Amsoft was a subsidiary company, owned by Amstrad, founded in 1984 and reintegrated into its parent company in 1989. Its purpose was to provide an initial infrastructure of applications and services for users of the Amstrad range of home computers, the Amstrad CPC and, since 1986, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Many people's first contact with the software on an Amstrad computer would have been with an Amsoft title as several titles were included in the sales packages.
During the development of its first computer, the Amstrad CPC464, Amstrad found that part of the success of its competitors' machines was based on a growing infrastructure of applications and services. As a newcomer to the computer market, Amstrad decided to artificially create this infrastructure for the launch of its own computers. In February 1984, Amstrad founded its Amsoft division led by Roland Perry and William Poel who at the same time were overseeing the development of the Amstrad CPC464 itself.
Amsoft initially acted as publisher of business software and games for Amstrad computers. Most of its software products were licensed from various third-party developers publishing under the Amsoft label. This provided a risk-free environment for established software studios to test their products in the emerging market of Amstrad CPC. In addition to publishing software, Amsoft was tasked with engaging the press and promoting consumption, creating and maintaining the Amstrad User Club and periodically publishing the CPC464 User (later known as Amstrad Computer User).
In our country, the first sales of the Amstrad CPC 464 were accompanied by a welcome pack that included various Amsoft games and applications, which in most cases would turn out to be the first software run on the machine by the user.
As reliable third-party support was established, Amsoft gradually stopped releasing software and sold the Amstrad Users Club as well as the user magazine. In 1989, Amsoft was fully integrated into the Amstrad corporation and ceased to exist as a separate entity.