Fargus

Fargus MultimediaФаргус Мультимедия
Logo.
Origin	Russia
Years	around 1995 - early 2006
Consoles	PC
Related companies	Akella

Fargus Multimedia (Russian: Фаргус Мультимедия), simply known as Fargus (Russian: Фаргус), was a Russian video game publisher that primarily released unofficial Russian translations of PC games. They are one of the oldest and most notable bootleg companies in Russia, being founded some time in the 1990s and closed in 2005. Most of Fargus' releases were professionally pressed. Fargus was also known for cooperating with and being closely connected to the official Russian publisher Akella (aka Акелла), although details on the relationship between the two companies have not been agreed upon. Their main office was located in Moscow.

Overview

As with many other bootleg PC game publishers, Fargus used scene releases for their translations and rarely cracked games themselves. However, they often modified in-game textures, replacing them with their own translations or adding their logo instead of the original publisher's logo. For example, this was done in their release of Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror.

Fargus often had multiple releases of the same game. Usually, the first release featured only text translation, while later re-releases included voice dubs or patches that fixed some glitches. The second release was typically marked with their "Золотая серия Фаргус" (Fargus Gold Series) label.

For example, this approach was applied to their release of American McGee's Alice. The first release of this game included only a text translation. The second release, which featured a "medal" on the cover, already included a dub. Notably, the serial codes of these releases differ. The first release has the code 6631, while the release with the dub is marked as 6643.

Fargus had its own numbering system for their releases, but unlike most bootleg companies, the series number was not only pressed on the CDs but also printed on the front cover of the jewel case. This numbering system started at 600, and their latest releases were marked as 14xx. This led to the conclusion that Fargus translated and published at least 800 games.

Throughout their activity, Fargus' releases generally featured high-quality translations, which were sometimes comparable to official ones. This set them apart from many other unofficial publishers and earned them the loyalty of many people. As a result, numerous bootleggers began making counterfeit versions of their releases, now referred to as "fake Fargus". In addition to standard translations, Fargus is also known for producing loose or humorous translations. One of the most famous examples is their translation of "Midtown Madness", which they titled "Засранцы против ГАИ" (Assholes vs. Cops).

Fargus ordered translations from many translation teams, including Electronic Pirate, a group of translators who split off from GSC Game World and began working independently. Unlike most companies however, Fargus had their own dedicated translation teams, such as "Jester's Studio," "Jopa Games" (literally "Ass Games") and "Айвенго и К".

Many professional Russian voice actors voiced characters in their dubs, and most of them left Fargus between 2002 and 2004 to work with Akella when the company entered the mainstream market. The most famous actors who worked with Fargus include Peter Glanz, Rogvold Sukhorenko, and Aleksei Borzunov.

Fargus was also the only bootleg company in Russia to file a lawsuit, when in 2005 they sought compansation for other pirates stealing their releases . They would end up losing the lawsuit which would be a contributing factor to them going out of business.

Like many other large bootleg companies in Russia during that time, Fargus ran their own website on which they published various articles related to gaming, news, catalogs of their products and other information. Unlike most other bootleg companies, Fargus also published patches for their releases and even had a tech support page where users could ask questions about different technical issues.

History

Origins of Fargus (1995 - 1997)

Fargus' early operations as a company are closely intertwined with another big publisher in Russia, Akella. Akella officially registered their company in 1995 and most of their releases up until 2000 were unlicensed and sold illegally. It's unknown when excactly Fargus was founded and how they operated, though possibly their first release is a translation of Outpost 2: Divided Destiny which is dated at October 1995. Most of their staff consisted of former Akella workers however there's no clear information on who led Fargus at the time. During this time Fargus and Akella were the first to start translating PC games on an industrial scale in Russia leading them to dominate the market. Most of Akellas releases, including official ones, were done in collaboration with Fargus.

During this period, Fargus still used an older logo. In contrast to the later logos, it was entirely in black and white though a crowned fish was already used as their brand icon.

Fargus' Hay Days (1997 - 1999)

This period saw Fargus prosper and cement their place in the market as the undisputed best. Fargus was transformed into a serious business with structured hierarchies and proffessional translation teams. Ivan Gulyaev, also popularly know as "Айвенго" ("Aivengo"), was the owner of Fargus at the time and he, alongside Grigory Yurkov, were the leaders of Fargus' main translation team "Айвенго и К". Another major translation studio inside Fargus, "Jester's Studio", was also founded during this time. It was led by Михаил Волошин (Micheal Voloshin), also know as "BrokenOne".

Fargus established their brand in the scene with heavy and unscrupulous marketing. They primarily used their website to propagate their advertisements, proudly stating that their translations were the best and even accusing other unofficial publishers of theft. They also claimed their games were free of the "CIH" computer virus which releases by other pirates were infected with, while they actually were spreading the virus in some of their games themselves. Regardless of the ethics, their claims weren't entirely unfounded and Fargus was regarded as a quality publisher at time.

Regarding their brand image, the "Gold Medal of Fargus" was introduced and acted as seal of approval by the Fargus team for translations of especially high quality. Additionally, they redesigned their logo in a more modern look which they would keep until the company's closure.

During this period, Peter Glanz was first noticed (you may know him as the official Russian voice of the Prince of Persia). Although he had no formal acting education, his talent led him to become a professional actor, and he took his first steps in Fargus. Also, during this time, Aleksei Borzunov (the official Russian voice of Spider-Man in "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" (1994)) was first noticed.

This period ended on November 1, 1999, when Ivan Gulyaev died in a car accident. Eight days later, the tragic news was shared to the Fargus website by someone going by "Den" where they expressed their sincere condolences to his family. The cause of death was curiously not mentioned which would lead to much speculation about the circumstances of his death in the community. Only recently in 2018, Akella's co-founder Dimitry Arkhipov revealed what had happened in an interview. He spoke positively of Ivan Gulyaev as a person but claimed his position within Fargus has been exaggerated, saying he wasn't involved in hacking games or voice acting but that he merely managed the team.

Brain Drain (2000-2003)

Following Ivan Gulyaev's death the company would undergo great internal restructuring. Grigory Yurkov and Micheal Voloshin took leadership of Fargus and merged their two biggest translation studios with all of the workers of "Айвенго и К" joining "Jester's Studio".

Around this time the Russian government began heavily cracking down on the pirate market for games, even offering assistance in turning former unofficial publishers completely legal and not pursuing further legal action on their past activities. In this climate, Akella started transforming their company into operating within legality while Fargus resented that idea, feeling that legal publishing didn't have a future in Russia. These tensions ended their relationship and Fargus began working entirely separate from Akella.

In 2003 the company was bleeding staff with part of the team at Fargus leaving to establish their own bootleg company "Седьмой Волк" ("Seventh Wolf"). Sometime later, Micheal Voloshin also left Fargus and started working at the official distributor "1C Softclub" which triggered most of the left-over staff at Fargus to start working at Akella or 1C Softclub. After this brain drain the quality of the releases by Fargus severely dropped. They attempted to increase sales and distinguish themselves again by redesigning their cover art, to no avail.

The Dissolution of Fargus (2004-2006)

In 2004 Fargus registered legally as a company and began suing other bootleggers who were pirating their releases for compensation. Fargus invested heavily in financing the lawsuit and saw this as their last chance to regain the position in the market they once held. However, in 2005 a Moscow court dismissed the case, stating that "Pirates can't accuse others of piracy, while engaging in it themselves.". Following their loss in court, Fargus gradually began to wind down, with their releases getting sparser and sparser until, sometime in 2006, they ceased all activities. Their website stayed online until early July of that year, after which it was taken down.

List of translators who worked with Fargus

• AZZA Games
• Bug's Life Studio
• CDS Ltd.
• GSC Game World
• Henry Sheppard
• Home Systems, Inc.
• Jester's Studio
• Jolly Roger
• JOPA Games
• Media Research Group
• PC Boheme
• Wolfus Multimedia
• Арус (eng. "Arus")
• Айвенго и К (eng. "Aivengo and K")
• «Булат» (eng. "Bulat")
• Studio "R3"
• Studio "Stream"
• Creative Studio "Дядюшка Рисёч" (eng. "Unlce Risoch")
• Шер-Хан (eng. "Sher-Han")

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