Appaloosa Interactive (formerly Novotrade International) was a corporation, founded in 1982 in
Hungary, that produced
video games,[1] computer programs and television commercials during the 1980s and 1990s.[2]
History
Andras Csaszar and Stephen J. Friedman founded Novotrade International. Csaszar served as the company's president, while Friedman served as
chief executive officer.[1][3] Novotrade began operating branches in the United States in 1989,[1] and was renamed Appaloosa Interactive (after the horse breed of the
same name) in November 1996.[3][4] That month, the company unveiled its 10-month-old Internet technologies division, Appaloosa Online.[3] The company's headquarters were in
Mountain View, California.[3] Appaloosa was the parent company and owner of two software development companies in
Budapest,
Hungary.[5] Appaloosa was known for its Ecco the Dolphin game series for
Sega.[1] Appaloosa also developed two Contra games on the
PlayStation and
Sega Saturn for
Konami.
Appaloosa had 100 employees as of January 2001 and had produced over 150 video games up to that point, many of which were released in Europe. At that time, Friedman said, "In all the years we have been in business, we have only failed to complete a project because of our own inability once or twice."[1] Appaloosa's final game was Jaws Unleashed, released in 2006, and based on the Jaws series of films. The company ceased operations in 2006.