Mastertronic Group#Blast! Entertainment

Mastertronic Group Limited was formed in 2004 out of a merger between The Producers Limited and Sold Out Sales & Marketing Limited. The 'Sold Out' label was retained and used to sell software at the £5 (frequently "3-for-£10") price-point. The company also distributed software under the original 'M.A.D.' imprint, as well as another label associated with PC Gamer magazine. Games on these labels were typically sold for £10 (or "3-for-£20").

Just Flight and Just Trains, both specialist simulation publishers were acquired by the Mastertronic Group in 2008.

In 2009, Mastertronic Group started the Great Indie Games publishing label to spread independent games, only available on the internet, to shops.{{cite web|url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/world-of-goo-launches-great-indie-games|title=World of Goo launches Great Indie Games|author=Robert Purchese|publisher=Eurogamer}} Later that year, Mastertronic Group founder Andy Payne entered into a joint venture with Rupert Loman MD of Eurogamer Network and formed Get Games Go (known as Get Games) to market and sell PC games by direct download.{{cite web|last1=Elliot|first1=Phil|title=Games from the Get-Go|url=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/games-from-the-get-go-interview|website=Games Industry International|publisher=Gamer Network|accessdate=27 June 2014}}

In early 2014, in response to the changing games industry, the Group focused its efforts on its publishing activities. As part of the process, the sales team was spun out to re-form Sold Out Sales & Marketing Ltd led by Garry Williams and James Cato.{{cite web|last1=Dring|first1=Christopher|title=New retail games agency Sold Out signs Mastertronic|url=http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/new-retail-games-agency-sold-out-launches-and-signs-mastertronic-exclusively/0128504|website=MCV|publisher=Intent Media|accessdate=27 June 2014}} Sold Out was later acquired by Toadman Interactive in November 2019.{{cite web|last=Handrahan|first=Matthew|url=https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-11-27-toadman-interactive-buys-sold-out-for-16-million|title=Toadman Interactive buys Sold Out for £16 million|work=GamesIndustry.biz|date=27 November 2019|access-date=2 March 2025}} Mastertronic Group had also become the sole owner and operator of Get Games.

Mastertronic Group had five business units; Mastertronic Games, The Producers (manufacturing and fulfilment), Just Flight (Flight and Train Simulations), Blast Entertainment, and Get Games.

Published PC & console games under a range of labels including PC Gamer Presents, M.A.D., Sold Out, Everyone Can Play and Great Indie Games. Recently the brand has increased output of indie-developed digital titles such as 10 Second Ninja, Epanalepsis, 0RBITALIS, Tango Fiesta, Richard & Alice and Concursion.{{cite web|title=Mastertronic Games on Steam|url=http://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort_by=Released&sort_order=DESC&publisher=Mastertronic|website=Steam|accessdate=27 June 2014}}

An online retail outlet for digital-download PC/Mac/Linux games from a number of various publishers, both large and small. Get Games also offered periodic bundle sales under the [http://www.getloadedgo.com Get Loaded] brand.

Publishes and develops add-on content for the major flight simulation packages such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, Lockheed Martin Prepar3D and X-Plane (simulator). The internal development team recently completed work on its English Electric Canberra PR9 add-on{{cite web|last1=Benedikz|first1=Richard|title=Just Flight Canberra Out Now|url=http://www.pcpilot.net/view_article.asp?ID=7589|website=PC Pilot|publisher=Key Publishing Ltd|accessdate=27 June 2014}} and has begun development of a Panavia Tornado add-on.{{cite web|title=All-new Panavia Tornado GR1 for FSX and P3D v1/v2 in development|url=http://www.justflight.com/articles/tornado-gr1-in-development|website=Just Flight|accessdate=27 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703212142/http://justflight.com/articles/tornado-gr1-in-development|archive-date=3 July 2014|url-status=dead}}

In a similar vein to Just Flight, Just Trains publishes and develops add-on content for train simulation packages, primarily RailWorks (Train Simulator).

Provided manufacturing, fulfilment and distribution services to the group and third parties.

Blast! Entertainment was a publishing joint-venture between Mastertronic and Disky Communications that published budget-priced, licensed-based video games for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PC, Wii, and Nintendo DS aimed at younger players. The partnership was announced in April 2006, and the company sold its remaining stock {{circa}} 2009.{{Cite web|url=https://retrodetect.com/Research/details/204/Blast-Entertainment-Company-Profile#|title=Blast Entertainment - Company Profile|website=Retrodetect.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/mastertronic-blast-off|title = Mastertronic blast off}} Their output included games commissioned by budgeted British developers, which included Casper's Scare School, Casper and the Ghostly Trio, Little Britain: The Video Game, Charlotte's Web, An American Tail, and Mr. Bean. Games published by Blast! were often panned by critics for outdated graphics, unfaithfulness to license, and short length; many titles were labelled as "shovelware".{{Cite web|url=https://networthpick.com/2022/04/22/spotlight-on-shovelware-blast-entertainment/|title=Spotlight on Shovelware: Blast! Entertainment|date=April 19, 2022|last=Pritchard|first=Kalsie|website=Networthpick.com}}

A publishing label that published indie games.

{{Reflist}}

• {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229124722/http://www.mastertronic.com/|title=Mastertronic Games}}
• {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315002810/http://www.theproducers.co.uk/|title=The Producers}}
• {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225012747/http://www.justflight.com/|title=Just Flight}}
• {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315030317/http://justtrains.net/|title=Just Trains}}
• {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210054451/http://getgamesgo.com/|title=Get Games}}
• {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020806165934/http://www.sold-out.co.uk/unshock/soldout/index.html|title=Sold Out (non-Flash website)}}

Category:Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom

Category:Video game companies established in 2004

Category:Video game companies disestablished in 2015