Entertainment Software Publishing
"Grandia", which ESP released in 1997, was the first third-party Saturn title to breach 500,000 units in sales. Afterwards, ESP released titles including "Giren's Ambition" and "Baroque", later extending footholds into the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 platforms with titles like "" and "Abarenbo Princess".
Elf Bowling
The game was originally created as promotional marketing content by Dan Ferguson and Mike Bielinski, both co-founders of the game studio NVision Design. The game became an internet sensation in 1999 when people originally thought it was a computer virus. The game was an EXE file and was easily distributed as an attachment to emails. (In 1999, EXE files could be attached to emails as there was no protective software to remove an EXE at the time.) Direct Marketing News did an article on the original developers - Direct Marketing News Article. According to Media Metrix, among the 54 million people playing PC games in the month of December 2000, "Elf Bowling" was the game to hit the top 10 with 7.6 million players that was not bundled with Windows. Local Fox News Affiliate KDFW Dallas Fort Worth did an interview with Dan Ferguson and Mike Bileinski after they sold their company to Vectrix Business Solutions. Vectrix Business Solutions acquired Nvision 1999 and subsequently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. "Elf Bowling" and "Frogapult" were sold by Vectrix Business Solutions with the approval of the Bankruptcy Court on October 31, 2001, to Commotion Interactive, Inc. ("Elf Bowling 3" was recently released by the Dallas firm NStorm, a subsidiary of Commotion Interactive). Matthew Lichtenwalter, CEO of NStorm and Commotion Interactive, has created the series since.