PF Magic

PF Magic or '''PF. Magic''' was a video game developer founded in 1991 and located in San Francisco, California. They were best known for the Petz series.

History
PF Magic was founded in 1991.

The idea for Dogz was born after cofounder Rob Fulop saw the controversy generated by a title he had worked on, Night Trap, culminating in a 1993 United States Senate hearing on violence in video games. He decided to make a game that was "so cute and so adorable that no could ever, ever say it was bad for kids." He consulted with a shopping mall Santa to learn what was the most frequently asked-for Christmas gift by children: the answer was "a puppy." With that knowledge, he decided to make a game focused on animals.

Dogz uses the ball-based 3D models pioneered by PF Magic's 1994 title Ballz.

PF Magic was acquired by The Learning Company in May of 1998. After various mergers and acquisitions, the rights to the Petz series and the rest of PF Magic's catalog are now owned by Ubisoft.

CD-i

 * 3rd Degree (1992)
 * Max Magic (1994)

Sega Genesis

 * Ballz (1994)

3DO

 * PaTaank (1994)
 * Ballz: The Director's Cut (1995)

PC

 * Dogz (1995)
 * Catz (1996)
 * Oddballz (1996)
 * Petz II (1997)
 * Petz 3 (1998)
 * Petz 4 (1999)

Company

 * PF Magic Company Profile, June 1998

Petz

 * MEOW! PF. Magic's Catz Ready to Pounce Onto Computer Desktops in May PF.Magic Expands Computer Petz Line with Catz


 * Petz II demo, 1998
 * Petz 3 at E3, February 19th, 1999
 * Petz 3 E3 press release

Oddballz

 * Wacky Computer Petz Found All Over the Web!

Interactions With Petz Community
In 1997, Dogz.com ran a poll asking users if they thought virtual pets should be capable of death (Should Virtual Petz Die?). Over 16,300 users voted in the poll, with 45% of respondents saying they should not, 20% saying they should, and 35% saying it should be an option. Many of these responses were published on Dogz.com.

Related Projects
In 2005, former PF Magic employee Andrew Stern went on to create Façade, an interactive drama where human characters react to a wide variety of player input.

Trivia

 * The PF in the company name stands for "Pure Fucking."