Activision

In 1987, Telecomsoft and Activision struck a deal that allowed the Firebird Silver £1.99 range to publish some Activision titles as budget re-releases. The deal also included selected games released by Gamestar and the UK publishing label, Electric Dreams.

The titles released by Firebird included Back to the Future, Beamrider, Decathlon, Enduro, Great American Road Race, H.E.R.O., I of the Mask, Mermaid Madness, On Court Tennis, On Field Football, Park Patrol, Pitfall, Pitfall 2, Prodigy, Riddler's Den, River Raid, Space Shuttle, Winter Sports, Zenji, Zone Ranger.

Beamrider Spectrum - Inlay Decathlon C64 - Inlay HERO Spectrum - Inlay Park Patrol Spectrum - Inlay River Raid Spectrum - Inlay Space Shuttle Spectrum - Inlay Zenji Spectrum - Inlay Zone Ranger C64 - Inlay

Other titles were due to be included in this deal, but for unknown reasons they never appeared. Such titles included Pyramid of Time, Breakstreet and Futureball. Not only did Firebird not release them, but neither did Activision! Breakstreet did get a release (via Creative Software) and the only thing that links that game to Activision is one of the graphic artists had worked on a previous Activision title. Futureball was rumoured to be related to Lucasfilm Games' classic Ballblazer. As for Pyramid of Time, the UK magazine Zzap!64 did actually review it, but again it has since vanished off the face of the earth!

There was another link between Telecomsoft and Activision. In the US, Activision's parent company (Mediagenic) was the distributor for Rainbird and Firebird games published via Firebird Licensees Ltd in the US.