Birmingham to the Arcades
US Gold was founded in 1984 in Witton, Birmingham, by husband and wife team Geoff and Anne Brown. It ran alongside their distribution company CentreSoft, giving them direct control over both licensing and retail delivery - a structural advantage most competitors lacked.
The name announced the strategy plainly: American games, licensed for Europe. In the mid-1980s, the US market had a years-long head start in arcade software quality. Epyx's California Games, Atari's Gauntlet, Broderbund's titles - US Gold secured the European rights and brought them to the Spectrum, C64, Amiga and Atari ST within months of US release.
Then in 1988 came the Capcom deal. Bionic Commando, LED Storm, Strider, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Black Tiger - a run of Capcom conversions that defined what a home computer port could achieve. When Street Fighter II arrived in 1992, US Gold published it across every format in Europe, and the queues outside game shops were unlike anything British retail had seen. Read the full story on the history page.
Screenshot Strip
A glimpse across the catalogue - Gauntlet dungeons, the Amiga fighting arenas of Street Fighter II, and the wartime verticals that made the Gold label synonymous with action.
The Definitive Documentary
Kim Justice's hour-long deep dive into US Gold's history is the best single account of the company. Published 2016. For more video content see the videos page.