software company . for the blood coagulation protein see factor v. for the book by ernst ulrich von weizs cker see factor 5 book . factor 5 gmbh factor 5 inc us branch former type private industry video game industry fate closed properties sold founded 1987 1996 us branch defunct may 2009 us branch january 2011 german branch headquarters cologne germany san rafael california usa us branch key people achim moller ceo julian eggebrecht president us branch products lair rogue squadron series turrican series musyx dolby sound tools divx for games sdk website official website factor 5 gmbh was an independent software and video game developer . the company was originally co founded by five former rainbow arts employees in 1987 in cologne germany which served as the inspiration behind the studio s name . in order to have a stronger relationship with factor 5 s north american partners like lucasarts factor 5 inc. was established in the us in may 1996 with legal support from lucasarts and in late 1996 the core of the development team in germany was relocated to the north american company headquarters in san rafael california . 1 2 julian eggebrecht one of the five initial co founders served as president of factor 5 s us branch . the us company closed in may 2009 following the closure of brash entertainment with which the company had multiple contracts . 3 the original german company headed by ceo achim moller remained active due to its unrelated business policy and operations with the north american company . 4 5 however in january 2011 moller liquidated factor 5 gmbh and all game licenses were transferred to eggebrecht engel schmidt gbr . 6 contents 1 history 2 games 2.1 factor 5 gmbh 2.1.1 amiga 2.1.2 atari st 2.1.3 super nintendo entertainment system 2.1.4 sega mega drive genesis 2.1.5 game boy 2.1.6 pc 2.1.7 playstation 2.2 factor 5 inc 2.2.1 nintendo 64 2.2.2 pc 2.2.3 nintendo gamecube 2.2.4 playstation 3 2.2.5 cancelled games 3 technology 4 references 5 external links history edit the programming group which would eventually become factor 5 had originally formed in the 1980s in what cofounder julian eggebrecht described as a culture of hacking and multimedia programming demonstrations . eggebrecht attended the filmhochschule in munich to become a movie director and all the other members studied computer science . 7 while its founders were still university students factor 5 started out in game development as a part time activity under partnership with rainbow arts for the amiga computer . there they had their earliest moderate success with katakis an r type clone of impressive technical performance . citation needed due to the game s obvious similarity to r type rights holder activision europe delivered an ultimatum either factor 5 accept a contract to perform the official r type conversion for the amiga home computer or receive a lawsuit for rights infringement . according to julian eggebrecht this was because activision couldn t find any programmers however the opportunity was a dream come true . 7 their first important success however came with turrican 7 a game designed by rainbow arts designer manfred trenz . factor 5 handled the amiga and atari st versions of the game ; and together with the original commodore 64 version and several others turrican was a major hit across europe in 1990 . in 1991 faced with the prospect of corporate formalities imposed by the video game console industry the company founders quit school in favor of full time corporate careers . eggebrecht explained t he moment you go into console programming you won t get a development system from nintendo unless you have a reputable company . 7 after they finished work on turrican ii the final fight for the amiga and atari st in 1991 factor 5 built their own development kits and software environments for the super nintendo entertainment system and mega drive genesis codenamed pegasus snes and pegasus mega drive . subsequently they decided to focus their efforts towards console game development in 1992 with several projects for the snes and mega drive genesis including new turrican games and other titles contracted by companies like lucasarts hudson soft and konami the latter of which had also game boy development contracts with them . in 1993 factor 5 produced their last amiga effort an amiga conversion of mega turrican handled with programming support from fellow company neon studios . they would develop games for the snes mega drive genesis and game boy until 1996 when they switched their efforts to the playstation . with the development of playstation games for lucasarts the personnel located in germany experienced communication difficulties in working with their north american partner due to the distance between both countries and the internet speeds of that time being insufficient for the requirements of console development . this together with legal assistance offered by lucasarts resulted in a new factor 5 branch in california . there the core of the development team from germany was established after they finished work on their playstation games in late 1996 . for a long time the north american branch of factor 5 was an exclusive prominent development partner with both lucasarts and nintendo developing both game titles for the former and middleware tools for the latter . during that time the studio gained considerable critical and commercial praise for its technical proficiency producing what are often cited as some of the most visually advanced titles on the nintendo 64 and the nintendo gamecube all based on lucasarts properties . two high profile middleware tools were also developed by the company for nintendo musyx a sound system produced in cooperation with dolby laboratories ; and the divx for games sdk integrating the functionality of the popular video codec into nintendo s development tools . in late december 2008 several online media outlets reported that brash entertainment factor 5 s publisher of their current project would close at the end of the month after encountering financial problems . this sudden interruption in funding left factor 5 with their own funding difficulties eventually causing its closure in may 2009 . 3 factor 5 had been involved in litigation with its former employees in the defunct north american factor 5 company . the suit alleges that factor 5 did not pay its employees for work during november and december that employees were laid off without the required notice by law that employees did not receive their vacation pay and that the company misled the employees . the suit was filed in marin superior court . citation needed games edit factor 5 gmbh edit amiga edit 1988 katakis 1989 r type 1990 turrican 1990 masterblazer intro only 1991 turrican ii the final fight 1991 the adventures of quik & silva under the pseudonym new bits on the ram 1992 metal law under the pseudonym new bits on the ram 1992 tony and friends in kellog s land 1992 bc kid 1993 turrican 3 conversion program by neon studios atari st edit 1990 turrican 1991 turrican ii the final fight 1991 the adventures of quik & silva under the pseudonym new bits on the ram ; port of amiga version super nintendo entertainment system edit 1993 super turrican 1994 indiana jones greatest adventures 1995 super turrican 2 sega mega drive genesis edit 1993 mega turrican released in 1994 1994 mega bomberman 8 players unpublished demo 1995 indiana jones greatest adventures unpublished 1996 international superstar soccer deluxe game boy edit 1994 contra the alien wars 1995 animaniacs pc edit 1994 tony & friends in kellogg s land 8 playstation edit 1996 star wars rebel assault ii the hidden empire 1996 ballblazer champions factor 5 inc edit nintendo 64 edit 1998 star wars rogue squadron 1999 resident evil 2 sound compression technology 1999 elmo s letter adventure sound compression technology 2000 san francisco rush 2049 sound compression technology 2000 star wars episode i battle for naboo 2000 indiana jones and the infernal machine 2000 pok mon stadium sound compression technology pc edit 1999 star wars rogue squadron 3d 2001 star wars episode i battle for naboo nintendo gamecube edit 2001 star wars rogue squadron ii rogue leader 2003 star wars rogue squadron iii rebel strike playstation 3 edit 2007 lair cancelled games edit animal wars ps3 9 fear factor unleashed ps2 xbox 10 untitled flight project wii 11 icarus reboot of kid icarus wii 12 untitled pilotwings project gamecube 13 rogue leaders for lucasarts completed but unreleased wii 14 superman ps3 xbox 360 wii 15 thornado n64 16 thornado gamecube 17 turrican cyclone ps3 18 virus ps3 9 technology edit musyx dolby sound tools developed for nintendo 64 nintendo gamecube game boy color and game boy advance 19 divx for games sdk developed for nintendo gamecube references edit factor 5 thomas engel . postmortem factor 5 s star wars rogue leader rogue squadron ii . gamasutra . a b tom ivan . lair dev factor 5 closes . edge . matt casamassina . factor 5 shuts down . ign . leigh alexander . factor 5 germany confirms u.s. studio closure . gamasutra . http www.neogaf.com forum showthread.php t 451147 a b c d eggebrecht julian february 23 1998 . factor 5 interview part i . interview with peer schneider . retrieved january 13 2015 . thelegacy retrieved october 30 2008 . a b http www.unseen64.net 2011 11 10 animal wars ps3 cancelled http www.unseen64.net 2010 05 25 fear factor unleashed ps2 xbox cancelled http www.unseen64.net 2009 05 14 f5s flight project wii prototype https www.youtube.com watch v gf3cqkxfxaw https www.youtube.com watch v fmb 4wjrzyo http hwcdn.libsyn.com p 3 0 5 30564a64ae29bcd8 nintendo voice chat factor 5s odyssey to make star wars games.mp3 c id 7727366 & expiration 1412976079 & hwt 59ce7c57f38ee6152d163b0662cbd34c http www.unseen64.net 2009 03 09 superman factor 5 x360ps3 cancelled http www.unseen64.net 2009 04 08 thornado n64 prototype http www.unseen64.net 2008 04 08 thornado gc cancelled http www.unseen64.net 2009 05 27 project c factor 5 ps3 cancelled raising the speech factor . ign . january 27 1998 . retrieved january 13 2015 . external links edit official website factor 5 profile at ign factor 5 profile at gamespot authority control worldcat identities viaf 135100442 bnf cb140548467 data retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title factor 5 & oldid 736938430 categories video game companies of germanyvideo game companies of the united statesdefunct companies based in californiadefunct video game companiesvideo game companies disestablished in 2011video game development companiesinternational game developers association memberscompanies based in san rafael californiahidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from january 2015articles with unsourced statements from september 2013wikipedia articles with viaf identifierswikipedia articles with bnf identifiers navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages catal e tinadeutschespa olfran aisitaliano portugu s sloven inasuomi edit links this page was last modified on 30 august 2016 at 20 14 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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