MicroProse is an American video game publisher and developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, 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 founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993.
Xbox Game Studios is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, for the development and publishing of video games for Microsoft Windows. It has since expanded to include games and other interactive entertainment for the namesake Xbox platforms, other desktop operating systems, Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms, and web-based portals.
Tropico is a construction and management simulation video game developed by PopTop Software and published by Gathering of Developers in April 2001. Feral Interactive has developed and published a number of the games in the series for Mac OS X. The games see the player taking the role of "El Presidente", who rules a fictional Caribbean island country named Tropico during the Cold War era and beyond.
Visual Concepts Entertainment is an American video game developer based in Novato, California. Founded in May 1988, the company is best known for developing sports games in the 2K franchise, most recently NBA 2K and WWE 2K, and previously NFL 2K and College Hoops 2K. Visual Concepts was acquired by Sega in May 1999 and sold to Take-Two Interactive in January 2005. The acquisition of the company led Take-Two Interactive to open their 2K label which Visual Concepts became part of, on the day following the acquisition.
Tropico 2: Pirate Cove is a city-building game developed by Frog City Software and published by Gathering of Developers in April 2003. It is the sequel to Tropico.
Gearbox Software is an American video game development company based in Frisco, Texas. It was established as a limited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Randy Pitchford, one of the founders, serves as president and chief executive officer. Gearbox initially created expansions for the Valve game Half-Life, then ported that game and others to console platforms. In 2005, Gearbox launched its first independent set of games, Brothers in Arms, on console and mobile devices. It became their flagship franchise and spun off a comic book series, television documentary, books, and action figures. Their second original game series, Borderlands, commenced in 2009, and by 2015 had sold over 26 million copies. The company also owns the intellectual property of Duke Nukem and Homeworld.
Access Software, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Founded in November 1982 by Bruce Carver and Chris Jones, the company created the Beach Head, Links and Tex Murphy series, as well as Raid over Moscow. Access Software was acquired by Microsoft in April 1999, transitioning in name twice before being acquired by Take-Two Interactive in October 2004, receiving the name Indie Built. In January 2005, Access Software became part of Take-Two's 2K label. Following a poor financial performance at Take-Two, Indie Built was closed down in May 2006.
2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. The company was founded as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports sub-labels. The nascent label incorporated several development studios owned by Take-Two, including Visual Concepts and Kush Games, which had been acquired the day before. Originally based in New York City, 2K 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 chief operating officer. It operates a motion capture studio in Petaluma, California.
Frog City Software, Inc. was an American video game developer based in San Francisco, California. The company was founded in 1994 by Rachel Bernstein, Bill Spieth and Ted Spieth, acquired by Take-Two Interactive in 2003, became part of the 2K label in 2005, and was closed down in 2006.
2K Los Angeles was an American video game developer based in Camarillo, California. Founded by Umrao Mayer in 1998, the company was part of Visual Concepts, which itself was a part of Sega. Both Kush Games and Visual Concepts were sold to Take-Two Interactive and subsequently became part of their new 2K label. Kush Games was renamed 2K Los Angeles in February 2007 before being shut down in 2008.
TDK Mediactive was the brand name used by Japanese company TDK as a media subsidiary in Europe, and as a video game publishing subsidiary in North America.
Vivendi Games was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1996 as CUC Software, the publishing subsidiary of CUC International, after the latter acquired video game companies Davidson & Associates and Sierra On-Line. Between 1997 and 2001, the company switched parents and names multiple times before ending up organized under Vivendi Universal. On July 10, 2008, Vivendi Games merged with Activision to create Activision Blizzard.
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 VI. 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 formative example of the 4X genre, in which players achieve victory through four routes: "eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate".
2K Australia Pty Ltd was an Australian video game developer based in Canberra. The company was founded as Irrational Games Australia, a subsidiary of Irrational Games, in April 2000. Irrational Games Australia and its parent were acquired by Take-Two Interactive in January 2006, with Irrational Games being placed under the 2K label. The two Irrational Games studio were split apart in August 2007, wherefore Irrational Games Australia became 2K Australia. Furthermore, 2K Australia under the name of sister studios 2K Marin between April 2010 and November 2011, and was finally shut down in April 2015.
Venom Games Limited was a British video game developer based in Gateshead, England. The studio was established by Peter Johnson in 2003 and succeeded Rage Newcastle. Take-Two Interactive acquired the company in 2004, where it became part of the 2K label in 2005 and was closed down in July 2008.
2K Marin, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Novato, California. Founded in December 2007 as a spin-off from their parent, 2K, the company developed BioShock 2 (2010) and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (2013) before laying off or relocating all staff in October 2013 and silently being closed.
Cloud Chamber is an American video game developer based in Novato, California, with a studio in Montréal, Québec. Founded by Kelley Gilmore on December 9, 2019, as a division of 2K, the company is developing the next entry in the BioShock series.
