Red Lemon runs out of juice

Scottish computer games developer, Red Lemon Studios, has gone into voluntary liquidation after an unnamed major client failed to pay an outstanding debt. The company was backed by 3i, Scottish Equity Partners, the Strathclyde Investment Fund, the Glasgow Development Fund and Bank of Scotland. The company employs a staff of 20.

A statement from the liquidators said Red Lemon had restructured six months ago but was severely affected by the downturn in the global technology market, which has caused a contraction in orders for new games and a shift by games publishers to resource their games production in-house.

Red Lemon was founded in 1996 with GBP24,000 from its founding team of Andy Campbell (managing director), Andy Findlay (production director) and Laurent Noel, who has since left the company and sold his stake. The company received GBP650,000 from 3i and the Scottish Equity Partnership in July 1998. It received a further round of GBP350,000 in September 2000 from the existing investors as well as the Strathclyde Investment Fund and the Glasgow Development Fund.

Red Lemon succeeded in securing a GBP850,000 contract with games publisher Eidos to develop Braveheart, a game for the PC tied in with the film of the same name. Other games developed by the company include Aironauts for PlayStation.

Kenny Craig of Tenon Scotland has been appointed liquidator. The company and its assets, including intellectual property and computer hardware and software, are currently being marketed.