Hasbro Interactive was an American video game production and publishing subsidiary of Hasbro, the large game and toy company. Several of its studios were closed in early 2000 and most of its properties were sold to Infogrames which completed its studio's closures at the end of 2000.
John Wilbur Stealey Sr. is a game developer and publisher who founded MicroProse with Sid Meier. He also founded and is the current CEO of iEntertainment Network.
MicroProse Software Inc. was an American video game publisher and developer founded by Bill Stealey and Sid Meier in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, many of which are regarded as groundbreaking, classics and cult titles, including starting the Civilization and X-COM series. Most of their internally developed titles were vehicle simulation and strategy games.
Firaxis Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Sparks, Maryland. The company was founded in May 1996 by Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds following their departure from MicroProse, Meier's earlier venture. They were acquired by Take-Two Interactive in August 2005, and subsequently became part of the publisher's 2K label. Firaxis Games is best known for developing the Civilization and XCOM series, as well as many other games bearing Meier's name.
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal game development studios. Take-Two's portfolio includes numerous successful video game series across personal computer and video game consoles, including BioShock, Borderlands, Civilization, Grand Theft Auto, NBA 2K, Red Dead, and XCOM. As of March 2018, it is the third-largest publicly traded game company in the Americas and Europe after Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts, with an estimated market cap of US$13 billion.
Spectrum HoloByte, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher. The company, founded in 1983 in Boulder, Colorado by Jeff Sauter, Phil Adam and Mike Franklin, was best known for its simulation games, notably the Falcon series of combat flight simulators, and for publishing the first version of Tetris outside the Soviet Union. Spectrum HoloByte also published games for various home computers and video game consoles.
Ubisoft Entertainment SA is a French video game company headquartered in Montreuil with several development studios across the world. It publishes games for several video game franchises, including Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Just Dance, Prince of Persia, Rayman, Raving Rabbids, and Tom Clancy's. As of March 2018, Ubisoft is the fourth largest publicly traded game company in the Americas and Europe in terms of revenue and market capitalisation, after Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, and Take-Two Interactive.
Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software development company based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, Maryland. Following his first commercial video game release, ZZT (1991), the company became Epic MegaGames, Inc. in early 1992 and brought on Mark Rein, who is the company's vice president to date. Moving their headquarters to Cary in 1999, the studio's name was simplified to Epic Games.
Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher owned by The Walt Disney Company through Disney Interactive. Prior to its closure in 2016, it developed and distributed multi-platform video games and interactive entertainment worldwide.
1996 has seen many sequels and prequels in video games and several new titles such as Blazing Heroes, Super Mario 64, NiGHTS into Dreams..., Crash Bandicoot, Resident Evil, Dead or Alive, Duke Nukem 3D and Tomb Raider.
Bruce Campbell Shelley is a board and video game designer. He is primarily associated as the co-designer of the video games Railroad Tycoon and Civilization with Sid Meier, and later the Age of Empires series.
2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. 2K was founded under Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports labels, following Take-Two Interactive's acquisition of Visual Concepts that same month. Originally based in New York City, it moved to Novato in 2007. A third label, 2K Play, was added in September 2007. 2K is governed by David Ismailer as president and Phil Dixon as COO. A motion capture studio for 2K is based in Petaluma, California.
Acclaim Studios Austin was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by Jeff Spangenberg, previously lead designer for Punk Development, and originally located in Santa Clara, California. Iguana found first success with Aero the Acro-Bat, moved to Austin and acquired Optimus Software in 1993. Iguana was acquired by Acclaim Entertainment in January 1995 and received another sub-studio, Iguana West in October that year. Spangenberg was fired from his position in July 1998 and filed a lawsuit on breach of contract the following October. Iguana was rebranded Acclaim Studios Austin in May 1999, and the studio was closed down in August 2004, followed by the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of its parent in September 2004.
Vicious Cycle Software was a video game development company based in Morrisville, North Carolina, United States.
Rockstar New England, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Andover, Massachusetts. The company was founded as Mad Doc Software in November 1999 by Ian Lane Davis, formerly of Activision. The company started out assisting Activision with the completion of Star Trek: Armada and led the development on its sequel, Star Trek: Armada II. Alongside multiple smaller projects, such as completing the canceled Jane's Attack Squadron from defunct Looking Glass Studios, Mad Doc Software achieved success through the Empire Earth series. However, its Empire Earth III was critically panned, leading to the termination of the franchise.
Take-Two Licensing, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Westlake Village, California. Founded as Sound Source Interactive by Vincent Bitetti in March 1990, the company acquired BWT Labs in March 1998. In September 2000, the company was acquired by TDK and became TDK Mediactive, and was again sold to Take-Two Interactive in September 2003 and was renamed Take-Two Licensing the following December. With the foundation of Take-Two Interactive's 2K Games label in January 2005, Take-Two Licensing was effectively folded into the new subsidiary.
Civilization is a series of turn-based strategy video games, first released in 1991. Sid Meier developed the first game in the series and has had creative input for most of the rest, and his name is usually included in the formal title of these games, such as Sid Meier's Civilization. There are six main games in the series, a number of expansion packs and spin-off games, as well as board games inspired by the video game series. The series is considered a formulative example of the 4X genre, in which players achieve victory through four routes: "eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate".
Dominic Robinson is a computer game programmer. He came to prominence as an in-house programmer for Hewson Consultants when he converted Uridium to the Spectrum in 1986. This was followed by another classic Spectrum shoot-em up, Zynaps, and a puzzle/shooter, Anarchy, both of which were released in 1987. After leaving Hewson, he joined Graftgold to work on the Spectrum conversion of Flying Shark, as well as the Amiga and Atari ST versions of Simulcra and Rainbow Islands.
Atari SA is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. Because of continuing pressures upon the company, and difficulty finding investors, it sought bankruptcy protection under French law in January 2013; its subsidiaries in the United States have sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as well. All three subsidiaries have since exited bankruptcy, and are all going through a vigorous turnaround campaign.
