Sirius software
| Sirius software | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Incorporated |
| founding | 1980 |
| resolution | 1984 |
| Reason for dissolution | insolvency |
| Seat | Sacramento (United States) |
| management | Jerry Jewell, Terry Bradley |
| Branch | Software development |
Sirius Software was an American computer games company that was active in the first half of the 1980s and developed and published over 160 games in that short period of time.
history
The company was founded in 1980 by Jerry Jewell and Nasir Gebelli in Sacramento. Jewell was a salesman in a computer shop and in his spare time programmed a graphics program for the Apple II home computer . The Iranian Gebelli had recently come to the United States as a computer science student, also owned an Apple II and supported Jewell in completing the graphics program, EZ Draw . The two founded Sirius Software to market the trend-setting program at the time, and apart from the EZ Draw application program, they concentrated on the development and sale of computer games. Jewell put his focus on sales, while Gebelli primarily took care of programming.
After Gebelli's first computer game, Both Barrels , was a financial success, Jewell had to give up his job in the computer store in favor of Sirius Software. He persuaded the owner of the business, Terry Bradley, to become a partner in Sirius and give the company its premises. Jewell and Bradley therefore shared the management, Gebelli was employed as a programmer with a share of the turnover. The company grew rapidly, generating $ four million in revenue in just two and a half years. Gebelli programmed up to twelve games per year. The Gorgon , a Defender clone, released in 1981 , sold 23,000 units, which was the sales record for home computer games at the time. At the end of 1981, Gebelli left the company to set up his own business. Jewell was able to hire several experienced programmers as replacements, including David Lubar .
In 1983 Sirius Software made eleven million dollars in sales, placing it in 15th place in the sales ranking of US software companies, ahead of competitors such as Epyx and Spinnaker Software . The company marketed a total of 160 products worldwide for the home computers Apple II, Atari 2600 , Atari 400 , Atari 800 , VC20 and C64 , PC , Intellivision and other game consoles . Among the most successful games by Sirius were the titles Space Eggs , Bandits , Repton , Epoch , Gorgon . Sirius also published some graphical adventure games to compete with Sierra On-Line , but they hardly succeeded. Sirius disappeared from the market in 1984 after Fox Video Games refused to pay license fees of $ 18 million.
Games (excerpt)
Action games
- Both Barrels (1980)
- Cyber Strike (1980)
- Phantoms Five (1980)
- Star Cruiser (1980)
- Autobahn (1981)
- Dark Forest (1981)
- Gorgon (1981)
- Outpost (1981)
- Pulsar II (1981)
- Snake Byte (1981)
- Sneakers (1981)
- Space Eggs (1981)
- Beany Bopper (1982)
- Deadly Duck (1982)
- Fantastic Voyage (1982)
- Fast Eddie (1982)
- Turmoil (1982)
- Type Attack (1982)
- Worm War I (1982)
- Bandits (1982)
- Flash Gordon (1983)
- Plasmania (1983)
- The Earth Dies Screaming (1983)
- Repton (1983)
- SpaceMaster X-7 (1983)
- Squish 'em (1983)
Adventure games
- Blade of Blackpoole (1982)
- Critical Mass (1982)
- Escape from Rungistan (1982)
- Kabul Spy (1982)
- Gruds in Space (1983)
Strategy games
- Call to Arms (1982)
Web links
- Sirius Software at MobyGames (English)