the game Jaws Unleashed.

On January 19, 2006, Majesco canceled two games, Demonik and Taxi Driver, due to financial difficulties. Its president, Jesse Sutton, said the company would focus on budget and handheld games. It later published successful titles like Cooking Mama for the Nintendo DS.

On September 14, 2006, Majesco released Advent Rising and re-released BloodRayne and BloodRayne 2 on Steam. In 2007, it opened a new development facility in Los Angeles for casual games and announced a rhythm game, Major Minor's Majestic March, for the Wii. In 2008, Majesco launched an online version of Bananagrams on Facebook. In 2009, it released BloodRayne and BloodRayne 2 on GOG.com. In 2011, Majesco acquired assets from Quick Hit to expand its social gaming efforts.

Majesco faced financial losses in 2013 and 2014, leading to the closure of Midnight City and the cancellation of the console version of Gone Home. On August 12, 2015, Majesco announced a new CEO and reduced its workforce to five employees. It shifted focus to mobile and downloadable games, including Glue and a new A Boy and His Blob title.

On December 9, 2016, Majesco stopped operating in the entertainment industry and merged with biotech firm PolarityTE. In 2017, PolarityTE sold Majesco's assets, leading to its rebirth as an independent company.

In 2017, Majesco re-entered the video game industry, releasing Romans from Mars on Steam. In 2018, Liquid Media Group bought 51% of Majesco, and Jesse Sutton became its Gaming Advisor. The company announced Coba: Tale of the Moon for the Nintendo Switch in 2018.

In 2020, Ziggurat Interactive acquired several Majesco-owned intellectual properties, including BloodRayne and Advent Rising, and planned updates for BloodRayne. In 2021, Majesco announced Monster Tale for the Nintendo Switch, though it had not been released as of February 2025. Liquid Media Group no longer lists Majesco as a subsidiary, and Jesse Sutton remains on its board but is not employed by the company.

Controversies and lawsuits

Majesco was accused by former employees of Taldren, Inc. of trying to force the company to close so Majesco could take control of the Black9 intellectual property. The employees said Majesco delayed payments for project milestones and used "programmer assistance" to try to control the game's source code.

To promote the release of Advent Rising, Majesco offered $1 million in a contest through Xbox Live. The prize was for the first player to find hidden symbols in the game's levels. On August 15, 2005, the contest was canceled because organizers said there was no fair or secure way to continue the challenge. As compensation, Majesco gave players a choice of two free games (BloodRayne 2, Guilty Gear X2 #Reload, Psychonauts, Raze's Hell, or Phantom Dust) and an apology on its website.

In 2005, shareholders sued Majesco in a class action lawsuit, claiming the company sent products to retailers knowing the items would be returned to increase revenue and raise the stock price. In 2006, Trinad Capital Master Fund filed another lawsuit, accusing Majesco of poor management. This case was settled in 2007.

In 2011, Majesco was one of several companies sued for allegedly violating patents related to motion controls in Nintendo Wii games. In 2018, the Federal Circuit court ruled in favor of Majesco and the other defendants in the case.