The publisher's in-house video game developer was Software Studios, set up in April 1986 and run by John Dean and Dave Cummings. Software Studios also handled Activision's products marketed in countries outside the United States. The concept behind this team was to pool resources and ideas between all Electric Dreams projects, but they were also directly responsible for two film tie-in licenses, Aliens: The Computer Game (1986) and Big Trouble in Little China.

The company's initial releases were Riddler's Den and I, Of the Mask.