TECHNOLOGY - March 1, 1994

Video Games: Davidson & Associates, an education software company in Torrance, has acquired two software developers, including video game developer Chaos Studios in Costa Mesa.

Chaos Studios is known for developing titles such as “The Lost Vikings,” “Rock and Roll Racing,” and the upcoming “The Death and Return of Superman.” The stock deal is valued at $6.75 million.

Chaos, formerly known as Silicon & Synapse Inc., was founded in 1991 by Allen Adham, 27, and Michael Morhaime, 25. The company has produced 30 versions of its games for the Nintendo and Sega game systems and for personal computers.

As a research and development company, Chaos’ 20 employees produced games that were published by larger publishers such as Davidson, Sunsoft Inc. in Cypress and Interplay Productions Inc. in Irvine.

Adham said Chaos chose Davidson because it needed money for developing increasingly costly video games, and Davidson’s focus on education software meant that Chaos could continue developing games with its own style of management.

“Our company is young, with the average age at 24.5,” Adham said. “That means we are the target market, in a position to know what people like us want in a game.”

Davidson also agreed to acquire Learningways Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., an education software firm.