Real world history/Pre-2000s

This page details the real world history of the MediEvil series and the studios behind it up to the year 2000.

Legend

 * - Events related to Millennium Interactive.
 * - Events related to MediEvil.
 * - Events related to MediEvil 2.
 * - Events related to SCE Cambridge Studio.

1988

 * Millennium is founded by, Tony Beckwith, and one other - they remain for a few months in Michael's house before moving to a local science park.

1989

 * July 27:  Millennium is legally incorporated.

1990

 * Millennium release James Pond: Underwater Agent, Hoverforce, Horror Zombies from the Crypt and Thunderstrike. Jason Wilson begins working for Millennium as a freelancer.

1991

 * Millennium release Virtual Reality Vol. 2, Stormball, The Adventures of Robin Hood and James Pond 2: Codename: RoboCod.

1992

 * Millennium release Cyber Empires, The Aquatic Games, Daughter of Serpents, Global Effect and Rome AD 92.

1993

 * Date unknown:  Millennium release James Pond 3: Operation Starfish. Jason Riley and Katie Sorrell (née Lea) join Millennium.
 * April:  Dean Ashton joins Millennium.
 * July: Tim Closs joins Millennium.

1994

 * July: Chris Sorrell leaves Vectordean and joins Millennium.

1995

 * Date unknown: MediEvil is conceptualised. Tom Oswald joins Millennium.
 * January: James Shepherd joins Millennium.
 * March: Mitch Phillips joins Millennium.
 * July: James Busby joins Millennium.
 * September: Paul Donovan joins Millennium.
 * December 21: Version 2.2 of the MediEvil Design Document is completed.

1996

 * Date unknown: Nina Kristensen and Mike Philbin join Millennium.
 * January:  MediEvil enters development, with art design being the main focus. Jason Wilson creates elaborate level design maps. Andrew Ostler joins Millennium.
 * February: Matt Johnson, already a part of Millennium, joins the MediEvil development team.


 * March: Martin Hamilton Kift joins Millennium. James Busby joins the MediEvil development team.
 * April: Derek Pollard joins Millennium.
 * September: The PlayStation version of MediEvil enters development.
 * November 11: Cyberlife release Creatures. An image of Zarok can be found under the Windmill in Albia, because Jason Riley was responsible for touching up the background model for the game after it had been scanned in and digitised.

1997

 * Date unknown:   Sam Baker joins Millennium / SCE Cambridge Studio.
 * May: Alex Sulman joins Millennium.
 * June 19 - June 21: An early demo of MediEvil is playable at the third E3 in Atlanta, Georgia.undefined
 * July:   Julian Rex and Alan McCarthy join Millennium / SCE Cambridge Studio.
 * July 4:   SCEE buys the Millennium game development studio from for about £6 million, due to their experience of working with the team through the preliminary months of MediEvil. The SCE Cambridge Studio is formed. At this time, the studio works on MediEvil to be published by SCEE, and Beast Wars and Frogger to be published by Hasbro.undefined
 * July 15:  Creatures is released in the USA.
 * July 17: Sony's acquisition of Millennium is covered by The Times.
 * September:  Tim Closs leaves SCE Cambridge Studio.

1998

 * Date unknown:  Sam Baker leaves SCE Cambridge Studio.
 * January:  Joypad CD Vol.4 - Les musiques de MediEvil is released in France. Mike Froggatt joins SCE Cambridge Studio.
 * January 9: MediEvil is classified as a PG game by the Australian Classification Board.
 * April:  Derek Pollard leaves SCE Cambridge Studio.
 * May 28 - May 30: A demo of MediEvil is playable at the fourth E3 in Atlanta, Georgia.
 * August 8: MediEvil is classified as a game suitable for children aged 12 or above by the German Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle.
 * September:  A sequel to MediEvil is first considered at this time.
 * October 8: Chris Sorrell and Jason Wilson answer questions in the MediEvil Team On-line Interview on the official MediEvil website.
 * October 9:  MediEvil is released in Europe.
 * October 19: The Funeral advert, created by TBWA Simons Palmer to promote MediEvil in the United Kingdom, is classified as suitable for viewing by people aged 15 or above by the British Board of Film Classification.
 * October 21:  MediEvil is released in North America.
 * October 22:  IGN's review of MediEvil is published.
 * October 23:  GameSpot's review of MediEvil is published.
 * November:  Absolute PlayStation's review of MediEvil is published.
 * November 16: All entries into the MediEvil Hangman contest were to be received by this date.
 * November 19: Sony Computer Entertainment America and Pizza Hut announce a nationwide promotion. Customers who bought Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Pizza had the opportunity to win a grand prize cash jackpot of $200,000 and a wide assortment of PlayStation prizes, including 100 PlayStation game consoles with Crash Bandicoot: WARPED, as well as 2,000 copies of PlayStation's most popular games, including MediEvil.
 * November 22: The nationwide promotion by SCEA and Pizza Hut begins. As part of this promotion, consumers were able to sample some PlayStation-exclusive titles when they received one of the 3.5 million PlayStation demo discs available through Pizza Hut, mthe largest number ever manufactured by SCEA by that point.
 * November 23 - December 26: SCEA advertises the nationwide promotion with Pizza Hut using TV adverts and one million direct mail pieces.
 * December 3: The Toronto Star runs a PlayStation Giveaway, giving people who send in a postcard the chance to win a Sony PlayStation game console with Dual Shock controller, memory card, and three games: Crash Bandicoot: Warped, MediEvil, and Gran Turismo.
 * December 17: This was the cut-off date for the Toronto Star's PlayStation Giveaway.
 * December 24: The winner of Toronto Star's PlayStation Giveaway is announced on this day.

1999

 * Date unknown: Tom Oswald leaves SCE Cambridge Studio.
 * June 17:  MediEvil is released in Japan.
 * July: Work begins on Common Tales, a joint research project of the National Film and Television School London, SCE Cambridge Studio, and the Cambridge University Moving Image Studio as part of the Digital Studios. Common Tales is realised using the engine developed for MediEvil.
 * July 7:  PSX Extreme's review of MediEvil is published.
 * August:  Matt Johnson leaves SCE Cambridge Studio. Richard Talbot-Watkins joins SCE Cambridge Studio.
 * September 5 - September 7: MediEvil 2 is unveiled at ECTS.undefined
 * October:  MediEvil is re-released as a platinum title in Europe and Australia. The re-release includes a poster of MediEvil 2.
 * November 1:  Sony Computer Entertainment Europe publishes a press release about MediEvil 2.
 * November 18:  The MediEvil 2 Website's domain name is registered.
 * December 15: An interview with James Shepherd is published on the GameSpot website.