3 days ago
Job losses as Dundee games company liquidated
One of Dundee's first phone games specialists Cobra Mobile has been liquidated.
The firm faced a number of extreme difficulties in the run-up to its collapse, including partner companies going bust and the death of chairman Peter Mackintosh last year.
A total of eight staff have been made redundant as a result.
Cobra Mobile are regarded as pioneers of the mobile games industry in the city, being one of the first to recognise the markets' potential ahead of the ubiquity of smartphones.
It was founded in 2005 by Mark Ettle, and produced games sold in their millions globally including Storm In A Teacup and iBomber.
As well as selling on Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store, Cobra Mobile also made games for platforms like Steam and Nintendo.
Mark told The Courier a series of bad outcomes had contributed to Cobra Mobile's liquidation.
He said: 'It has been a really sad combination of events. There is the recent sudden death of our chairman Peter Mackintosh.
'We have had clients go bankrupt on us during projects, leaving us hugely in debt.
'There has been a downturn in the sector, which has made it harder for us to operate moving forward with the roadmap we wanted to follow.
'This has all hit us at the same time.
'It is really sad, but it has been a fun ride too for the last 20 years.'
Cobra Mobile won numerous accolades, including a European Gams Award and were nominated for multiple BAFTAs.
An in 2008 the company greeted the arrival of the iPhone and the App Store, having switched their focus from developing for Java based mobile phones.
'We have made a tonne of great games,' Mark added.
'And we've won lots of awards and been nominated for loads more. We had business commendations for the way we operated and worked.
'But there are things in business you simply don't control and events you cannot foresee.
'And there is a downturn in the industry right now. This is not an isolated event.
'We had one thing on top of another — a cascading waterfall of bad outcomes.'
Steven Wright of Glasgow company Dains Accountants has been appointed as the interim liquidator of Cobra Mobile.
The company's eight employees will be helped through the redundancy process, a spokesperson for Dains said.
