Difference between revisions of "User:TerokNor"

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Here is a (very much incomplete) list of companies of interest:
 
Here is a (very much incomplete) list of companies of interest:
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===Activision===
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Their early days as the first third-party VCS developer are relatively well-known. In-house development apparently continued for some time after the crash but might have stopped in the late 80s/early 90s. When they acquired Infocom, some developers might have moved to the west coast. In the mid-to-late 90s, there was an in-house studio in Santa Monica, probably responsible for MechWarrior 2, Heavy Gear, Interstate 76, Star Trek: Armada, Call to Power etc. In the UK in the 80s, there was an in-house group called Software Studios, which might have done in-house development or just coordinated external development.
  
 
===Gremlin===
 
===Gremlin===

Revision as of 19:20, 2 December 2020

My interest is mostly in Western developers. While they are ususally credited (usually without pseudonyms), it might not always be clear which studio or company they worked for, especially if they work for a larger publisher that has several studios or publishes both in-house and external projects.

Here is a (very much incomplete) list of companies of interest:

Activision

Their early days as the first third-party VCS developer are relatively well-known. In-house development apparently continued for some time after the crash but might have stopped in the late 80s/early 90s. When they acquired Infocom, some developers might have moved to the west coast. In the mid-to-late 90s, there was an in-house studio in Santa Monica, probably responsible for MechWarrior 2, Heavy Gear, Interstate 76, Star Trek: Armada, Call to Power etc. In the UK in the 80s, there was an in-house group called Software Studios, which might have done in-house development or just coordinated external development.

Gremlin

Based in Sheffield. Published both in-house and external projects. Had a Derby development location (whose developers later formed Core Design) as well as development operations in Ireland. Acquired by Infogrames in 1999/2000 with the Sheffield studio becoming Infogrames Sheffield House.

MicroProse

Headquarters based in Hunt Valley. For a few years, in-house development was unter the "MPS Labs" label. Merged with Spectrum HoloByte (then in Oakland) in 1993/1994. Spectrum changed its name to MicroProse in 1996 and all games were released under the MicroProse brand, no matter whether developed in Oakland or Hunt Valley. Company later acquired by Hasbro, then Atari, and the MicroProse label vanished. Last Hunt Valley project was probably D&D Heroes (Xbox). Acquisitions made: Paragon Software, Shadowmasters, SimTex, Vektor Grafix (UK). Other UK studios existed, one in Manchester (closed 1993), at least one in Chipping Sodbury (UK HQ) and/or Stroud. UK studio(s) developed Amiga and ST ports of US games as well as originals like X-COM: Terror from the Deep, Tinhead, Impossible Mission 2025.

Midway

HQ based in Chicago. Midway Home Entertainment was based in San Diego and probably used to be Leland Interactive/Cinematronics. San Diego was later acquired by THQ. Midway Games West was the former Atari Games, which used to be the arcade division of the original Atari. Chicago studio continues to exist as NetherRealm Studios.

Mindscape

Appears to have had internal development in the UK in the 90s - Outlander, Out to Lunch, Cyberspeed, Warhammer. US development also existed - Chessmaster games, Mario educational titles, Wing Commander SNES, Starwinder. It might have been related to Mindscape's acquisition by The Software Toolworks, or might have been distinct.

Ocean

Based in Manchester. Had an in-house team from at least 1984 on. Published internal and external projects. Had development subsidiaries in the US and France. Manchester in-house team was called Tribe in the mid-90s. Acquired by Infogrames in 1996. Last project might have been Silver (1999).

Psygnosis

HQ based in Liverpool. Published both internal and external projects. After they were acquired by Sony in 1993, they expanded with studios in London, Stroud, Chester, Paris and Leeds, possibly Manchester. Most were shut down, Paris was sold to Infogrames (might have become Infogrames Paris House), London was merged into Sony's London Studio and Liverpool was the last to shut down in 2012.

Sierra

Mostly based in Oakhurst. HQ moved to the Seattle area (Bellevue) in 1996; development was done in both locations. The Oakhurst studio was later renamed to Yosemite Entertainment and then shut down in 1999. Sierra had also acquired Bright Star Technology in the Seattle area ca. 1992. The 1996 move might have been a merger or Bright Star might have continued as its own entity.

Virgin

Had UK in-house development team "Gang of Five" in the 80s, and a studio in London in the 90s, which might not necessarily be the same entity. Had a US studio in California from ca. 1991/1992 on. This probably became Burst and then Westwood Pacific, later EA Pacific.