Portidata Software Interactivo
From Sega Retro
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| Portidata Software Interactivo | ||
|---|---|---|
| Founded: 1990-05[1][2] | ||
| Defunct: 1998-05[1][2] | ||
| Merged into: Ecofilmes | ||
Headquarters:
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Portidata Software Interactivo was a software distribution company[3] founded in May 1990 (as Portidata Software Recreativo), in Portimão, Algarve, Portugal by Portuguese businessman José Taborda Martins[4] (José Manuel Taborda Martins, currently a Java Developer) and Portuguese freelance programmer[5] Rui Manuel Tito[6][7][8] (Rui Manuel dos Prazeres Tito[9]).
The company was originally created as an IT store, selling information and communication technology exclusively to Portuguese companies, but seeing the failure of it they decided to turn to the import of original video games. They traveled to England to attend a video games ehxibition show in order to sign contracts with as many companies as possible. With pratically no garanties of success to offer (in Rui Manuel Tito's words[3] "We asked them"... "How many games were you able to sell in Portugal last year?" which they answered... "None"... so we added... "there you go... if you sell just one you're already making profit") the two men managed to sign exclusivity contracts with many companies like Interplay, Gremlin, Virgin, Electronic Arts, and Sony among others.
In a market where piracy reigned (at that time copyright legislation in Portugal did not prohibited the copying of a game, prohibiting only the sale of a game without instructions in Portuguese), the two men struggled to find stores interested in their products dealing only with a few stores in Lisbon, since outside the capital no one was interested in buying original video games since these could cost three thirds of the national minimum wage earned in Portugal at that time[3]. This scenario changed shortly after, when legislation in Portugal was altered and copying games and software turned to be considered a crime and the two started to distribute to many stores as they could, including supermarket chains, toys stores, office supply vendors, bookstores and others.
After the accquiring of Virgin (with which Portidata had a contract) by Viacom New Media (which owned Sega's rights) Portidata tried to secure the rights to distribute Sega video games and consoles in Portugal, only to discover that the rights had already been obtained by another Portuguese company, namely Ecofilmes. The Aveiro based film distribution company had lots of contacts, but their costumers portfolio was essentially composed of video rental shops, and they needed to gain access to more means of distribution, so Ecofilmes approached Portidata (which had a huge costumers portfolio) and the two companies reached an agreement, with Portidata becoming an exclusive Ecofilmes distributor. In May 1998, Portidata Software Interactivo was acquired by and merged into Ecofilmes.
Promotional material
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External links
- Rui Manuel Tito's softography at spectrumcomputing.co.uk
- Interview (2020-02-23) with Rui Manuel Tito by João Diogo Ramos, Curator of the LOAD ZX Spectrum Museum of Cantanhede (Coimbra, Portugal) at www.youtube.com
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 File:Rui Tito Profile.pdf, page 3
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 File:Rui Tito Profile.pdf, page 4
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 http://www.revistapushstart.com/2017/10/25/portidata/ (Wayback Machine: 2019-02-04 23:50)
- ↑ https://jtmmartins.github.io/about/index
- ↑ Microsete, "October 28, 1987" (PT; 1987-10-28), page 1
- ↑ https://icreateworlds.net/2018/03/15/gambys-1993-95-the-first-professionally-produced-portuguese-pc-game-video-games-history-retro-gaming-a-look-back-in-time/ (archive.today)
- ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323255356_Video_Games_Around_the_World_Portugal
- ↑ File:VideoGamesAroundtheWorld Book US (Portugal Chapter by Nelson Zagalo of University of Aveiro; pages 425 to 437).pdf, page 3
- ↑ File:SuperProgramasEmBasicECódigoMáquina Book PT 1986-07 (by Rui Manuel Tito and Marco Paulo Carrasco).pdf, page 7