Spectrum HoloByte
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| File:Spectrum holobyte.jpeg | |
| Company type | Public (Defunct) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video game industry |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Defunct | 1998 |
| Fate | Acquired by Hasbro Interactive |
| Successor | Hasbro Interactive |
| Headquarters | Alameda, California |
Key people | Gilman Louie |
| Products | video games |
Spectrum HoloByte, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher. The company, founded in 1983, was most famous for its simulation games, notably the Falcon series of flight simulators and Vette! (1989) driving simulator. Spectrum HoloByte was founded in Boulder, Colorado but subsequently moved to Alameda, California.[citation needed]
Spectrum HoloByte published games for many platforms, including home computers of the 1980s and early 1990s, IBM PC compatibles, and some video game consoles.[citation needed]
The company published Solitaire Royale (1987), the first computer card solitaire program. They were the first to bring Tetris to gamers outside the Soviet Union and Sokoban to gamers outside Japan. It was also the distributor for Domark games before Domark set up its own US operations in San Mateo, California.[citation needed]
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.[1] In December 1993, Spectrum HoloByte merged with MicroProse to form MicroProse Inc.[2] 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.[citation needed]
Hasbro Interactive acquired the merged company in 1998, and what had been Spectrum HoloByte ceased to exist when the development studio in Alameda was closed in 1999.[3] Hasbro subsequently[when?] sold all the assets of the various Hasbro Interactive studios to Infogrames, now Atari.[citation needed]
The chairman of Spectrum HoloByte, Gilman Louie, also founded Nexa Corporation, a developer of entertainment software, which went on to merge with Spectrum HoloByte prior to the company's move from Colorado to California.
Games
References
- ^ "Spectrum HoloByte Buy-Back Launches Next Generation". Computer Gaming World. 1992-12. p. 116. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Spectrum + MicroProse = MicroProse Inc". GamePro. No. 56. IDG. March 1994. p. 186.
- ^ 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
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