Riedel Software Productions

United States Founded 1986 Website

Riedel Software Productions was founded in Garden City, New York by American game designer, programmer, and artist Michael J. Riedel in 1986. He started working as a one man team on a project-to-project basis, receiving international recognition for the design and development of the game Spy vs. Spy. During this time, Riedel received assistance from Desi Network Inc., a consulting agency established by game producer Vince Desi (founder of Running with Scissors) which served as Riedel's agent and consultant supplier. In November 1991, Mike Riedel and Vince Desi relocated to Tucson, Arizona and formally established Riedel Software Productions as a proper video game development company. This led to the creation of several hit games based on major licenses from companies like The Walt Disney Company and Paramount, among others.

Riedel Software Productions at a Glance

Riedel Software Productions started as a one-person operation in 1986 before evolving into a formal studio by late 1991. Founder Michael J. Riedel began working alone on projects while receiving support from Desi Network Inc., an agency led by Vince Desi. The company moved to Tucson, Arizona, when Riedel and Desi joined forces to create a proper development house. Their output was heavily concentrated in the 1990s, with nine games released during that decade compared to just one title in the 1980s. They were active from 1987 until 1997, when their final release appeared on the market. The studio developed thirteen titles in total and did not publish any games itself. Their library spans a wide variety of platforms, with five games built for the Nintendo Entertainment System and three each for PC and DOS. They also released titles for the Commodore 64/128/MAX, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Mac, Amiga, Atari ST/STE, and Apple II. Their genre focus leaned heavily toward platformers, which made up four of their releases, followed by puzzle games and quiz or trivia titles with two entries each. The rest of their catalog included adventure, strategy, and fighting games. Quality trends for Riedel Software Productions show mixed results across their available data. They have one rated title on PlayPile with an IGDB score of 59.7 out of 100, which falls into the mixed category. This specific game is Tom and Jerry, released in December 1991. Other notable releases from their catalog include Sesame Street Countdown in March 1992, Daffy Duck: The Case of the Missing Letters in December 1991, and Wishbone: Activity Zone in September 1997. Their work often relied on major licenses from companies like The Walt Disney Company and Paramount to create titles such as Sesame Street: Big Bird's Hide & Speak in 1990. While they received international recognition earlier for Spy vs. Spy, their later output consisted of licensed games that did not achieve high aggregate ratings based on the single available review score.

Total Games

59.7

Avg Rating

1987

First Release

1997

Latest Release