Difference between revisions of "User:TerokNor"

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===Activision===
 
===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.
 
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.
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===Amaze Entertainment===
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Originally KnowWonder, changed name in 1999. Acquired [[Realtime Associates Seattle Division]] in 1999, which became Griptonite, and created Adrenium as a new studio. The three studios apparently co-existed for some time, but games were released under the various brands over the years, no matter where they were developed.
  
 
===Climax===
 
===Climax===

Revision as of 18:25, 8 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.

Amaze Entertainment

Originally KnowWonder, changed name in 1999. Acquired Realtime Associates Seattle Division in 1999, which became Griptonite, and created Adrenium as a new studio. The three studios apparently co-existed for some time, but games were released under the various brands over the years, no matter where they were developed.

Climax

Had various studios all over England - Portsmouth/Fareham, London, Brighton, Notthingham, and one in Los Angeles/Santa Monica. All were known under various names and brands over the years.

Domark

Had an in-house development team called The Kremlin. Continued development into the mid-90s after acquision by Eidos, but not for long.

Electronic Arts

US in-house development didn't start until ca. 1987. Became Redwood Shores on EA's move to Redwood, later Visceral Games. Mutant Productions (and possibly Hitmen, though that might have been Canada) were probably internal teams. In the UK, in-house development began in the mid-90s and later merged with Bullfrog to become a single UK studio, later known as EA Bright Light. The short-lived EA Manchester developed Privateer 2, many of its developers later founded Warthog. A German in-house studio developed football managers in the early 2000s.

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.

Infogrames

Based in Lyon. Published internal and external projects. Later acquired a Paris studio from Psygnosis, Ocean and Gremlin in the UK and Beam Software/Melbourne House in Australia.

Looking Glass

The games developed at the main office in Cambridge, MA, are well-known and acclaimed, but the company also had offices in Redmond and Austin. The Austin office, led by Warren Spector, did not last long and only did concept and/or prototype work before it was shut down and a group of developers moved to create Ion Storm's Austin studio. The Redmond studio might have arisen from LG's new owner Intermetrics. They were most likely responsible for console development, including the N64 games the company released.

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 Alameda) 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 Alameda 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).

Perfect Entertainment

Created by a merger of Teeny Weeny Games and Perfect 10 Productions - development might have continued as two distinct studios. Australian studio Tantalus also was related to Perfect and might have been an in-house studio at some point (but certainly outlived Perfect).

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.

Rebellion

Originally based in Oxford. Acquired lots of other UK developers, operating as satellites: Core Design (Derby), TickTock (Yorkshire), Radiant Worlds (Warwick), Strangelite (Liverpool).

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.

Sony

US in-house development was first called Sony Interactive Studios America, later 989 Studios, probably based in Foster City. Might have originally been a US office of Psygnosis. Then there was Red Zone, a studio founded by former SISA employees, but based in San Diego, which was later bought by Sony. SolWorks in Carlsbad was also an acquisition. If any of these California studios somehow relate to the Santa Monica studio of God of War fame is unclear.

Ubisoft

Began as a distributor/publisher, but also had in-house development, in such locations in Brittany as the Château de la Grée de Callac (though the developers there might have just been freelance) and later in Carentoir. Starting from the mid- or late 90s there was development in Paris - if that is related to any of the earlier French studios is unclear. How the entity Ludimedia relates is also unclear.

U.S. Gold

Based in Birmingham. One of the largest UK publishers in the 80s. Had some in-house development (like the Gauntlet ports and some AD&D games), but apparently not to the extent of Ocean or Gremlin. Established Silicon Dreams as a new internal studio in 1994.

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.