Ultimate Play the Game

 In 1982, Ultimate Play the Game was established in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, by Tim and Chris Stamper. [8] Their friend John Lathbury and Tim's girlfriend, Carole Ward, founded the company. The company's headquarters were in a house near the family-run newsstand. Both Tim and Chris had worked in the field of arcade game development, as well as, according to one article Konami's Gyruss, and claimed to be "the most experienced arcade video game design team in Britain" until they became tired of the work for other people and departing to form Ashby Computers and Graphics. The first trading in arcade conversion kits before moving into the market of home computer software and releasing games under the Ultimate Play the Game name. Blue Print was released by Ashby for Bally-Midway and Grasspin for Dingo. The Ultimate Play the Game's first release was Jetpac for the 16K Spectrum in May 1983. Tim Stamper, in 1983 interview, mentioned that 16K computers were targeted because their smaller sizes meant that they could be developed more quickly. They could produce one or two games in 16K within one month. Jetpac was a commercial hit. The Spectrum version sold over 300,000 copies, which provided the company with a high revenue of over PS1 million. Jetpac, Pssst and Tranz Am were only four of 10 games ever released in 16K ROM format. They were also republished onto cassettes, sporting distinctive silver-colored inlay cards made by Sinclair Research for inclusion in ZX Spectrum bundles.Ultimate's first 48K releases included Lunar Jetman - a sequel to Jetpac as well as Atic Atac, both of which were released in the late summer of 1983. Both games were very well-liked by the gaming press. CRASH magazine praised Ultimate's utilization of the additional memory Lunar Jetman provided. [15] Sabre Wulf appeared in 1984. It was the first Sabreman game and the first game to be released with a suggested retail price of PS9.95. The original price for Ultimate titles was PS5.50. This was common in Spectrum arcade-style games of the time. This was in order to prevent pirates. This was also the time that Ultimate introduced the "big box" packaging. It was included in all subsequent Spectrum releases prior to Gunfright and also with other releases for other platforms. Ultimate believed that this would justify the higher cost and encourage gamers not to copy the game. This strategy proved successful as Sabre Wulf sold over 350,000 copies in its debut year on the Spectrum. In the late summer of 1984, the Sabreman Series' two subsequent installments came out. Underwurlde was quickly followed by Knight Lore. Knight Lore was a forced-perspective isometric viewpoint that was called Filmation, was a significant leap forward in the home-game market. The other games that followed its lead, such as Batman and Head Over Heels, both by Ocean Software. Knight Lore, and some of its Filmation follow-up Alien 8, was actually made before Sabre Wulf but Ultimate decided that it could potentially have a negative impact on sales of the relatively primitive Sabre Wulf, so it was postponed until late 1984