Spectrum HoloByte

Spectrum HoloByte, Inc.
Company type	Public
Traded as	Nasdaq: SYBT
Industry	Video games
Founded	1983;42 years ago
Founders	Jeff Sauter, Phil Adam and Mike Franklin
Defunct	1999;26 years ago
Fate	Absorbed into Hasbro Interactive
Successor	Hasbro Interactive
Headquarters	Alameda, California , US
Key people	Gilman Louie ; Phil Adam
Parent	Sphere, Inc. (1987–1993); MicroProse Inc. (1993–1999);

Last updated March 31, 2025

Spectrum HoloByte, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher. The company, founded in 1983, was 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 (in 1988 for MS-DOS). Spectrum HoloByte published games for various home computers and video game consoles.

History

Spectrum HoloByte was founded in 1983 in Boulder, Colorado, by Jeff Sauter, Phil Adam and Mike Franklin.

In 1987 Spectrum HoloByte merged with another game developer, Nexa Corporation, forming a common holding company, Sphere, Inc., and prompting the company's move from Colorado to California. Nexa founder Gilman Louie served as chairman of the combined company.

In 1992, Spectrum HoloByte received an investment from Kleiner Perkins, which let the company repurchase shares formerly owned by Robert Maxwell's companies, ending its ties to their bankruptcies.^[2] In December 1993, Sphere, Inc. merged with MicroProse to form MicroProse Inc.^[3] For the following years, games from both companies were published under their respective brands, but in 1996 all titles were consolidated under the MicroProse brand.^[4]

Hasbro Interactive acquired the merged company in 1998, and what had been Spectrum HoloByte ceased to exist when the development studio in Alameda, California, was closed in 1999.^[5]

Games

Title	Year and platform	Developer	Publisher
GATO	1984 (MS-DOS, Mac) 1985 (Apple II, C64) 1986 (Atari ST) 1987 (Atari 8-bit)	Spectrum HoloByte	Spectrum HoloByte Atari Corporation (Atari 8-bit)
Orbiter	1986 (MS-DOS, MacOS) 1988 (Atari ST)	Spectrum HoloByte Sphere, Inc. (Atari ST)	Spectrum HoloByte
Intrigue!	1986 (Apple II, C64)	Kinemation	Spectrum HoloByte
Lunar Explorer: A Space Flight Simulator	1986 (Apple II, DOS)	Spectrum HoloByte	Electric Transit
Solitaire Royale	1987 (MS-DOS, Mac) 1988 (Amiga) 1989 (Apple IIGS), MS-DOS, Mac, MSX, PC-88, PC-98, Sharp X1	Software Resources International	Spectrum HoloByte
Falcon	1987 (MS-DOS, Mac) 1988 (Atari ST) 1989 (Amiga) 1991 (CDTV)	Sphere, Inc.	Spectrum HoloByte
Dondra: A New Beginning	1987 (Apple II) 1988 (Apple IIGS) 1989 (MS-DOS)	Spectrum HoloByte	Spectrum HoloByte Electronic Arts (MS-DOS)
PT-109	1987 (MS-DOS, Mac)	Digital Illusions	Spectrum HoloByte
Zig Zag	1987 (C64)	Zig Zag Software	Spectrum HoloByte
Tetris	1988 (Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIGS, MS-DOS, Mac) 1989 (Atari ST)	Spectrum HoloByte	Spectrum HoloByte
Soko-Ban	1988 (MS-DOS) 1988 (Apple II, C64)	ASCII, Thinking Rabbit	Spectrum HoloByte
Falcon A.T.	1988 (MS-DOS)	Sphere, Inc.	Spectrum HoloByte
Vette!	1989 (MS-DOS) 1991 (MacOS)	Sphere, Inc.	Spectrum HoloByte
Falcon Operation: Counterstrike	1989 (Amiga, Atari ST)	Rowan Software	Spectrum HoloByte
Tank: The M1A1 Abrams Battle Tank Simulation	1989 (MS-DOS)	Sphere, Inc.	Spectrum HoloByte
Welltris	1989 (MS-DOS) 1990 (MaS, Amiga, Atari ST)	Doka, Sphere, Inc.	Spectrum HoloByte Infogrames (Amiga, Atari ST)
Faces...tris III	1990 (MS-DOS, Mac) 1991 (Amiga)	Sphere, Inc.	Spectrum HoloByte
Stunt Driver	1990 (MS-DOS)	Sphere, Inc.	Spectrum HoloByte
Flight of the Intruder	1990 (MS-DOS) 1991 (Amiga, Atari ST)	Rowan Software Spectrum Holobyte (Amiga, Atari ST)	Spectrum Holobyte Mirrorsoft (Amiga, Atari ST)
Falcon Operation: Firefight	1990 (Amiga, Atari ST)	Rowan Software Sphere, Inc.	Spectrum HoloByte
Super Tetris	1991 (MS-DOS, Windows 3.x) 1992 (Amiga, Mac)	Sphere, Inc.	Spectrum HoloByte
Falcon 3.0	1991 (MS-DOS) 1992 (TG-16)	Sphere, Inc. Spectrum HoloByte (TG-16)	Spectrum HoloByte Turbo Technologies (TG-16)
Falcon MC (Macintosh Color)	1992 (Mac)	Spectrum HoloByte	Spectrum HoloByte
Crisis in the Kremlin	1992 (MS-DOS)	Barbu Corporation, Spectrum HoloByte	Spectrum HoloByte
Wordtris	1991 (MS-DOS) 1992 (Game Boy, SNES) 1993 (Mac)	Spectrum HoloByte Armenica (MS-DOS)	Spectrum HoloByte Sphere, Inc. (Game Boy) Nintendo (SNES)
Falcon 3.0: Operation: Fighting Tiger	1992 (MS-DOS)	Sphere, Inc.	Spectrum HoloByte
Tetris Classic	1992 (MS-DOS, Windows 3.x)	Spectrum HoloByte	Spectrum HoloByte
Iron Helix	1993 (Mac, Windows 3.x) 1994 (Sega CD)	Drew Pictures	Spectrum HoloByte
Tetris Gold	1993 (MS-DOS, Mac, Windows 3.x)	Sphere, Inc.	Spectrum HoloByte
Hornet: Naval Strike Fighter	1993 (MS-DOS)	Spectrum HoloByte	Spectrum HoloByte
National Lampoon's Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1	1993 (MS-DOS)	Spectrum HoloByte	Spectrum HoloByte
TinHead	1993 (Genesis)	MicroProse	Ballistic
Soldiers of Fortune	1993 (Genesis, SNES)	The Bitmap Brothers	Spectrum HoloByte
MiG-29: Deadly Adversary of Falcon 3.0	1993 (MS-DOS)	Spectrum HoloByte	Spectrum HoloByte
Tornado	1993 (MS-DOS)	Digital Integration	Spectrum HoloByte
Gazillionaire	1994 (Windows 3.x)	LavaMind	Spectrum HoloByte
Out of the Sun	1994 (MaS)	Domark	Eidos Interactive
Formula One	1994 (MS-DOS)	Lankhor	Domark
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Futures Past	1994 (Genesis, SNES)	Spectrum HoloByte	Spectrum HoloByte Sega (Genesis)
BreakThru!	1994 (SNES, Windows 3.x) 1995 (GB)	Zoo Corporation	Spectrum HoloByte
Falcon Gold	1994 (MS-DOS)	Spectrum HoloByte	Spectrum HoloByte
Fields of Glory	1994 (MS-DOS)	MicroProse	Spectrum HoloByte
WildSnake	1994 (Game Boy, SNES)	Bullet-Proof Software (GB) J.S.C. Gamos (SNES)	Spectrum HoloByte
Lords of Midnight	1995 (MS-DOS)	Maelstrom Games	Domark
ClockWerx	1995 (Mac, Windows)	Callisto Corporation	Spectrum HoloByte
Reflux: Issue.01 - "The Becoming"	1995 (Mac, Windows 3.x)	Inverse Ink	Inverse Ink
Reflux: Issue.02 - "The Threshold"	1995 (Windows 3.x)	Inverse Ink	Inverse Ink
Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity	1995 (MS-DOS, MaS)	Spectrum HoloByte	Spectrum HoloByte
Qwirks	1995 (Mac, Windows, Windows 3.x)	Big Bang Software	Spectrum HoloByte
Perfect Partner Bridge	1995 (Mac, Windows 3.x)	Positronic Software	Spectrum HoloByte
Absolute Zero	1995 (MS-DOS, Mac)	Domark	Domark
Knight Moves	1995 (Windows)	Kinesoft	Spectrum HoloByte
Curse of Dragor	1995 (Mac)	Banshee Software	Domark
Top Gun: Fire at Will!	1996 (MS-DOS, Mac, PlayStation, Windows)	Spectrum HoloByte	Spectrum HoloByte MacSoft (Mac)

References

↑ "SEC".
↑ "Spectrum HoloByte Buy-Back Launches Next Generation". Computer Gaming World. December 1992. p. 116. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
↑ "Spectrum + MicroProse = MicroProse Inc". GamePro . No. 56. IDG. March 1994. p. 186.
↑ "Stop Press: The Name Game". Next Generation . No. 19. Imagine Media. July 1996. p. 17.
↑ Freudenheim, Milt (8 December 1999). "Hasbro to Cut 20% of Its Jobs and Take $97 Million Charge". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 January 2014.

External links

Spectrum HoloByte at MobyGames

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[SECINFO-1] "SEC".

[cgw199212-2] "Spectrum HoloByte Buy-Back Launches Next Generation". Computer Gaming World. December 1992. p. 116. Retrieved 5 July 2014.

[3] "Spectrum + MicroProse = MicroProse Inc". GamePro . No. 56. IDG. March 1994. p. 186.

[4] "Stop Press: The Name Game". Next Generation . No. 19. Imagine Media. July 1996. p. 17.

[5] Freudenheim, Milt (8 December 1999). "Hasbro to Cut 20% of Its Jobs and Take $97 Million Charge". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 January 2014.

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Spectrum HoloByte

Contents

History

Games

References

External links