Appaloosa Interactive

Appaloosa Interactive (formerly Novotrade International) was a corporation, founded in 1982 in Hungary, that produced video games,[1] computer programs and television commercials during the 1980s and 1990s. Novotrade International was founded by Andras Csaszar and Stephen J. Friedman. Csaszar served as the company's president, while Friedman served as chief executive officer.[1][2] Novotrade began operating branches in the United States in 1989,[1] and was renamed Appaloosa Interactive in November 1996.[2] That month, the company unveiled its 10-month-old Internet technologies division, Appaloosa Online.[2] The company's headquarters were in Mountain View, California.[2] Appaloosa was the parent company and owner of two software development companies in Budapest, Hungary. Appaloosa was known for its Ecco the Dolphin game series for Sega.[1] Appaloosa also developed two Contra games on the PlayStation and Sega Saturn for Konami.

Appaloosa had 100 employees as of January 2001, and had produced over 150 video games up to that point, many of which were released in Europe. At that time, Friedman said, "In all the years we have been in business, we have only failed to complete a project because of our own inability once or twice."[1] Appaloosa's final game was Jaws Unleashed, released in 2006, and based on the Jaws series of films. The company ceased operations in 2006.