Hodj 'n' Podj was originally designed for Media Vision but it divested all of its multimedia interests following a securities-fraud scandal and the title was purchased by Virgin Interactive.

In late 1993,[1] designer Steve Meretzky began to consider founding an independent game development studio with his friends Mike Dornbrook and Leo DaCosta.

[3][2] He preferred to work on location with a team,[3] and he decided that he no longer wanted "to design games for someone else thousands of miles away."

The involvement of Dornbrook, a business school graduate, made the idea of an independent company more viable.

According to Meretzky, the final impetus for the project came when Dornbrook read an article about Media Vision's new game division,[2] founded in mid-1993 under record label executive Stan Cornyn.