Born on 7 February 1971 in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Nicolas Gaume gave up his studies in 1990 to set up his own video game development studio in Bordeaux with a group of friends. The team specialised in the creation of titles such as Mac and Windowsbefore diversifying to other computers and then consoles.
Under the brand name KalistoOver a period of twelve years, the company created around fifty games, employing more than 300 people and selling all over the world, particularly in the United States and Japan. The company's achievements include The Brainies (1992) under licence Skweekthen Fury of the Furies (1994), which shortly afterwards served as the basis for Pac-In-Time on consoles for Namcothe company's first commercial success.
She also created the racing game Al Unser Jr. Arcade Racing (1995), the first Windows 95. Committed to developing rich universes for its games, Kalisto is diversifying into the publishing of books and role-playing games, including those of its successes Dark Earth (1996) and Nightmare Creatures (1997), and in adaptations of world cinema such as The Fifth Element (1998). The company was so successful that it was floated on the stock exchange in 1999.
The President of the Republic Jacques Chirac invites Nicolas Gaume on an official trip, and the Prime Minister Lionel Jospin appointed him French Foreign Trade Advisor. Unfortunately, the Internet bubble took its toll on Kalisto, which closed its doors in 2002. Asobo Studio and BeTomorrow are created from its assets and continue the projects undertaken by the company.
Nicolas Gaume has been hired as a consultant by Codemasters in 2002, then joined Ubisoft in 2003 to manage the publisher's Paris studios. Wishing to focus on the creation of mobile games, the Lagardère then gave him the opportunity to create the games and mobile applications department, which he developed from 2005 to 2007. He then co-founded Mimesis Republica company that specialises in virtual social universes such as Mamba Nation(2008-2012). From 2013 to 2015, he worked with various publishers on the development of their mobile and social games, including GameDuell (2012) and then Bandai Namco (2013-2014), before joining the Executive Board of Microsoft in France.
Nicolas Gaume was Chairman of the National Video Game Union from 2009 to 2014, and is the author of the book Citizen Game published by Anne Carrière in 2006.
