Paul de Senneville, a music producer who founded game developer Delphine Software International, passed away at 89 years old. According to French outlet Le Trot, de Senneville died over the weekend on June 23.
Born July 30, 1933, de Senneville founded the French record company Delphine Records (named after his eldest daughter) in 1974 with his business partner, noted music composer Olivier Toussaint. In 1988, he formed Delphine Software International (DSI) as an extension of the record company.
DSI was headed up by Paul Cuisset. Prior to its closure in 2004, the studio created titles such as 1991’s Another World, 1992’s Flashback (the best-selling French video game of all time), and 1994’s Shaq Fu.
In 1993, de Senneville helped co-found DSI’s subsidiary studio, Adeline Software International (named after his other daughter). The studio released a handful of games, including the two-title Little Big Adventure series, before it closed down in 2004 alongside its parent studio.
On Twitter, indie studio 2.21, which is developing a remaster of Adeline’s Little Big Adventure, memorialized the late de Senneville. “Our thoughts are with [Paul’s] family,” the developer wrote. “Thank you, Paul, for your immense contributions to the gaming industry.”
Outside of those two studios, de Senneville’s career was tied up in music. From the late 1970s up to 2004, he composed music that would be played by other artists, such as Richard Clayderman, Jean-Phillipe Audin, and Diego Modena. He and Toussaint also composed music for films, including 1984’s Irreconcilable Differences.