Following the poor performance of its products, Mindscape exited the video game industry in August 2011 and soon ceased operations after filing for liquidation.

[1][2] Mindscape's founder, the Australian entrepreneur Roger Buoy, had previously been a computer analyst for Rolls-Royce and later worked for the software division of Scholastic Inc. before being hired by SFN.

[3][2] Buoy acted as the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Mindscape, and the company released its first product in April 1984.

[2] Early games include Déjà Vu, Balance of Power, and Sub Mission: A Matter of Life and Death.

[8] In October, SFN announced that it would be selling or closing large parts of its business, including plans to liquidate Mindscape.

[7] With sales of $12 million, Mindscape was profitable for the first time in the fourth quarter of 1986; it started publishing black numbers by 1987.

[7][10] In early 1987, Mindscape introduced the Thunder Mountain label to produce software at a lower price, with Rambo: First Blood Part II being its first release.

[18][19] Mindscape had been one of the approximately forty companies licensed to develop for Nintendo video game platforms, which was a major driver of the acquisition.

[33] One day prior to the release of Lego Island that year, Mindscape fired all of the development team which worked on the game to avoid paying them any bonuses.

[34] Pearson proceeded to sell Mindscape to The Learning Company (TLC) in March 1998 for $150 million in cash and stock.

[42][3][43] The new Mindscape continued the work on the publication and distribution of video games and software, mostly focusing towards the family and educational markets.

[44] The UK division signed many licensing deals throughout the next few years, including one with Atari and HIT Entertainment to re-release the former's Thomas & Friends titles in July 2005, including a contract to produce two new titles;[45] and a budget reissue deal with Focus Multimedia in June 2006.

[53] This followed the unsuccessful sales of Crasher, and the high music licensing costs for U-Sing affecting the profits the game would end up getting, despite it selling well.

[54][55] On August 10, Mindscape announced its exit from the video game industry by closing Punchers Impact and laying off its forty employees.