Wireplay

One of the first online gaming services in the UK. Originally a dedicated dial-up service, it was created by BT's Martelsham Labs as part of a research experiment, and its principal architect was Colin Duffy. BT sold Wireplay to Gameplay in 2000 and Gameplay's initial successful flotation was one of the reasons why BarrysWorld gained funding (ironically, after BT sold Wireplay, they subsequently launched another online gaming service, GamesDomain, which was partly run by BarrysWorld!)

Gameplay was one of the notable failures of the dot-com boom and when the company collapsed various parts were sold off (GAME bought its European stores, and later the gameplay.co.uk business), and Wireplay had a management-buy-out (MBO) and became part of ArenaTek. Many of the Wireplay staff however, ended up at Telewest's BYGames, which, along with Jolt was BW/GAME.NET's main rival in the early 2000s. Wireplay continued under ArenaTek for a while, and is now owned by Pipex.