Checkmate Solutions was a video game developer based in Hooton, Wirral in the United Kingdom, which was founded in 2003. The company was best known for specialising in the design & development of music sequencing software, most notable of which was Ejay.
History[ | ]
Checkmate Solutions Limited was formed after brothers Tim & Lee Wright left their key positions at Jester Interactive Limited (Creative Director and Development Director, respectively). Their final project at Jester was MUSIC 3000, which was also Jester's final outing under the Music (software) brand. This was largely due to Jester's portfolio moving away from music titles and expanding into the racing genre with titles such as Super Trucks Racing and TT Superbikes [1].
Checkmate Solutions began with three people working on a concept for a Personal Information Management tool, which was warmly received by private and government investors. However, due to delays in gov't funding, this project never came to fruition. This meant that Checkmate's first project would see the Wright brothers return to their previous skillset to develop music sequencing software entitled Dance eJay 7 and HipHop eJay 6 for Empire Interactive under the banner of Empire's (then) newly acquired Ejay brand.
After the successful launch of Dance 7 & HipHop 6 in Europe, Checkmate began designing other eJay products for Empire, on various platforms including Nintendo DS [2] and Xbox.
In early 2006 Empire Interactive's product direction changed, resulting in the cancellation of all future music projects. This left Checkmate free to pursue other goals. Some months later, Empire decided to have another foray into the world of music sequencing, and they published what would be Checkmate's final product, Techno eJay 5.
Due to the sporadic nature of Checkmate's working relationship with Empire, and the lack of funding to return to the Personal Information Management Software project it was decided to close the company toward the end of 2006, with staff moving on to roles in other companies.