Fontaine Futuristics (Business)

"When you're down in the mouth, and life's a pain/weatherman says 'heavy rain'/A little boost is all you need/Average Joe to Hercules/A Stronger Arm, A Sharper Brain, That's Why The Future Is Fontaine!"

- Fontaine Futuristics advertising jingle

Fontaine Futuristics is a business run and owned by Frank Fontaine and was one of the largest companies dealing with genetic enhancements in Rapture. It was the heart of biotechnology in the city, but also oversaw various other business endeavors owned by Frank Fontaine. It was nationalized by Andrew Ryan after Fontaine's "death," much to the chagrin of conscientious Bill McDonagh, and inciting civil unrest.

Under Frank Fontaine
Fontaine funded Brigid Tenenbaum's research of ADAM after her discovery of the sea slugs. He also had a means to acquire girls to be made into Little Sisters and the facilities to research and produce the Plasmids. His headquarters was built on the edge of the ocean trench that the slugs came from, thus ensuring his monopoly on access to the supply of ADAM.

Fontaine achieved vertical integration with the plasmid business: he effectively owned every step of the process:
 * Fontaine Fisheries and Fontaine Futuristics, where the slugs were found
 * The Little Sisters Orphanages to acquire girls, so as to make more ADAM
 * Little Wonders Educational Facility to physically and mentally make the girls into Little Sisters capable of generating, gathering, and recycling ADAM.
 * Optimized Eugenics — the actual research and mass-production of plasmids and ADAM which Fontaine profited from.

However, Fontaine was not able to achieve horizontal integration due to competition with plasmid production by Ryan Industries and Sinclair Solutions.

Known Employees

 * Brigid Tenenbaum (Fontaine Futuristics only)
 * Yi Suchong
 * Gilbert Alexander

Products

 * Accu-Vox Audio Diaries
 * Plasmids
 * Gene Tonics
 * Power to the People Machines
 * Various creams, pills and injections, as seen on a billboard.
 * Big Daddies

Under Ryan Industries
When Andrew Ryan took control of the business, the kidnapping of little girls to create the Little Sisters started, unlike Fontaine who used little girls voluntarily given to him through the Little Sisters Orphanage program. By this time, Tenenbaum had left Fontaine Futuristics, so it was left to Yi Suchong to continue creating Little Sisters and subsequently Big Daddies. There appear to have been budgeting constraints under Andrew Ryan, as Suchong described him as a cheap son of a bitch compared to Fontaine.

Unlike Fontaine, Andrew Ryan saw no need to hide the role of the Little Sisters from the citizens of Rapture. He brought them into the public eye by creating the Gatherer's Garden vending machines to sell Plasmids and Gene Tonics. These vending machines featured large figurines of smiling Little Sisters on either side. Later, Ryan changed the role of the Little Sisters, actually sending them out into the streets to gather ADAM from corpses as the Civil War heated up. In response to the disquiet the Little Sisters caused among the citizens, Ryan created several public address announcements suggesting that the Little Sisters were performing a noble service.

Ryan commissioned Dr. Suchong to create protectors for the little girls since they would be vulnerable to attacks by Splicers when searching the city for ADAM. This resulted in the creation of the Big Daddies who were armored and genetically modified to protect the girls at all costs.