Melbourne House was a pioneering publisher and developer active from the early 1980s, responsible for some of the most ambitious games of the home computer era. Its catalogue of around 63 titles includes The Hobbit: A Software Adventure, one of the first text adventure games to incorporate a real-time parser, as well as classics like Horace Goes Skiing and Double Dragon. The company had significant influence on the UK and Australian games markets during the 8-bit period.