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MicroProse

MicroProse is an American video game publisher and developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982.[2][1] It developed and published numerous games, including starting the Civilization and X-COM series. Most of their internally developed titles were vehicle simulation and strategy games.

MicroProse
The former MicroProse headquarters in Hunt Valley
Formerly
  • Infogrames Interactive Hunt Valley Studio (2001–2003)
  • Atari Interactive Hunt Valley Studio (2003)
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded1982; 42 years ago (1982)[a]
Founders
Headquarters,
U.S.
Key people
David Lagettie, CEO (2019–present)
Parent
Websitewww.microprose.com

In 1993, the company lost most of its UK-based personnel and became a subsidiary of Spectrum HoloByte. Subsequent cuts and corporate policies led to Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds leaving and forming Firaxis Games in 1996, as MicroProse closed its ex-Simtex development studio in Austin, Texas. In 1998, following an unsuccessful buyout attempt by GT Interactive, the struggling MicroProse (Spectrum HoloByte) became a wholly owned subsidiary of Hasbro Interactive and its development studios in Alameda, California, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, were closed the following year. In 2001, MicroProse ceased to exist as an entity and Hasbro Interactive sold the MicroProse intellectual properties to Infogrames Entertainment, SA. MicroProse UK's former main office in Chipping Sodbury was closed in 2002, followed by the company's former headquarters in Hunt Valley, Maryland, in 2003.

The brand was revived in 2007 when Interactive Game Group acquired it from Atari Interactive, formerly Infogrames. The MicroProse brand was licensed to the Legacy Engineering Group for consumer electronics. Cybergun owned the MicroProse brand from 2010 to 2018, which was then acquired by David Lagettie working with Stealey.

History edit

Independent company (1982–1993) edit

1980s edit

In summer 1982, mutual friends who knew of their shared interest in aviation arranged for retired military pilot Bill Stealey and computer programmer Sid Meier to meet in Las Vegas. After Meier surprised Stealey by repeatedly defeating him when playing Red Baron, he explained that he had analyzed the game's programming to predict future actions and claimed that he could design a better home computer game in one week. Stealey promised to sell the game if Meier could develop it. Although Meier needed two months to produce Hellcat Ace, Stealey sold 50 copies in his first sales appointment and the game became the first product of their new company.[3] They planned to name it Smugger's Software, but chose MicroProse. (In 1987 the company agreed to change its name to avoid confusion with MicroPro International, but MicroPro decided to rename itself after its WordStar word processor).[4] MicroProse became profitable in its second month and had $10 million in sales by 1986.[5]

MicroProse advertised its first batch of games in 1982, under the headline "Experience the MicroProse Challenge!!!" All three were written by Sid Meier for the Atari 8-bit computers: platform game Floyd of the Jungle,[6] 2D shooter Chopper Rescue,[7] and first-person airplane combat game Hellcat Ace.[8] Hellcat Ace began a series of increasingly sophisticated 8-bit flight simulation games, including Spitfire Ace (1982) and Solo Flight (1983), that defined the company.

 
Gregg Tavares's Gunship Design Team flight jacket

In 1983, MicroProse ported Floyd of the Jungle to the Commodore 64, their first product for that machine. By 1984, the company had begun supporting the Apple II and IBM PC compatibles. MicroProse released the air traffic control game Kennedy Approach, written by Andy Hollis, in 1985.[9] Conflict in Vietnam (1986) was the final MicroProse title for the Atari 8-bit line.

By 1987, Computer Gaming World considered MicroProse one of the top five computer game companies, alongside likes of Activision and Electronic Arts.[citation needed]

MicroProse also started a branch in the United Kingdom to cross-publish titles in Europe,[5] and to import some European titles to be published in the United States. Notable products from this period include simulation games F-15 Strike Eagle, F-19 Stealth Fighter, Gunship, Project Stealth Fighter, Red Storm Rising and Silent Service, and action-strategy games such as Sid Meier's Pirates! and Sword of the Samurai. Several games from different developers were also published by MicroProse under the labels "Firebird" and "Rainbird" (acquired after buying Telecomsoft in May 1989),[10] including Mr. Heli, Midwinter and Core Design's Rick Dangerous. During the same period, MicroProse created two labels: MicroStyle (UK), and MicroPlay Software (US), using them for publishing a variety of externally developed games, such as Challenge of the Five Realms, Command HQ, Global Conquest, Elite Plus, Flames of Freedom, Rick Dangerous, Stunt Car Racer, Xenophobe and XF5700 Mantis.[11][12] By the late 1980s, the company maintained a division, Medialist International, in order to distribute and develop independent titles that was publish through the MicroPlay and MicroProse labels.[13]

1990s edit

In the early 1990s, MicroProse released the strategy games Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon and Sid Meier's Civilization, designed by Meier and developed by its internal division, MPS Labs, on multiple platforms. Critically acclaimed, both of them quickly became two of the bestselling strategy games of all time and spawned multiple sequels. Some of MicroProse's simulation games from the 1980s received remakes in the early 1990s, such as Night Hawk: F-117A Stealth Fighter 2.0, Silent Service II and Gunship 2000, and made some first cautious attempts to expand into the console market with F-117A Stealth Fighter and Super Strike Eagle (MicroProse also ported several of their titles to the 16- and 32-bit consoles during the mid-1990s). Brand new simulation and strategy titles included 1942: The Pacific Air War, Dogfight, Fields of Glory, Formula One Grand Prix, Harrier Jump Jet, Knights of the Sky, Starlord, Subwar 2050 and Task Force 1942.

MicroProse attempted to diversify beyond its niche roots as a sim and strategy game company, looking for opportunities into the arcade game industry. MicroProse designed further action-strategy titles such as Covert Action (also designed by Sid Meier) and Hyperspeed, and experimented with the role-playing genre by developing BloodNet and Darklands (in addition to publishing The Legacy: Realm of Terror). The company invested a large sum of money to create its arcade game division as well as their own graphic adventure game engine. Meier felt that Stealey was taking the company in a risky direction, and the two could not work out their differences. Meier opted to quietly sell Stealey his share of the company but remained on in the same apparent role for all other purposes to the rest of the staff and their customers to allow Stealey to proceed in this direction.[14]

The arcade division did not perform well, and was canceled after making only two games: F-15 Strike Eagle: The Arcade Game and Battle of the Solar System (both of which featured high-end 3D graphics but failed to become popular as they were too different from existing machines), while the adventure game engine was used for just three games: Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender, Return of the Phantom and Dragonsphere, before it was sold off to Sanctuary Woods.[citation needed]

In August 1991, MicroProse filed for an initial public offering. The company hoped to raise $18 million to help repay debts from its unsuccessful arcade games.[15] In 1992 MicroProse acquired Paragon Software.[16] It also acquired Leeds-based flight simulation developer Vektor Grafix,[17] which had already developed titles for them (such as B-17 Flying Fortress), turning it into a satellite development studio named MicroProse Leeds.

Under Spectrum HoloByte (1993–1998) edit

In December 1993, following Black Wednesday in the UK, MicroProse Software Inc. merged with Spectrum HoloByte, another game company that specialized in simulation games, to form MicroProse Inc.[18] Bill Stealey, who was good friends with Spectrum HoloByte president Gilman Louie, convinced Louie to help MicroProse as Stealey was afraid that some bank would not understand the company culture. MicroProse UK was forced to close its two satellite studios of MicroProse in northern England and dispose of over 40 staff at its Chipping Sodbury head office (Microprose Chipping Sodbury). A core group of artists, designers, and programmers left MicroProse UK to join Psygnosis, which opened an office in Stroud specifically to attract ex-MicroProse employees. In 1994, Stealey departed MicroProse and Spectrum HoloByte agreed to buy out his shares. He later commented, "Spectrum Holobyte had a lot of cash and very few products. Microprose had a lot of products and no cash. It was a great marriage, but the new company only needed one chairman, so I resigned."[19] Stealey went on to found an independent game company Interactive Magic (also specializing in vehicle simulators and strategy games), while Andy Hollis departed for Origin Systems, and Sandy Petersen joined id Software.

Spectrum Holobyte managed to line up licenses, including Top Gun (Top Gun: Fire At Will), Magic: The Gathering (Magic: The Gathering), Star Trek: The Next Generation (A Final Unity, Birth of the Federation, Klingon Honor Guard) and MechWarrior (MechCommander, MechWarrior 3). Strategy game X-COM: UFO Defense proved to be an unanticipated hit in 1994, spawning multiple sequels. In 1996, Spectrum HoloByte/MicroProse bought out Simtex, earlier a developer of MicroProse-published bestsellers Master of Orion and Master of Magic. Simtex was re-branded as MicroProse Texas (Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares), based in Austin, Texas. Other MicroProse developed and/or published games during that period included 7th Legion, Addiction Pinball, AEGIS: Guardian of the Fleet, Civilization II, Dark Earth, F-15 Strike Eagle III, Fleet Defender, Grand Prix 2, Pizza Tycoon, Sid Meier's Colonization, Tinhead, Transport Tycoon, X-COM: Apocalypse, X-COM: Interceptor and X-COM: Terror from the Deep. Insufficient financial resources largely prevented MicroProse from developing games for other game platforms, therefore MicroProse concentrated on the PC game market.[20]

MicroProse Software continued as separate subsidiary company under Spectrum HoloByte until 1996. That year, Spectrum HoloByte started cutting a majority of the MicroProse staff to reduce costs. Soon after, it consolidated all of its titles under the MicroProse brand (essentially renaming itself MicroProse). MicroProse's remaining co-founder Sid Meier, along with Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds, departed the company after the staff cut, forming a new company named Firaxis Games.[21]

On October 5, 1997, GT Interactive announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire MicroProse for $250 million in stock. The deal was unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of both companies. After the announcement MicroProse's stock price reached $7 a share. GT Interactive expected the deal to be completed by the end of that year.[22][23] The acquisition was canceled on December 5, as according to both CEOs "the time is simply not right" for the deal. MicroProse's stock plummeted to just $2.31 after the announcement of the deal's cancellation,[24] and the company had estimated losses of $7–10 million during the third quarter of 1997 which are largely attributed to dislocations caused by the aborted merger.[25] According to Computer Gaming World, the merger was annulled due to a "fundamental" disagreement over how the joint company would be writing off its research and development costs, as MicroProse insisted to keep their method of paying off the developer immediately.[26]

In November 1997, MicroProse was sued by both Avalon Hill (who had the U.S. publishing rights to the name Civilization)[27] and Activision for copyright infringement. MicroProse responded by buying Hartland Trefoil, which was the original designer and manufacturer of the Civilization board game, and then sued Avalon Hill and Activision for trademark infringement and unfair business practices as a result of Activision's decision to develop and publish Civilization video games.[28] Because Hasbro was negotiating the acquisition of both Avalon Hill and MicroProse, the lawsuits were settled in July 1998. Under the terms of the settlement MicroProse became the sole owner of the rights of the name Civilization and Activision acquired a license to publish a Civilization video game which was later titled Civilization: Call to Power.[27][29]

Under Hasbro Interactive (1998–2001) edit

In preparation for its sale, MicroProse closed down its studio in Austin in June 1998; as a result of the closure, 35 employees lost their jobs.[30] On August 14, 1998, Hasbro issued a $70 million cash tender offer to purchase all MicroProse's shares for $6 each.[31] This deal was completed on September 14, when Hasbro bought 91% of MicroProse's shares and announced that MicroProse had become a wholly owned subsidiary.[32][33] The remaining shares would also be acquired for $6 in cash. MicroProse was merged with Hasbro Interactive.[34] At the time of Hasbro's acquisition, MicroProse had 343 employees, including 135 at Alameda, California (MicroProse Alameda), with a total operating cost of $20 million per year.[35] Besides the development studio in Alameda, MicroProse had three other studios: Hunt Valley, Maryland (Microprose, Hunt Valley); Chapel Hill, North Carolina; and Chipping Sodbury, England.

In December 1998, MicroProse finally managed to publish Falcon 4.0 (in development by Spectrum HoloByte since 1992), to disappointing sales. In December 1999, Hasbro Interactive closed down former MicroProse studios in Alameda and Chapel Hill.[36][37] Among titles in development that got canceled during that period was X-COM: Genesis. The last MicroProse developed game under Hasbro, B-17 Flying Fortress: The Mighty 8th, was published in 2000.

Under Infogrames (2001–2003) edit

In January 2001, after French game publisher Infogrames Entertainment, SA (IESA) took over Hasbro Interactive for $100 million,[38] the company was renamed to Infogrames Interactive.[39] and the long development of X-COM: Alliance was finally aborted.

Infogrames began to slowly phase out the brand name, with many MicroProse branded titles that were previously released by Hasbro being reissued with Infogrames' logo on the packaging. The final two games branded under the MicroProse name were Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror and Grand Prix 4. The two remaining MicroProse studios were also renamed under Infogrames branding as well, becoming Infogrames Hunt Valley and Infogrames Chippenham respectively. Infogrames would later shut down the Chippenham studio in September 2002.[40]

Infogrames intermittently used the Atari name as a brand name for selected titles before officially changing the U.S. subsidiary's name to Atari, Inc. in 2003.,[41] with the Hunt Valley briefly being renamed as "Atari Hunt Valley". In November 2003, Atari closed the last former MicroProse development studio in Hunt Valley,[42] which was MicroProse's original location and had just completed work on Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes. However, several game developers now exist in the area, including Firaxis Games and BreakAway Games, who all owe their origin to MicroProse.

Brand sale to Interactive Game Group and Cybergun Group (2007-2019) edit

In 2007, the MicroProse brand name was sold by Atari Interactive to the Interactive Game Group, a producer of video game titles. The company filed for transfer of trademark protection on December 27, 2007.[43] Originally, it was unclear if MicroProse's titles and intellectual properties were also acquired by the Interactive Game Group from Atari/Infogrames, but was soon confirmed that the latter had remained the owners of the properties.[44]

In January 2008, the Interactive Game Group sub-licensed the MicroProse brand and trademark to I-Drs At in January 2008.[45][46] The company also licensed the MicroProse brand to the Legacy Engineering Group (LEG), which used the license to form subsidiaries called Microprose Systems and Microprose Consumer Electronics Division, selling consumer electronics from February 2008 to the second half of 2008. In October, the licensing agreement between LEG and Frederic Chesnais, owner of Interactive Game Group, was discontinued, forcing LEG to rebrand its subsidiaries to Legacy Consumer Electronics.[47]

In 2010, the Cybergun Group, manufacturer of airsoft gun products, merged with the Interactive Game Group, acquiring the MicroProse brand within the merger.[48] In 2011, the Interactive Game Group was rebranded under the MicroProse name and began licensing and executive producing various casual and budget video game titles that the Interactive Game Group had already licensed[49] including Jaws: Ultimate Predator[50] and fitness games featuring Jullian Michaels.[51] In August 2012, MicroProse announced that they would re-partner with their former owner Atari to release Special Forces: Team X for 2013.[52] The MicroProse brand continued in use until the end of 2013, when it's domain lapsed and the brand fell into dormancy.

On July 22, 2013, during the Atari bankruptcy sale, most of MicroProse's former IPs that remained with the publisher were sold to Tommo.[53] In October 2014, Tommo announced the launch of the "Retroism" brand and re-released a majority of MicroProse's catalogue through digital media platforms such as Steam.

Brand revival (2018–present) edit

 
MicroProse reunion, July 2023, hosted by the Baltimore chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA)

In 2018, David Lagettie, an Australian simulation software entrepreneur and one of the makers of TitanIM open world military simulation software, purchased the MicroProse brand from the Cybergun Group. Lagettie was a former developer for Bohemia Interactive at their Australian studios before starting his own company to create video game simulators to be used by military groups. Lagettie had been a fan of the original MicroProse games growing up, and as he saw the games ownership transition made the company eventually disappear, he started investigating the fate of MicroProse around 2005. When possible, he began buying whatever IP from MicroProse he could, including the name and original logo trademarks.[54] In February 2019, MicroProse was officially revived as a full publisher of video game and simulation titles, working with the iEntertainment Network on the WarBirds series of combat flight simulators.[55] Within the rest of 2019, MicroProse announced Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age by the developer Triassic Games AB, Task Force Admiral - Vol.1: American Carrier Battles by Drydock Dreams Games, Operation: Harsh Doorstop by Drakeling Labs, and Warfare 1944 by Drakeling Labs. Lagettie's acquisitions drew the attention of Stealey, who subsequently inquired Lagettie about his plans, leading to Stealey joining Lagettie in an unofficial manner in the new MicroProse.[54]

The new company announced in May 2020 the first of three new games to be released for personal computers: Triassic Games' Sea Power, Drydock Dreams' Task Force Admiral, and Hexdraw's Second Front,[56] with about twenty additional titles planned out for publishing in the future. Lagettie said that while the new MicroProse will branch out to other genres such as adventure and racing games, their core portfolio will be centered on combat-based ones.[54]

MicroProse re-released B-17 Flying Fortress on Steam in November 2021.[57] On May 4, 2023, the company announced it had re-acquired the copyright to the Falcon (series).[58]

Games edit

Games by MicroProse include Civilization (1991), Civilization II (1996), Darklands (1992), F-15 Strike Eagle (1985), F-19 Stealth Fighter (1988), Formula One Grand Prix (1992), Grand Prix 2 (1995), Grand Prix World (1999), Gunship (1986), Lightspeed (1990), M1 Tank Platoon (1989), Master of Magic (1994), Master of Orion (1993), Master of Orion II (1996), Midwinter (1989), Pirates! (1987), Project Stealth Fighter (1987), Railroad Tycoon (1990), Red Storm Rising (1988), Silent Service (1985), and X-COM: UFO Defense (1994).

Legacy edit

It was a great run. We should've done better. We had great people.
I think all our people are still very proud of their MicroProse days.

Bill Stealey in 2013[59]

Sid Meier, who now works at Firaxis Games, eventually got the rights of most of his games back under his control from Atari Inc. Railroad Tycoon series rights was sold to PopTop Software, who developed Railroad Tycoon II and Railroad Tycoon 3. Eventually, Poptop was acquired by Take-Two Interactive, which later also acquired Firaxis as well, thus returning the rights to the series to Meier, resulting in Sid Meier's Railroads!, released by Take-Two's 2K Games along with a new Sid Meier's Pirates! and the new Civilization games, including Sid Meier's Civilization III, Sid Meier's Civilization IV, Sid Meier's Civilization V, Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization and Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution. Firaxis Games also developed the X-COM series' reboot XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which was followed by 2K Marin's spin-off The Bureau: XCOM Declassified.

Master of Orion III was developed by Quicksilver Software and released under the Infogrames label. Falcon 4.0 rights were sold to Graphsim Entertainment, who developed Falcon 4.0: Allied Force.

Notes edit

  1. ^ The original company closed in 2003. The current MicroProse is founded by David Lagettie.

References edit

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External links edit

  • MicroProse, official website
  • MicroProse company profile at MobyGames

microprose, american, video, game, publisher, developer, founded, bill, stealey, meier, andy, hollis, 1982, developed, published, numerous, games, including, starting, civilization, series, most, their, internally, developed, titles, were, vehicle, simulation,. MicroProse is an American video game publisher and developer founded by Bill Stealey Sid Meier and Andy Hollis in 1982 2 1 It developed and published numerous games including starting the Civilization and X COM series Most of their internally developed titles were vehicle simulation and strategy games MicroProseThe former MicroProse headquarters in Hunt ValleyFormerlyInfogrames Interactive Hunt Valley Studio 2001 2003 Atari Interactive Hunt Valley Studio 2003 Company typePrivateIndustryVideo gamesFounded1982 42 years ago 1982 a FoundersSid MeierBill StealeyAndy Hollis 1 HeadquartersHunt Valley Maryland U S Key peopleDavid Lagettie CEO 2019 present ParentSpectrum HoloByte 1993 1998 Hasbro Interactive 1998 2001 Infogrames 2001 2003 Interactive Game Group 2007 2010 Cybergun 2010 2018 Websitewww wbr microprose wbr com In 1993 the company lost most of its UK based personnel and became a subsidiary of Spectrum HoloByte Subsequent cuts and corporate policies led to Sid Meier Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds leaving and forming Firaxis Games in 1996 as MicroProse closed its ex Simtex development studio in Austin Texas In 1998 following an unsuccessful buyout attempt by GT Interactive the struggling MicroProse Spectrum HoloByte became a wholly owned subsidiary of Hasbro Interactive and its development studios in Alameda California and Chapel Hill North Carolina were closed the following year In 2001 MicroProse ceased to exist as an entity and Hasbro Interactive sold the MicroProse intellectual properties to Infogrames Entertainment SA MicroProse UK s former main office in Chipping Sodbury was closed in 2002 followed by the company s former headquarters in Hunt Valley Maryland in 2003 The brand was revived in 2007 when Interactive Game Group acquired it from Atari Interactive formerly Infogrames The MicroProse brand was licensed to the Legacy Engineering Group for consumer electronics Cybergun owned the MicroProse brand from 2010 to 2018 which was then acquired by David Lagettie working with Stealey Contents 1 History 1 1 Independent company 1982 1993 1 1 1 1980s 1 1 2 1990s 1 2 Under Spectrum HoloByte 1993 1998 1 3 Under Hasbro Interactive 1998 2001 1 4 Under Infogrames 2001 2003 1 5 Brand sale to Interactive Game Group and Cybergun Group 2007 2019 1 6 Brand revival 2018 present 2 Games 3 Legacy 4 Notes 5 References 6 External linksHistory editIndependent company 1982 1993 edit 1980s edit In summer 1982 mutual friends who knew of their shared interest in aviation arranged for retired military pilot Bill Stealey and computer programmer Sid Meier to meet in Las Vegas After Meier surprised Stealey by repeatedly defeating him when playing Red Baron he explained that he had analyzed the game s programming to predict future actions and claimed that he could design a better home computer game in one week Stealey promised to sell the game if Meier could develop it Although Meier needed two months to produce Hellcat Ace Stealey sold 50 copies in his first sales appointment and the game became the first product of their new company 3 They planned to name it Smugger s Software but chose MicroProse In 1987 the company agreed to change its name to avoid confusion with MicroPro International but MicroPro decided to rename itself after its WordStar word processor 4 MicroProse became profitable in its second month and had 10 million in sales by 1986 5 MicroProse advertised its first batch of games in 1982 under the headline Experience the MicroProse Challenge All three were written by Sid Meier for the Atari 8 bit computers platform game Floyd of the Jungle 6 2D shooter Chopper Rescue 7 and first person airplane combat game Hellcat Ace 8 Hellcat Ace began a series of increasingly sophisticated 8 bit flight simulation games including Spitfire Ace 1982 and Solo Flight 1983 that defined the company nbsp Gregg Tavares s Gunship Design Team flight jacket In 1983 MicroProse ported Floyd of the Jungle to the Commodore 64 their first product for that machine By 1984 the company had begun supporting the Apple II and IBM PC compatibles MicroProse released the air traffic control game Kennedy Approach written by Andy Hollis in 1985 9 Conflict in Vietnam 1986 was the final MicroProse title for the Atari 8 bit line By 1987 Computer Gaming World considered MicroProse one of the top five computer game companies alongside likes of Activision and Electronic Arts citation needed MicroProse also started a branch in the United Kingdom to cross publish titles in Europe 5 and to import some European titles to be published in the United States Notable products from this period include simulation games F 15 Strike Eagle F 19 Stealth Fighter Gunship Project Stealth Fighter Red Storm Rising and Silent Service and action strategy games such as Sid Meier s Pirates and Sword of the Samurai Several games from different developers were also published by MicroProse under the labels Firebird and Rainbird acquired after buying Telecomsoft in May 1989 10 including Mr Heli Midwinter and Core Design s Rick Dangerous During the same period MicroProse created two labels MicroStyle UK and MicroPlay Software US using them for publishing a variety of externally developed games such as Challenge of the Five Realms Command HQ Global Conquest Elite Plus Flames of Freedom Rick Dangerous Stunt Car Racer Xenophobe and XF5700 Mantis 11 12 By the late 1980s the company maintained a division Medialist International in order to distribute and develop independent titles that was publish through the MicroPlay and MicroProse labels 13 1990s edit In the early 1990s MicroProse released the strategy games Sid Meier s Railroad Tycoon and Sid Meier s Civilization designed by Meier and developed by its internal division MPS Labs on multiple platforms Critically acclaimed both of them quickly became two of the bestselling strategy games of all time and spawned multiple sequels Some of MicroProse s simulation games from the 1980s received remakes in the early 1990s such as Night Hawk F 117A Stealth Fighter 2 0 Silent Service II and Gunship 2000 and made some first cautious attempts to expand into the console market with F 117A Stealth Fighter and Super Strike Eagle MicroProse also ported several of their titles to the 16 and 32 bit consoles during the mid 1990s Brand new simulation and strategy titles included 1942 The Pacific Air War Dogfight Fields of Glory Formula One Grand Prix Harrier Jump Jet Knights of the Sky Starlord Subwar 2050 and Task Force 1942 MicroProse attempted to diversify beyond its niche roots as a sim and strategy game company looking for opportunities into the arcade game industry MicroProse designed further action strategy titles such as Covert Action also designed by Sid Meier and Hyperspeed and experimented with the role playing genre by developing BloodNet and Darklands in addition to publishing The Legacy Realm of Terror The company invested a large sum of money to create its arcade game division as well as their own graphic adventure game engine Meier felt that Stealey was taking the company in a risky direction and the two could not work out their differences Meier opted to quietly sell Stealey his share of the company but remained on in the same apparent role for all other purposes to the rest of the staff and their customers to allow Stealey to proceed in this direction 14 The arcade division did not perform well and was canceled after making only two games F 15 Strike Eagle The Arcade Game and Battle of the Solar System both of which featured high end 3D graphics but failed to become popular as they were too different from existing machines while the adventure game engine was used for just three games Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender Return of the Phantom and Dragonsphere before it was sold off to Sanctuary Woods citation needed In August 1991 MicroProse filed for an initial public offering The company hoped to raise 18 million to help repay debts from its unsuccessful arcade games 15 In 1992 MicroProse acquired Paragon Software 16 It also acquired Leeds based flight simulation developer Vektor Grafix 17 which had already developed titles for them such as B 17 Flying Fortress turning it into a satellite development studio named MicroProse Leeds Under Spectrum HoloByte 1993 1998 edit In December 1993 following Black Wednesday in the UK MicroProse Software Inc merged with Spectrum HoloByte another game company that specialized in simulation games to form MicroProse Inc 18 Bill Stealey who was good friends with Spectrum HoloByte president Gilman Louie convinced Louie to help MicroProse as Stealey was afraid that some bank would not understand the company culture MicroProse UK was forced to close its two satellite studios of MicroProse in northern England and dispose of over 40 staff at its Chipping Sodbury head office Microprose Chipping Sodbury A core group of artists designers and programmers left MicroProse UK to join Psygnosis which opened an office in Stroud specifically to attract ex MicroProse employees In 1994 Stealey departed MicroProse and Spectrum HoloByte agreed to buy out his shares He later commented Spectrum Holobyte had a lot of cash and very few products Microprose had a lot of products and no cash It was a great marriage but the new company only needed one chairman so I resigned 19 Stealey went on to found an independent game company Interactive Magic also specializing in vehicle simulators and strategy games while Andy Hollis departed for Origin Systems and Sandy Petersen joined id Software Spectrum Holobyte managed to line up licenses including Top Gun Top Gun Fire At Will Magic The Gathering Magic The Gathering Star Trek The Next Generation A Final Unity Birth of the Federation Klingon Honor Guard and MechWarrior MechCommander MechWarrior 3 Strategy game X COM UFO Defense proved to be an unanticipated hit in 1994 spawning multiple sequels In 1996 Spectrum HoloByte MicroProse bought out Simtex earlier a developer of MicroProse published bestsellers Master of Orion and Master of Magic Simtex was re branded as MicroProse Texas Master of Orion II Battle at Antares based in Austin Texas Other MicroProse developed and or published games during that period included 7th Legion Addiction Pinball AEGIS Guardian of the Fleet Civilization II Dark Earth F 15 Strike Eagle III Fleet Defender Grand Prix 2 Pizza Tycoon Sid Meier s Colonization Tinhead Transport Tycoon X COM Apocalypse X COM Interceptor and X COM Terror from the Deep Insufficient financial resources largely prevented MicroProse from developing games for other game platforms therefore MicroProse concentrated on the PC game market 20 MicroProse Software continued as separate subsidiary company under Spectrum HoloByte until 1996 That year Spectrum HoloByte started cutting a majority of the MicroProse staff to reduce costs Soon after it consolidated all of its titles under the MicroProse brand essentially renaming itself MicroProse MicroProse s remaining co founder Sid Meier along with Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds departed the company after the staff cut forming a new company named Firaxis Games 21 On October 5 1997 GT Interactive announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire MicroProse for 250 million in stock The deal was unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of both companies After the announcement MicroProse s stock price reached 7 a share GT Interactive expected the deal to be completed by the end of that year 22 23 The acquisition was canceled on December 5 as according to both CEOs the time is simply not right for the deal MicroProse s stock plummeted to just 2 31 after the announcement of the deal s cancellation 24 and the company had estimated losses of 7 10 million during the third quarter of 1997 which are largely attributed to dislocations caused by the aborted merger 25 According to Computer Gaming World the merger was annulled due to a fundamental disagreement over how the joint company would be writing off its research and development costs as MicroProse insisted to keep their method of paying off the developer immediately 26 In November 1997 MicroProse was sued by both Avalon Hill who had the U S publishing rights to the name Civilization 27 and Activision for copyright infringement MicroProse responded by buying Hartland Trefoil which was the original designer and manufacturer of the Civilization board game and then sued Avalon Hill and Activision for trademark infringement and unfair business practices as a result of Activision s decision to develop and publish Civilization video games 28 Because Hasbro was negotiating the acquisition of both Avalon Hill and MicroProse the lawsuits were settled in July 1998 Under the terms of the settlement MicroProse became the sole owner of the rights of the name Civilization and Activision acquired a license to publish a Civilization video game which was later titled Civilization Call to Power 27 29 Under Hasbro Interactive 1998 2001 edit In preparation for its sale MicroProse closed down its studio in Austin in June 1998 as a result of the closure 35 employees lost their jobs 30 On August 14 1998 Hasbro issued a 70 million cash tender offer to purchase all MicroProse s shares for 6 each 31 This deal was completed on September 14 when Hasbro bought 91 of MicroProse s shares and announced that MicroProse had become a wholly owned subsidiary 32 33 The remaining shares would also be acquired for 6 in cash MicroProse was merged with Hasbro Interactive 34 At the time of Hasbro s acquisition MicroProse had 343 employees including 135 at Alameda California MicroProse Alameda with a total operating cost of 20 million per year 35 Besides the development studio in Alameda MicroProse had three other studios Hunt Valley Maryland Microprose Hunt Valley Chapel Hill North Carolina and Chipping Sodbury England In December 1998 MicroProse finally managed to publish Falcon 4 0 in development by Spectrum HoloByte since 1992 to disappointing sales In December 1999 Hasbro Interactive closed down former MicroProse studios in Alameda and Chapel Hill 36 37 Among titles in development that got canceled during that period was X COM Genesis The last MicroProse developed game under Hasbro B 17 Flying Fortress The Mighty 8th was published in 2000 Under Infogrames 2001 2003 edit In January 2001 after French game publisher Infogrames Entertainment SA IESA took over Hasbro Interactive for 100 million 38 the company was renamed to Infogrames Interactive 39 and the long development of X COM Alliance was finally aborted Infogrames began to slowly phase out the brand name with many MicroProse branded titles that were previously released by Hasbro being reissued with Infogrames logo on the packaging The final two games branded under the MicroProse name were Tactical Ops Assault on Terror and Grand Prix 4 The two remaining MicroProse studios were also renamed under Infogrames branding as well becoming Infogrames Hunt Valley and Infogrames Chippenham respectively Infogrames would later shut down the Chippenham studio in September 2002 40 Infogrames intermittently used the Atari name as a brand name for selected titles before officially changing the U S subsidiary s name to Atari Inc in 2003 41 with the Hunt Valley briefly being renamed as Atari Hunt Valley In November 2003 Atari closed the last former MicroProse development studio in Hunt Valley 42 which was MicroProse s original location and had just completed work on Dungeons amp Dragons Heroes However several game developers now exist in the area including Firaxis Games and BreakAway Games who all owe their origin to MicroProse Brand sale to Interactive Game Group and Cybergun Group 2007 2019 edit In 2007 the MicroProse brand name was sold by Atari Interactive to the Interactive Game Group a producer of video game titles The company filed for transfer of trademark protection on December 27 2007 43 Originally it was unclear if MicroProse s titles and intellectual properties were also acquired by the Interactive Game Group from Atari Infogrames but was soon confirmed that the latter had remained the owners of the properties 44 In January 2008 the Interactive Game Group sub licensed the MicroProse brand and trademark to I Drs At in January 2008 45 46 The company also licensed the MicroProse brand to the Legacy Engineering Group LEG which used the license to form subsidiaries called Microprose Systems and Microprose Consumer Electronics Division selling consumer electronics from February 2008 to the second half of 2008 In October the licensing agreement between LEG and Frederic Chesnais owner of Interactive Game Group was discontinued forcing LEG to rebrand its subsidiaries to Legacy Consumer Electronics 47 In 2010 the Cybergun Group manufacturer of airsoft gun products merged with the Interactive Game Group acquiring the MicroProse brand within the merger 48 In 2011 the Interactive Game Group was rebranded under the MicroProse name and began licensing and executive producing various casual and budget video game titles that the Interactive Game Group had already licensed 49 including Jaws Ultimate Predator 50 and fitness games featuring Jullian Michaels 51 In August 2012 MicroProse announced that they would re partner with their former owner Atari to release Special Forces Team X for 2013 52 The MicroProse brand continued in use until the end of 2013 when it s domain lapsed and the brand fell into dormancy On July 22 2013 during the Atari bankruptcy sale most of MicroProse s former IPs that remained with the publisher were sold to Tommo 53 In October 2014 Tommo announced the launch of the Retroism brand and re released a majority of MicroProse s catalogue through digital media platforms such as Steam Brand revival 2018 present edit nbsp MicroProse reunion July 2023 hosted by the Baltimore chapter of the International Game Developers Association IGDA In 2018 David Lagettie an Australian simulation software entrepreneur and one of the makers of TitanIM open world military simulation software purchased the MicroProse brand from the Cybergun Group Lagettie was a former developer for Bohemia Interactive at their Australian studios before starting his own company to create video game simulators to be used by military groups Lagettie had been a fan of the original MicroProse games growing up and as he saw the games ownership transition made the company eventually disappear he started investigating the fate of MicroProse around 2005 When possible he began buying whatever IP from MicroProse he could including the name and original logo trademarks 54 In February 2019 MicroProse was officially revived as a full publisher of video game and simulation titles working with the iEntertainment Network on the WarBirds series of combat flight simulators 55 Within the rest of 2019 MicroProse announced Sea Power Naval Combat in the Missile Age by the developer Triassic Games AB Task Force Admiral Vol 1 American Carrier Battles by Drydock Dreams Games Operation Harsh Doorstop by Drakeling Labs and Warfare 1944 by Drakeling Labs Lagettie s acquisitions drew the attention of Stealey who subsequently inquired Lagettie about his plans leading to Stealey joining Lagettie in an unofficial manner in the new MicroProse 54 The new company announced in May 2020 the first of three new games to be released for personal computers Triassic Games Sea Power Drydock Dreams Task Force Admiral and Hexdraw s Second Front 56 with about twenty additional titles planned out for publishing in the future Lagettie said that while the new MicroProse will branch out to other genres such as adventure and racing games their core portfolio will be centered on combat based ones 54 MicroProse re released B 17 Flying Fortress on Steam in November 2021 57 On May 4 2023 the company announced it had re acquired the copyright to the Falcon series 58 Games editMain article List of MicroProse games Games by MicroProse include Civilization 1991 Civilization II 1996 Darklands 1992 F 15 Strike Eagle 1985 F 19 Stealth Fighter 1988 Formula One Grand Prix 1992 Grand Prix 2 1995 Grand Prix World 1999 Gunship 1986 Lightspeed 1990 M1 Tank Platoon 1989 Master of Magic 1994 Master of Orion 1993 Master of Orion II 1996 Midwinter 1989 Pirates 1987 Project Stealth Fighter 1987 Railroad Tycoon 1990 Red Storm Rising 1988 Silent Service 1985 and X COM UFO Defense 1994 Legacy editIt was a great run We should ve done better We had great people I think all our people are still very proud of their MicroProse days Bill Stealey in 2013 59 Sid Meier who now works at Firaxis Games eventually got the rights of most of his games back under his control from Atari Inc Railroad Tycoon series rights was sold to PopTop Software who developed Railroad Tycoon II and Railroad Tycoon 3 Eventually Poptop was acquired by Take Two Interactive which later also acquired Firaxis as well thus returning the rights to the series to Meier resulting in Sid Meier s Railroads released by Take Two s 2K Games along with a new Sid Meier s Pirates and the new Civilization games including Sid Meier s Civilization III Sid Meier s Civilization IV Sid Meier s Civilization V Sid Meier s Civilization IV Colonization and Sid Meier s Civilization Revolution Firaxis Games also developed the X COM series reboot XCOM Enemy Unknown which was followed by 2K Marin s spin off The Bureau XCOM Declassified Master of Orion III was developed by Quicksilver Software and released under the Infogrames label Falcon 4 0 rights were sold to Graphsim Entertainment who developed Falcon 4 0 Allied Force Notes edit The original company closed in 2003 The current MicroProse is founded by David Lagettie References edit a b The Most Influential People in Computer Gaming of 1996 Andy Hollis GameSpot CBS Interactive Archived from the original on April 5 2010 Retrieved November 3 2022 Jahromi Neima September 22 2021 Sid Meier and the Meaning of Civilization The New Yorker Archived from the original on July 19 2022 Retrieved October 2 2021 MicroProse Captures Red Baron as Corporate Momento Computer Gaming World No 48 June 1988 p 9 Archived from the original on November 4 2013 Retrieved November 3 2013 Wilson Johnny L November 1991 A History of Computer Games Computer Gaming World No 88 p 10 Archived from the original on December 2 2013 Retrieved November 18 2013 a b Brooks M Evan November 1987 Titans of the Computer Gaming World MicroProse Computer Gaming World No 41 pp 16 18 54 Archived from the original on July 2 2016 Retrieved May 21 2016 Kaltman Eric July 30 2008 Sid Meier s First Game and an Early Look at MicroProse Archived from the original on January 30 2016 Chopper Hunt Atari Mania Archived from the original on February 8 2016 Floyd of the Jungle Manual archive org Hague James The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers Archived from the original on April 29 1999 Retrieved September 2 2019 Microprose Acquires British Telecomsoft Computer Gaming World No 63 September 1989 p 10 MicroStyle MobyGames Archived from the original on August 2 2012 Retrieved October 19 2012 Microplay Software MobyGames Archived from the original on October 18 2012 Retrieved October 19 2012 Medialist International Division of MicroProse Announces Titles PDF Computer Entertainer May 1989 p 4 Retrieved September 23 2023 Scott Jones Richard September 1 2020 An excerpt from Sid Meier s Memoir on the making of Civilization PCGamesN Archived from the original on September 19 2020 Retrieved September 26 2020 MicroProse Files for Initial Public Offering Computer Gaming World No 88 November 1991 p 12 Archived from the original on December 2 2013 Retrieved November 18 2013 MicroProse Acquires Paragon Software Computer Gaming World No 99 October 1992 p 16 Archived from the original on July 2 2014 Retrieved July 4 2014 MicroProse buys Vektor Grafix Computer Business Review Online Spectrum MicroProse MicroProse Inc GamePro No 56 IDG March 1994 p 186 Interactive Magic Next Generation No 21 Imagine Media September 1996 pp 109 110 Hasbro Buying Alameda s MicroProse San Francisco Chronicle Archived from the original on April 28 2008 Sid starts up Again Forbes July 25 1997 Archived from the original on October 25 2012 GT Interactive to Expand as World s Fastest Growing Interactive Entertainment Company Through Acquisition of MicroProse Archived July 9 2012 at archive today from BNET Research Center Jones Dow October 6 1997 250 Million Stock Deal for Microprose The New York Times Archived from the original on February 10 2009 Jones Dow December 6 1997 Company News Microprose And Gt Interactive End Merger Talks The New York Times Archived from the original on February 11 2009 Unhappy Holidays Next Generation No 38 Imagine Media February 1998 p 26 Near Total Annihilation Computer Gaming World No 164 March 1998 p 40 a b The Fall of Avalon Hill Archived February 3 2013 at the Wayback Machine from Academic Gaming Review MicroProse Buys out Hartland Trefoil Mimgames Archived from the original on February 9 2012 Retrieved July 31 2012 MICROPROSE INC Form 10 Q Quarterly Report Filing Date Aug 12 1998 secdatabase com Archived from the original on May 15 2018 Retrieved May 14 2018 Microprose Inc DE 10 Q For 6 30 98 Archived May 24 2012 at the Wayback Machine from SEC Info Hasbro MicroProse acquisition information SC 14D1 Archived May 24 2012 at the Wayback Machine from SEC Info secinfo com Hasbro MicroProse acquisition information SC 14D1 A Archived May 24 2012 at the Wayback Machine from SEC Info Hasbro Inc Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire MicroProse Inc Hasbro Inc August 12 1998 Archived from the original on October 21 2012 Retrieved September 30 2010 Secinfo com Archived June 18 2008 at the Wayback Machine Hasbro quarterly report for 9 27 98 from SEC Info MBA tuck dartmouth edu Archived May 29 2005 at the Wayback Machine Hasbro Interactive study from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth PDF Freudenheim Milt December 8 1999 Hasbro to Cut 20 of Its Jobs and Take 97 Million Charge The New York Times Archived from the original on June 21 2008 Gamasutra com Archived December 21 2008 at the Wayback Machine Hasbro Restructures from Gamasutra NewsWire December 7 1999 Company News Hasbro Completes Sale of Interactive Business The New York Times January 30 2001 Archived from the original on June 21 2008 Atari Interactive Inc gt Overview Allgame com October 3 2010 Archived from the original on August 26 2014 Retrieved August 22 2013 Gamespot com Archived January 23 2005 at the Wayback Machine Infogrames closes UK MicroProse studio from GameSpot BBC NEWS Technology Atari lives again bbc co uk Archived from the original on July 15 2004 Atari closes former MicroProse studio from GamesIndustry biz Assignments 1 United States Patent and Trademark Office Archived from the original on December 29 2014 Retrieved August 22 2013 Gamasutra com Gamasutra com June 9 2005 Archived from the original on November 14 2013 Retrieved August 22 2013 Assignments 2 United States Patent and Trademark Office July 8 2013 Archived from the original on May 5 2015 Retrieved August 22 2013 Assignments 3 United States Patent and Trademark Office July 8 2013 Archived from the original on May 5 2015 Retrieved August 22 2013 Legacy Engineering Group Parts Ways With Microprose Brand New York NY Media Syndicate October 20 2008 Archived from the original on October 2 2011 Retrieved July 12 2011 Cybergun 2010 Key Figures Archived from the original on December 29 2014 Retrieved February 17 2013 All Games Microprose Archived from the original on April 17 2012 Majesco Announces New Jaws Game for Wii 3DS Jillian Michaels Fitness Adventure Coming Exclusively to Kinect this Fall July 20 2011 Microprose Announces Special Forces Team X Third Person Team Based Tactical Shooter August 22 2012 Purchase Agreement between Atari Inc and Rebellion Developments Stardock amp Tommo PDF BMC Group July 22 2013 Archived PDF from the original on March 3 2016 a b c Batchelor James May 6 2020 The resurrection of MicroProse and return of Wild Bill Stealey GamesIndustry biz Archived from the original on May 7 2020 Retrieved May 6 2020 Batchelor James February 21 2019 The resurrection of MicroProse and return of Wild Bill Stealey GamesIndustry biz Retrieved April 3 2024 Talbot Carrie May 5 2020 Civilization dev MicroProse returns with three new Steam games PCGamesN Archived from the original on May 8 2020 Retrieved May 5 2020 MicroProse Re releases the Classic B 17 Flying Fortress to Steam November 21 2021 Retrieved May 4 2023 MicroProse is back on the Falcon series May 4 2023 Retrieved May 4 2023 Sid Meier The Father of Civilization Kotaku com June 26 2013 Archived from the original on September 7 2013 Retrieved August 25 2013 External links editMicroProse official website MicroProse company profile at MobyGames Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title MicroProse amp oldid 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