MicroProse

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MicroProse Software Pty Ltd

logo
legal form Proprietary Limited
founding 1982 as MicroProse Software, Inc.
2007 brand resurgence as MicroProse Systems LLC. (through purchase of rights from Atari SA by the Interactive Game Group )
resolution 1993 (bought by Spectrum HoloByte)
1998 (bought by Hasbro Interactive)
2001 (acquisition of Hasbro by Infogrames, end of the MicroProse brand)
Seat Taylor Beach , New South Wales , AustraliaAustraliaAustralia 
management David Lagetti, formerly Sid Meier and Bill Stealey (founders)
Branch Software distribution and development
Website http://www.microprose.com/

MicroProse Software Pty Ltd is an Australian company in the computer game industry .

history

MicroProse was founded in 1982 by Sid Meier and Bill Stealey . In the early 1980s, the company was mainly as a developer and publisher of flight and military simulations on 8-bit - home computers known. The first published programs were programmed by Sid Meier on the Atari 800, including Spitfire Ace and Hellcat Ace , two air war simulations in which the player has to complete missions in European and Pacific airspace (both 1982). The civil flight simulation Solo Flight (1983) also allows VOR instrument flight and could not be used sensibly without the maps contained in the manual, which were required for planning the landing approaches. With the rise of the IBM PC and its replicas, computer game development shifted to these platforms. At this time, MicroProse began to sell more strategy games . As part of an international expansion, there was a subsidiary in Great Britain from 1986, Microprose Software Limited in Tetbury ( Gloucestershire ). The West German Microprose Software GmbH, registered in October 1988 and initially based in Mainz-Kastel, was a subsidiary of the English branch. In 1990 and 1991 MicroProse released the two biggest hits in the company's history, Railroad Tycoon and Civilization .

Shortly afterwards, in 1993, the company was bought by another computer game manufacturer, Spectrum HoloByte , but both continued to sell their games under the traditional brand names until 1996. Both brands were then merged under the MicroProse label. At this point, Sid Meier left MicroProse to re-found his own development studio , Firaxis Games . At the end of 1997, MicroProse took over the small British game publisher Hartland Trefoil from Francis G. Tresham and thus the rights to the 1980 board game Civilization .

In 1998, Hasbro bought MicroProse . In the following time the company experienced a short and eventful history under the new roof. In 1999 two development studios in California and North Carolina were closed. In 2001 Hasbro Interactive was bought by Infogrames . In 2003 the original and last existing development studio of the former MicroProse Software Inc. in Hunt Valley (Maryland) was closed.

Start-up

In 2019 it was announced that David Lagetti had started buying the rights to the MicroProse property in 2018. In particular, he now owns the rights to the company name, the logo, the homepage and some of the old games. The company should concentrate on its original core business again. In the same year the video game "Warbirds 2020" was announced. , of which there is no longer any question. On May 5th, 2020 the website went online again and the company announced the publication of initially three strategy and simulation games, these are: 1. " Task Force Admiral" a real-time simulation of an American aircraft carrier association during World War II, 2. " Second Front " a turn-based strategy game with hex fields and 3." Sea Power " a real-time simulation of air and naval forces that was set during the Cold War .

Well-known games

literature

  • Wilfried Lindo: The Microprose book. 1st edition, Sybex, Düsseldorf [u. a.] 1994. ISBN 3-8155-6511-1 . Book with CD-ROM, solution tips for the top games.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Solo Flight in the Atari Mania database (English)
  2. ↑ Entry in the Commercial Register of Wiesbaden Local Court of October 31, 1988. Announced in Federal Gazette No. 221/1988, November 26, 1988
  3. ↑ MicroProse Buys out Hartland Trefoil at Train Gamers Association (English)
  4. ↑ GameSpot editorial team: Atari closes Hunt Valley Studio ( English ) In: GameSpot . CNET . November 4, 2003. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  5. ↑ Matthew Handrahan: MicroProse returns after two decade absence. gamesindustry.biz, May 5, 2020, accessed June 24, 2020 .
  6. ↑ MicroProse co-founded by Sid Meiers will release first game in 20 years. In: Game World Observer. September 10, 2019, accessed May 9, 2020 (American English).
  7. ↑ MicroProse: MicroProse is back! MicroProse Pty Ltd, May 5, 2020, accessed June 24, 2020 .