Spectrum HoloByte

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Spectrum HoloByte, Inc.
legal form Incorporated
founding 1983
resolution 1999
Reason for dissolution Dissolution by parent company Hasbro
Seat Alameda (California) , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Branch Software development

Spectrum Holobyte, Inc. was an American computer game - developer and publisher headquartered in Alameda , California . The company was one of the most innovative developers of the 1980s and 1990s, releasing many games during that time that are now considered classics.

In addition to many simulations such as Falcon and Orbiter and the hit game Tetris , Spectrum also acquired many licenses for game conversions of hit movies such as Star Trek Generations , Top Gun and Starship Troopers .

The Macintosh version of Falcon , released in late 1987, became the killer game application for the Mac. Engineers at Apple even contacted Spectrum and made changes to their operating system so that Falcon could be played across the Apple range. Falcon 3 , released for PC at the end of 1991, was the first game to support multiplayer games over LAN .

Company history

Founder Gilman Louie, 2007

Spectrum was founded in 1983 by Gilman Louie . The first published game was the submarine simulation GATO in the same year.

In the late 1980s, Spectrum acquired the US distribution rights to the world-famous game Tetris from Robert Stein , CEO of the British software company Andromeda . Spectrum's version of the game became a big seller, but it soon emerged that Stein had never owned the rights to Tetris . In the following there was a small international scandal between Stein, the various western software manufacturers and the Russian ministry ELORG . Although the legal situation remained rather dubious, Spectrum continued to develop Tetris games, which quickly became one of the company's two main lines of products. The other line of products consisted of realistic flight simulations such as Falcon .

After the owner changed hands in 1992, Spectrum was supported with a large amount of venture capital . The new owners brought new managers on board to run the company.

In 1993 Spectrum obtained the distribution rights for the titles of the game developer Domark Software .

Also in 1993 the high sums of venture capital were used to buy up the ailing development company MicroProse Software . In the following years the games of both companies were sold under the respective company name. In 1996 it was decided to publish all games under the name MicroProse in the future.

Also in 1996, a contract was signed with Sony Signatures Film and Television Licensing to develop several games based on the hit movie Starship Troopers.

Although the purchase of MicroProse was hailed as a huge success at the time, MicroProse pulled the company down. Mismanagement and bad company policy also had an impact on the creativity and work of the developers. You had to accept greater losses than before. In 1997 the financial situation was temporarily stabilized by high revenues, but they came too late to save the company.

The company was bought by Hasbro Interactive in 1998 , who dismissed the flight simulation team shortly thereafter. Just one year later, the development studio in Alameda was closed and Spectrum HoloByte ceased to exist.

Development studios

Spectrum Holobyte owned several development studios that were developing different games at the same time:

Games

Developer of

  • Tetris (1987)
  • Falcon (1987)
  • Orbiter (1988)
  • Stunt Driver (1990)
  • Flight of the Intruder (1990)
  • Super Tetris (1991)
  • Falcon 3.0: Operation Fighting Tiger (1992)
  • Tetris Classic (1992)
  • Falcon 3.0: Hornet: Naval Strike Fighter (1993)
  • Falcon 3.0: MiG-29 (1993)
  • Triple this Challenge (1993)
  • Falcon Gold (1994)
  • Qwirks (1995)
  • National Lampoon's Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1 (1993, MicroProse)
  • X-COM : UFO Defense (1994, MicroProse together with Mythos Games)
  • Star Trek : The Next Generation: A Final Unity (1995, MicroProse)
  • Star Trek: Generations (1996, MicroProse)
  • Top Gun: Fire At Will (1996, MicroProse)

Publisher for

  • GATO (1983)
  • Sokoban (1984, developed by ASCII Corporation )
  • Orbiter (1986, developed by Digital Illusions CE )
  • Falcon (1987, developed by Sphere )
  • PT-109 (1987, developed by Digital Illusions CE)
  • Solitaire Royale (1987, developed by Publishing International )
  • Tetris (1987)
  • Falcon AT (1988, developed by Sphere)
  • Orbiter (1988)
  • Tetris: The Soviet Challenge (1988)
  • Tank: The M1A1 Abrams Battle Tank Simulation (1989, developed by Sphere)
  • Vette! (1989, developed by Sphere)
  • Welltris (1989, developed by Sphere)
  • Faces (1990, developed by Sphere)
  • Flight of the Intruder (1990, developed by Rowan Software )
  • Stunt Driver (1990)
  • Crisis in the Kremlin (1991)
  • Falcon 3.0 (1991, developed by Sphere)
  • Super Tetris (1991)
  • Falcon 3.0: Operation Fighting Tiger (1992)
  • Iron Helix (1992, developed by Drew Pictures )
  • Tetris Classic (1992)
  • The Chaos Engine (1993, developed by The Bitmap Brothers )
  • Falcon 3.0: Hornet: Naval Strike Fighter (1993)
  • Falcon 3.0: MiG-29 (1993)
  • National Lampoon's Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1 (1993, developed by MicroProse)
  • TORNADO (1993, developed by Digital Integration )
  • Breakthru! (1994)
  • Falcon Gold (1994)
  • Gazillionaire (1994, developed by LavaMind )
  • X-COM: UFO Defense (1994, developed by MicroProse and Mythos Games )
  • ClockWerx (1995, developed by Callisto Corporation )
  • Qwirks (1995)
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: A Final Unity (1995, developed by MicroProse)
  • Knight Moves (1996, developed by Kinesoft Software )
  • Star Trek: Generations (1996, developed by MicroProse)
  • Top Gun: Fire At Will (1996, developed by MicroProse)

Web links