CRL
Group

The London Outsider

From Rental Failure to Gothic Notoriety

CRL Group began not as a games publisher but as a computer rental business. Clement Chambers, nineteen years old and unable to secure a university place, took 10,000 pounds from his father and set up Computer Rentals Limited in 1982. When the rental model proved unviable, the remaining 2,500 pounds pivoted into software. That accident of circumstance produced one of Britain's most singular publishers.

By 1984 CRL had rebranded as CRL Group PLC and secured distribution through Electronic Arts, placing it among the best-distributed UK publishers of the mid-1980s. Then came Tau Ceti - Pete Cooke's isometric masterpiece that stunned reviewers with its smooth 3D city environment and day/night shadow system. Nothing in the C64's history had looked quite like it.

The gothic turn followed. Dracula in 1986 became the first BBFC-rated game in UK history. Jack the Ripper in 1987 was the first to receive an 18 certificate. CRL had found its niche: horror adventure gaming with enough edge to require age classification, years before the industry consolidated around ratings systems.

Full company history

"I chose the name Tau Ceti because it had a nice-sounding name - and it's also a real star that scientists think might harbour extraterrestrial life."

Pete Cooke, Crash magazine issue 24, 1986