Games like Test Drive and Boulder Dash were Canadian-produced titles released by publishers in the United States. Therefore, although the games were developed in Canada, it was US companies that released them. The reason the Canadian game studios behind these games are generally forgotten when the topic of retro gaming studios of the 8- and 16-bit era comes up in forums, blogs and the wider community is that the name of the studio on the game was not Canadian.

Many of the studios that helped build 8- and 16-bit games during this retro gaming era movement have been forgotten, and we’re going to revive them!

Why Canada Never Got the Credit

Most Canadian game development studios in the 80s and 90s were not distributors per se; rather, they were contracted to design games by the eventual publishers. Many of those publishers branded the games under their name as they owned the intellectual property rights and mostly financed the games. Therefore, the distributors got the credit as they were the franchise behind the localized and global game distribution networks.

Also, let’s face it. Do you think gamers looked at the developer’s name on the credits and researched which country that person came from? You have to remember, there was no internet or AI search back then, and sometimes the company that owned the IP rights kept the development studio they used a secret and didn’t mention the designers or studio that created the game.

The Most Prevalent Forgotten Canadian Game Studios of the 8- and 16-Bit Era

Some of the most prevalent forgotten Canadian game developers of the 8- and 16-bit era being brought back to life in this article include independent designers and studios. Peter Liepa and Chris Gray, Distinctive Software, Sydney Development, and Artech Digital Entertainment all deserve a mention as they played an integral part in the age of the retro gaming scene.

Peter Liepa and Chris Gray – Grey Matter

Take Boulder Dash, for example. The designer and co-developer, Peter Liepa and Chris Gray, respectively, are both Canadian, and although they were credited for creation in the game credit roles, First Star Software, a gaming company in the United States, released the game. The studio that developed the game is not highlighted, as First Star Software had a series of games to release and market under their name.

Essentially, Peter Liepa and Chris Gray sold publishing rights to a US-based publisher with a global distribution network already set up. While the two contributors created the game, they took advantage of a company that could distribute the final product; on the other hand, the publisher funded the developers to keep pumping out new games.

The two contributors from Canada have fallen into the forgotten Canadian game studios of the 8- and 16-Bit era category.

Distinctive Software – The Forgotten Vancouver-Based Studio

Another Forgotten Canadian game studio of the 8- and 16-bit era is Distinctive Software, which was a British Columbia company opening out of Vancouver in 1982. It was the studio behind one of the retro era’s most played games in 1987, Test Drive. Released and distributed by Accolade, a US company, the creation of Test Drive was contracted to Distinctive Software.

The software studio’s name is partly forgotten because the distributor was Accolade, which is what gamers saw on the box and credits. The other reason we don’t see Distinctive Studio any longer is that in 1991, US company Electronic Arts (EA) purchased the development firm.

Before the buyout, the studio was the developer behind a handful of 8- and 16-bit games:

Game	Canadian developer	Published by	Publisher’s country
Evolution	Don Mattrick and Jeff Sember, working through Sydney Data Products	Sydney Development Corporation	Canada
Test Drive	Distinctive Software	Accolade	United States
The Duel: Test Drive II	Distinctive Software	Accolade	United States
HardBall! baseball series	The original was developed by Accolade; Distinctive Software worked on certain ports and later entries	Accolade	United States

Essentially, EA came knocking in 1991, with an offer the company owners couldn’t refuse, and bought the studio outright, so it became EA Canada, which, ironically, EA is still around today, arguably becoming world famous for its FIFA and NBA Live games.

It’s also a nice story because Don Mattrick, who was Distinctive Software’s co-founder and programmer/designer, landed himself a position running the Xbox division at Microsoft. However, if you ever posed the question as to where Test Drive was originally conceived in a retro gaming forum, most would be surprised to learn it came from a Vancouver gaming studio.

Sydney Development Studio Canada – One of the Earliest Canadian 8- and 16-Bit Era Studios

8- and 16-bit retro game studio Sydney Development is another long-forgotten software company that came out of Canada. It was already one of the country’s first game developers of the era, which we now call retro gaming.

The studio came into the public light in 1978, literally when arcade gaming was still the fad, not just in Canada, but globally and at a time when game consoles were on the verge of breaking out onto the eventual retro game scene that dominated the 70s and 80s golden age.

What made this studio special at the time is that it:

Took on the role of creating its own games
Distributed games from other studios in the same way as Accolade and First Star Software
Acquired smaller Canadian studios.
Licensed well-known properties from overseas publishers

An example of its game distribution was its publishing of Distinctive Software’s game Evolution. As for its in-studio game releases, Sydney Development produced B.C.’s Quest for Tires, a hugely successful game in 1983.

Unfortunately, Sydney Development didn’t survive when the retro gaming industry faced uncertainty in the mid-80s, but those involved in the company scattered to other game studios, and so those who know their retro gaming will also know that many future retro games to come were thanks to the experience gained by developers who originally began their careers with Sydney Development Studio.

Artech Digital Entertainment Studio Canada – Forgotten in 8-bit and 16-bit Development, but Continued Into the

Artech Digital Entertainment Studio opened in 1982 in Ottawa. The same year as Distinctive Software, making it yet another one of the country’s oldest game studios. Its prime era was when the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum were the latest gaming fads. Also, later the studio was involved in games created for one of the first handheld gaming systems – The Game Boy.

The company didn’t design a full game per se; rather, it contracted its skillset out as, let’s say, a bit-part studio helping with specialist elements of each game. It was involved with other Canadian gaming studios, too, contributing to hundreds of games.

Artech also lasted longer than its co-industry studios, continuing until 2011 and developing games for Sega, PC, Nintendo X, Wii, Xbox (original), Xbox 360 and even the PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Also, one of its last endeavors was The UnderGarden, developed for the PlayStation 3 before the studio closed its doors in December 2011.

The Forgotten 8- and 16-Bit Era Studios at a Glance

There are five forgotten studios from Canada’s 8- and 16-Bit retro gaming golden years. We’ve also added Silicon Knights, which was founded after Gray Matter, Distinctive Software, Sydney Development and Artech.

Studio	City	Claim to Fame	What Happened
Liepa & Gray / Gray Matter	Toronto	Boulder Dash, licensed ports	Carried on into the 32-bit years, then wound down
Distinctive Software	Vancouver	Test Drive, Hardball II	Bought by EA in 1991; became EA Canada
Sydney Development	Vancouver	B.C.’s Quest for Tires	Faded after the mid-80s downturn
Artech	Ottawa	Decades of contract and licensed titles	Kept working long after the 16-bit era ended
Silicon Knights	St. Catharines	Early 16-bit computer strategy titles	Found fame later with Eternal Darkness

Which Canadian Classic Did You Play Without Knowing?

If you were a part of the 8- and 16-Bit Era, there’s a good chance you’ve played games developed by one of these forgotten studios. They developed games for Atari 2600, NES, ZX Spectrum, Game Boy Color, Super Nintendo (NES), and Commodore Amiga.

So, over to you. Which of these studios do you remember, and which forgotten Canadian game studios of the 8- and 16-Bit Era did we miss?

FAQs

What was the first Canadian-made video game?

The first purely designed Canadian video game was Evolution, released in 1982 by Don Mattrick and Jeff Sember’s Sydney Development Studio. Earlier games were released, but Evolution put Canada on the map.

Was Boulder Dash really Canadian?

Yes. Peter Liepa and Chris Gray created it in Toronto. The reason the game isn’t always recognized as a Canadian release is that the American publisher, First Star, distributed the game under its franchise.

What happened to Distinctive Software?

EA bought it in 1991 and renamed it EA Canada. It’s still going today and remains one of EA’s largest studios, so in a sense, Distinctive never really died.

Why did so many Canadian studios do contract work?

Simple economics. The publishers with money and marketing muscle were American, and Canada had no console maker of its own. Working for hire kept the lights on, at the cost of name recognition.

Are any of these studios still around?

None of the early 8- and 16-Bit Era studios survived the cut, but Distinctive Software was bought by EA Canada, and so in some way its lineage is still moving forward. Most of the others are long gone, but some of the developers moved on. Again linked to Distinctive Software, Don Mattrick became an integral part of Microsoft’s Xbox.