NEWS: "MicroPROSE Is No More" - Page 2

phoenixcager · September 15, 2002, 07:26

I agree, rah.

Rest in Peace, Microprose

Urban Ranger · September 15, 2002, 11:51

This is a sad day indeed. While MicroProse was reduced to a "slap-on" sticker during its final days, many moons ago the name is synonymous with great games.

MattyBoy · September 15, 2002, 20:04

What do you say when somebody has already been half dead for a while and they finally make it official?

I can never decide what is appropriate.

DarkCloud · September 15, 2002, 20:34

MPS was one of the best development houses for games... How could Infogrames kill them- it wasn't as if they ahd a bad reputation or anygthing

I have nothign against Hasbro- they and MicroProse made Rollercoaster Tycoon- so Hasbro at least has one good game with hasbro and tradition- but Infogrames- first the spanish and other language translation fiascos and now this... Horrid

Chris 62 · September 16, 2002, 09:59

Quote:

Originally posted by rah
It's sad when the icons of our youth disappear. Part of our youth goes with it.

RAH

Isn't that the truth, the company Charlie Roberts formed in the late 50s, killed because Hasbro wanted the lawsuite over the name "Civilization" to go away, 40+ years of enterainment given the gaming community ended in the blink of an eye.

Panag · September 16, 2002, 11:49

hi ,

its a sad day , .......

lets hope it aint going to happen with activision , .....

have a nice day

Gangerolf · September 16, 2002, 13:27

Sonic · September 16, 2002, 16:02

It is bad such genre creators go.
Sierra already gone (creator of adventure genre, branch name still used but adventure subdivision closed)
Microprose now gone (creator of TBS genre)

But we still have some here:
Microsoft (creator of flight simulator genre)
Westwood (creator of RTS genre)
ID Interactive (creator of first person shooter genre)

I think the companies named above are ones which gave the most to gaming history.

Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS · September 16, 2002, 16:59

Actually, the Hunt Valley studio is still open. This was more about the UK studio (which is in fact now dead). It's not called Microprose anymore, but the place is packed with Microprose ads, awards, and alum. It's sort of like Origin and EA. The publishers spreadsheet says 'EA Austin', but it's still Origin. MPS is still open, it's just at a fraction of it's former glory.

Jeff

Skanky Burns · September 16, 2002, 17:03

Quote:

it's just at a fraction of it's former glory.

Dead by any other name.

Straybow · September 16, 2002, 19:55

MPS alumni? Any names we'd recognize without loading up old games and wading through the credits screens?

MattyBoy · September 16, 2002, 19:57

So, Jeffrey, does that mean that Microprose is still going pretty strong, under a new name?
ie: is the Hunt Valley Studio capable of developing significant new games as it stands at the moment?

(perhaps this is not an appropriate question for you to answer)

Frozzy · September 16, 2002, 23:48

MicroProse isn't dead

Woohoo!

I hope they can still produce games, but I think it might be too much for it to regain the greatness of its gamining predecessors.

Rasbelin · September 17, 2002, 06:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS
Actually, the Hunt Valley studio is still open. This was more about the UK studio (which is in fact now dead). It's not called Microprose anymore, but the place is packed with Microprose ads, awards, and alum. It's sort of like Origin and EA. The publishers spreadsheet says 'EA Austin', but it's still Origin. MPS is still open, it's just at a fraction of it's former glory.

Interesting to hear that, Jeff. Although it sounds pretty much that MPS isn't going to release any great titles or as I guess, they might be associated with other Infogrames owned studios' projects. Of course I don't have any contacts there or inside information, but I just guess that they're not going to be seen much anymore.

Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS · September 17, 2002, 08:53

They're just another wholy-owned studio, which means they go after projects as they come up. They're working on console stuff right now, the higher profile one being AD&D Heroes.

Jeff

MarkG · September 17, 2002, 09:07

hey jeff, any word on the "news" that infogrames will use the atari brand for future games?

rah · September 17, 2002, 09:26

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS
Actually, the Hunt Valley studio is still open. This was more about the UK studio (which is in fact now dead). It's not called Microprose anymore, but the place is packed with Microprose ads, awards, and alum. It's sort of like Origin and EA. The publishers spreadsheet says 'EA Austin', but it's still Origin. MPS is still open, it's just at a fraction of it's former glory.

Jeff

There's still hope.

aaglo · September 17, 2002, 09:47

Infogrames....

...more like Infogreed (as someone's avatar stated)...

Moral Hazard · September 17, 2002, 23:51

Dan your slipping. Infogrames is IFGM, IG is some penny stock on the AMEX (had to check). Nice ticker for a company with market cap of only 8 million.

It was a mercy killing really, well actually it means nothing. Have they even used the Microprose name for the last year?

Now on to something semirelated: I think IFGM is moving in the right direction, better liquidity, bigger PC titles, and The Matrix. Shiny is a great company, but Interplay (IPLY) never provided the necessary marketing. Infogrames is still terribly tied to the PC games market, however. I'd put in a warning, but I hope the last couple of years has taught people to avoid message board tips, no I don't own stock in them.

Speaking of which IPLY is close to being delisted

Now there was a great company, with too much debt. Hmm why do I still follow gaming stocks, even though I pulled my money for college ergo I can't invest.

Alexander's Horse · September 18, 2002, 01:37

I'd dearly like to see Firaxis close and die a horrible corporate death for screwing up Civ III the way they did.

Microprose was a great company and produced great games. They understood TBS gamers. That says it all. Sorry to hear of their demise.

So who gets the copyrights for the Microprose stable of games?

Skanky Burns · September 18, 2002, 01:56

Doesn't infogreed own all the copyrights/names/etc?

Rasbelin · September 18, 2002, 02:31

Infogrames has the copyrights and names of many MPS games. I don't know which all, but several have been bought from Hasbro and later on from IFGM by other development companies, such as Firaxis and PopTop Software. I guess Dan knows these things better. I'm just a humble wannabe Coracle.

tniem · September 18, 2002, 23:39

Well, didn't it really all die the day Sid, Brian, Jeff, Tim, and the others left to found Firaxis? What did they release in the last couple years worth noting? As for as I can tell this is just making official what we already knew and worked with.

Urban Ranger · September 19, 2002, 03:49

Quote:

Originally posted by Sonic
Microsoft (creator of flight simulator genre)

No they didn't. Flight Sims have been around for the longest time. In fact, one of MicroProse's earliest games, Solo Flight (or was it Final Flight?), is a flight sim. Don't forget Spectrum Holobyte's one and only one game, Falcon.

Urban Ranger · September 19, 2002, 03:54

Quote:

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
Microprose was a great company and produced great games. They understood TBS gamers. That says it all. Sorry to hear of their demise.

They produced their own share of lemons as well. For example, trying to take advantage of the XCOM smash hit, they produced TFTD

*barf*

Skanky Burns · September 19, 2002, 07:41

While TFTD was a much inferior version of UFO, it was light-years above all the so-called XCom games that came after Apocalypse.

Urban Ranger · September 20, 2002, 00:36

Those? Those aren't in the same genre. Pah.

Zealot · September 20, 2002, 09:33

Jeff Moris, could you please tell us what happened to Ken Burd and the former Moo 2 team? Or anyone that were part of Simtex?
I understand you weren't part of the project but you might probably heard some buzz about it at some point.

Panag · September 20, 2002, 12:03

hi ,

actually it would be intresting to find out what has happend , or happens with all the people from civII and civIII , a thread with updates every month would be

, .....

it would really be great if the people (from both teams) themselves would post , .....

have a nice day

NeOmega · September 23, 2002, 00:49

And I thought maybe one day, maybe, just maybe, Microprose would release Master of Magic 2, and I would run through a field of wheat blowing in the wind, pick up that beautiful box, hug it and spin around, in the ecstacy of two lovers who lost eachother for a decade but never forgot what they shared.........