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Majesco Entertainment exits the video games business

Merger with medical firm marks the end for the Zumba, Cooking Mama, and Psychonauts publisher

Reports have emerged that Majesco Entertainment has decided to leave the games industry, with no further plans publish other titles.

Polygon reports the firm has not only merged with PolarityTE, but will also operate under the Polarity name after the deal has closed. The medical organisation, which develops tissue regeneration technology, will be a "wholly-owned subsidiary" of Majesco, despite the decision to drop the publisher's name.

The post-merger firm will be based in Salt Lake City and headed up by Polarity founder Dr. Denver Lough, who will replace Majesco's outgoing CEO Barry Honig. It is a strange finale for the long-running publisher, but one that puts years of troubles to an end.

Majesco was first founded in 1986, and first made its mark as a US distributor before later publishing titles such as BloodRayne and Psychonauts. The company was perhaps best known for known for casual hits such as the Cooking Mama series and Zumba Fitness.

However, the decline of the casual games retail market hit the publisher severely, and Majesco found its losses mounting, regularly threatened with Nasdaq delisting. The firm attempted to adapt to the changing games industry by launching indie publishing label Midnight City, but the firm's output fell to the point where reports emerged there would be no Majesco games released in fiscal 2015.

Polygon cites Majesco's final games as a HD port of WayForward's A Boy and His Blob and the console version of Gone Home, both released under the Midnight City label in January 2016. There is currently no word on whether Midnight City could operate independently, but it is unlikely.

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James Batchelor avatar
James Batchelor: James is Editor-in-Chief at GamesIndustry.biz, and has been a B2B journalist since 2006. He is author of The Best Non-Violent Video Games
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