MicroProse Software
| MicroProse Software | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Founded | 1982 | |
| Closed | 2003 | |
| Headquarters | USA | |
| Manager | ||
| Employees | ||
| Key People (choice) | Sid Meier, Bill Stealey | |
| Turnover | ||
| Sector | Video and computer games | |
| Website | ||
| Information | ||
Microprose was a famous game producer and publisher for simulations. It was founded by Sid Meier and Bill Stealey. In the 80s they produced for all 8-bit and 16-bit platforms. With the rise of the PC MicroProse also produced more and more games for the PC.
In 1987 MicroProse released one of its most famous games: Pirates!. In the same year it released Project Stealth Fighter, which was sold as F-19 at the re-release. Here MicroProse presented the new F-19 Stealth Fighter of the US Air Force for the first time. What came out at the end was, that this was only a faint by the Air Force to keep the real Stealth airplane F-117A secret. Also modell kits with the wrong Stealth Fighter were released. In 1992 a new version of the game was released with the title 'F-117A Nighthawk', but after the airplane had been presented officially.
In 1990 and 1991 MicroProse released their two most successful games Railroad Tycoon and Civilization. These games were the most successful game title until that time. However, MicroProse got itself into financial trouble, as it flooded the saturated market with similar titles. In 1991 Formula One Grand Prix was released, which counted as the best race simulation of its time.
In 1992 MicroProse bought Vektor Grafix, which had already developed games for MicroProse. Vektor Grafix was renamed MicroProse Studio Leeds.
In 1993 MicroProse was bought by Spectrum Holobyte.With this, two development studios were closed. Until 1996 the games were still sold under both labels. After that all games were sold under the label MicroProse. Sid Meier left the company at this point of time and founded the company Firaxis Games.
Already in 1998 the company was bought by Hasbro Interactive. At this time, several development studios were closed. In 2001 Hasbro Interactive was bought by Infogrames. In 2003 the last MicroProse development studio was closed.
In Summer 2007 Atari sold the rights for MicroProse, whereby the company Microprose Systems, LLC emerged in 2008. This new company does not act in the games sector, but sells consumer electronics such as gamepads.
MicroProse owned a sublabel named MicroStyle. With this some titles as Stunt Car Racer and Xenophobe were released. In the US this label was named MicroPlay.
Games library (excerpt)[edit | edit source]
- Airborne Ranger
- F-15 Strike Eagle
- Gunship
- Kennedy Approach
- Microprose Soccer
- NATO Commander
- Pirates!
- Project Stealth Fighter
- Red Storm Rising
- Silent Service
- Solo Flight
- Stunt Car Racer
Links[edit | edit source]
|
Wikipedia: MicroProse |
