Last Updated 6-20/96good read!
First things first: some of the items here are facts, some are rumors.
Both are clearly marked as such.
Commentaries are clearly marked. I've also ed in portions of the
Gilman Louie interview. Still,
this is NOT a journalistic endeavor. Don't treat it as such.
Facts and Rumors Index
HISTORY MicroProse Background and History
FACT Beginning of the End: SH makes cuts at MicroProse
RUMOR Any chance of CIV2 multiplayer?
REPORT CGW special report on MicroProse
REPORT PCM&E e-zine reports on "death of MPS"
RUMOR SH/MPS cutting back existing games?
RUMOR Former/Current MPS QA people start new company?
RUMOR Sid Meier & others form new company?
RUMOR EA/Origin's "Skunkworks" lured away MPS sim team?
RUMOR SH blames Internet for their troubles?
RUMOR Where's Arnold Hendricks and Andy Hollis now?
RUMOR Ed "Air Wars" Fletcher hired by EA?
RUMOR SH cannot find leader for MPS and set up committee rule
instead?
RUMOR Spectrum HoloByte in financial trouble?
RUMOR Spectrum HoloByte changing name to MicroProse?
RUMOR Presidents of MPS and MPS-UK resigned?
RUMOR Jeff Briggs resigned from MPS?
RUMOR Half of artists resigned from MPS?
RUMOR MicroProse for sale?
RUMOR Sid Meier leaving MPS?
RUMOR SH chairman settling down MPS employees after cutbacks?
RUMOR SH offers carte blanche to Brian Reynolds?
Any chance left for CIV2 Multiplayer?
FACT: [6-18/96] Letter from Brian Reynolds
KASEY--Will you be doing any more CIV2 updates?
BRIAN--Well, Civ2 is really owned by Spectrum. The door is not
completely closed in terms of future
stuff, and certainly if [they hit] a major problem development I'd be
glad to help out. On the other hand
obviously since I don't have the source code on hand any more, the
casual updates are no longer
happening.
Also see CGW section CIV2 Multiplayer Truth
Back to Top
CGW special report on MicroProse
FACT: [6-18/96] MicroProse news is the topic of an entire COLUMN
in Computer Gaming
World July 96 issue. Here's some highlights, hope they don't mind...
RUMOR: SH upper management "gutted" MPS developement.
FACT: "Why would I try to unplug an asset that I bet my entire
company to buy? If
MicroProse goes down, I go with it." -- Gilman Louie, chairman
SH/MPS
MY COMMENTARY: While it sounds face saving, Mr.Louie is
absolutely right. No one
is dumb enough to kill the egg-laying hen.
RUMOR: I found far more SH's "Top Gun" than MPS's "CIV II" at
stores. Marketing
conpiracy?
FACT: Stores re/order based on "reserve lists", and CIV2's
reserve list is small
compared to TG or even MOO2. Even after many favorable reviews,
stores are reluctant
to order more.
MY COMMENTARY: It makes no sense for SH to push one over the
other.
RUMOR: Cuts are centered upon MicroProse.
FACT: CGW analyzed SH/MPS budget and found that MPS still has
more playtesters
than any other branch. (Even after firing half of QA department)
MY COMMENTARY: My interview with Mr.Louie supports the facts: the
cuts are not
centered upon MicroProse.
RUMOR: Okay, what happened to multi-player support in CIV II?
FACT:: Several factors here. Here's a list, you make the call...
CIV 2 have hooks for multiplayer play already built-in.
(MANY players who looked at the code and the various *.TXT
profiles have
commented on it)
Parts of CIV 2 have been tested under CIVNET conditions.
(My sources told me that a beta version of CIV2 actually
supported up to 8
players during inhouse testing, but has no diplomacy
options)
Certain members of design team told CGW that multi-player
module can be done
in 4 weeks
SH management was told by MPS management that the project
would need 6
months and half a million dollars.
Mr.Louie expressed to CGW that he is willing to put up
$100,000 and 8 weeks
for the CIV2 team to finish the multiplayer module, and he
will even consider
making that a FREE DOWNLOAD upgrade (like Activision finally
did with their
Netmech enhancement to MW2)
CGW COMMENTARY: Looks like the programmers underestimated while
the
management overestimated to cover their ass... assets.
MY COMMENTARY: Sad way to see a great program miss that final
step to
immortality. See Letter from Brian Reynolds to see if there's
still a chance this will be
done...
Back to Top
REPORT: PCM&E e-zine reports on "death of MicroProse
FACT: [6-17/96] PCM&E e-zine also reports the death of MPS! Their conclusion: "MPS is
officially dead". They also called the idea of SH relabelling all
their software under MPS logo "silly".
Back to Top
SH/MPS cutting back existing games?
RUMOR: SH have slashed MPS developement
FACT: [6-17/96] MicroProse/Spectrum HoloByte is still hard at
work on Magic: The Gathering
among other projects. See press release [5-15/96] at Coming Soon!
e-zine. At the same location are a
bunch of Sneak Peeks of Star Trek: Generations, XCOM3: Apocalypse, and Agents of Justice (a.k.a.
SuperHeroes).
FACT: [6-18/96] On the other hand, the following titles are
confirmed cancelled: The Viking
Game (Pirates! in a Viking world), the Aztec game (Civ with Aztecs),
and PROBABLY the Star Trek
(tm) Klingon game being worked on by MPS North Carolina group.
Back to Top
Former MPS QA people start new company?
RUMOR: [6-10/96] The latest rumor is that former members of MPS
Quality Assurance
Department will be starting a QA Company.
FACT?: [6-20/96] There appears to be another exodus in progress
from MPS QA department.
SF Bay Guardian Weekly reports that on May 31st the remaining members
of MPS QA department
resigned to join their former colleagues.
FACT: [6-12/96] Was informed by an E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) attendee that the company
is called "Abolute Quality, Inc.", and they approached several major
game companies for assignments.
Back to Top
Sid Meier & others form new company?
FACT: [6-9/96] Following is an e-mail from Brian Reynolds,
confirming a lot of the rumors
listed below.
Hi Kasey,
Since you've got so many rumors up on your site, I thought you
might be interested in
the following official fact.
Brian Reynolds
Civ II Designer
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MICROPROSE MASTERMINDS REBORN AS FIRAXIS
SOFTWARE
Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs, and Brian Reynolds, who comprise one of
the most successful
development teams in the software development industry have left
MicroProse (R)
Software to found FIRAXIS SOFTWARE, INC.
Jeff Briggs, FIRAXIS President and Chief Executive Officer, spent
nearly nine years at
MicroProse, managing, designing, and producing products. For the
past four years, he
served as Producer of Sid Meier products, in addition to serving
as Director of Product
Development for MicroProse, and maintaining a career as a
composer.
Brian Reynolds, Vice President of Software Development, is a
leading
programmer/designer with a brilliant career ahead. Reynolds has
two hit titles to his
credit already, Sid Meier's Colonization (R), and Sid Meier's
Civlization II (R), which is
currently one of the world's top-selling titles, having sold over
260,000 units in its first
two months of release.
Sid Meier, Chairman of the Board and Director of Creative
Development, has been called
the "father of the computer gaming industry." Meier is the
visionary whose ideas have
generated many gaming genres enthusiasts internationally. His
career is truly a story of
"firsts." Titles of Sid Meier games include: F15 Strike Eagle
(R), Pirates! (R), Silent
Service (R), Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon (R) and Sid Meier's
Civilization (R).
Meier is co-founder of MicroProse software, still a leader in the international software
games market, which merged with Spectrum Holobyte four years ago.
FIRAXIS SOFTWARE will be a product development house only.
Marketing, sales, and
distribution of products will be handled by a publishing partner.
FIRAXIS founders are
currently negotiating with leading software publishing and
distribution firms, seeking a
partnership for producing first-rate innovative software in the
tradition established at
MicroProse.
FIRAXIS will have a small staff of 15-20 of the best minds in the
business. Each
individual in the intimate working group has a proven track
record of success and has
shown skill at creating games, from concept to product. These
tested alliances, from the
highest leadership levels of the company to each and every
employee ensures FIRAXIS'
success in the marketplace.
Founder/President, Jeffery Briggs, said, "FIRAXIS SOFTWARE will
be a unique
environment where the most talented programmers, designers,
artists, and musicians
work as equals to produce innovative software which is synonymous
with the Sid Meier
brand. We will look at all types of new technology and will chart
a new course for
computer gaming in the 21st century."
Sid Meier noted, "What we are after with FIRAXIS is the
continuation of a great
tradition of creating cool, fun, games."
FIRAXIS SOFTWARE's offices will be in Hunt Valley, Maryland.
Firaxis Software is a leading developer of entertainment
software. For more information
contact: Deborah Plutzik, PR Manager; 410-329-6216 Phone;
410-357-5908 Fax.
MicroProse, Sid Meier's Colonization, Sid Meier's Civilization
II, F15 Strike Eagle,
Pirates!, Silent Service, Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon, and Sid
Meier's Civilization are
registered trademarks of Spectrum Holobyte, Inc.
FACT: [6-20/96] Gilman Louie, chairman of SH, have relayed through a spokesperson that SH is
negotiating with Firaxis to be its distributor.
MY COMMENTARY: Now that's a facing saving statement...
FACT: [6-19/96] Brian Reynolds is now signing his e-mail with
Brian Reynolds
Firaxis Software
Instead of like the press release above
Back to Top
Origin's "Skunkworks" lured away MPS sim team?
RUMOR: What is this rumor about EA/Origin hired away the entire
simulations team from MPS?
FACT: [6-8/96] It's true. EA/Origin's Janes' Combat Sim team
(a.k.a. "Origin's Skunk Works")
have indeed hired several members of MicroProse's sim team that was responsible for some of the
best sims from MicroProse, including F-15 Strike Eagle III, Fleet
Defender, and other titles. See C|Net
article.
According to my sources in EA/Origin, the new facility, EA East, while technically in Baltimore,
Maryland, is only minutes away from MicroProse in Hunts Valley,
Maryland.
Trivia: The term "Skunkworks" came from the name of the real aircraft
design team that produced the
SR-71 Blackbird and the F-117A Stealth Fighter.
Back to Top
SH blames Internet for their troubles?
FACT: [6-8/96] Steve Race,CEO of Spectrum HoloByte, admits that
he had underestimated the
power of Internet. See C|Net article. [Spelling Corrected 6-15/96] COMMENTARY: This article portrayed the net in a negative manner. Go
read it, then write your
comments to David Israels, the author of the article. Also visit rest
of C|Net and give your feedback.
Back to Top
Where's Arnold Hendricks and Andy Hollis now?
FACT: [5-24/96] Arnold Hendricks, who had developed many of
MicroProse's hits, is now at
Interactive Magic, and he will be designing iM1A2 Abrams tank
simulator for IM.
FACT: As for other notable former MPS employees... Andy Hollis is busy finishing up AH-64
Longbow for EA/Origin's Jane's Division, having left before the merger
(see history below).
Longbow was released in mid-June. See Jane's link above for biography
of Andy Hollis.
Back to Top
Ed "Air Wars" Fletcher hired by EA?
RUMOR: [5-24/96] Ed Fletcher (head of the Air War series), who's
probably the next highest
designer after Jeff Briggs, Sid Meier, and Brian Reynolds, have ALSO resigned from MPS. Prior to his
departure, he was the producer of "European Air War", sequel to
"Pacific Air War". Rumor source
expressed great doubt at completion of EAW.
FACT: [6-12/96] Mr. Fletcher was hired by Electronic Arts Canada,
according to an unnamed source,
and is starting this week.
[6-15/96] SH Sokesperson have confirmed Mr.Fletcher's departure, but clarifies that EAW has a new
producer and it will be finished.
Back to Top
SH cannot find leader for MPS and set up committee instead?
RUMOR: [5-24/96] Spectrum HoloByte have established an executive
committee, of which
Mr.Fletcher (see above) was a member. Rumor source commented that SH
have given up the idea of
finding someone in charge.
FACT [6-15/96] SH spokesperson confirms that an executive committee of
MPS employees are
overseeing operations, but adds that SH's vice president of
operations, "Stretch" Anderson, is in charge
at the moment, and they haven't given up looking for one.
MY COMMENTARY [6-18/96] Now THAT is a face-saving statement. Everyone
who COULD take
charge at MPS have left.
Back to Top
Spectrum HoloByte in financial trouble?
FACT: [5-24/96] Spectrum HoloByte owes one of its duplicator money. I
will not say which company
the money is owed to, but I know the controller and the president of
the duplicator personally. This is
NOT an attempt at libel. I am checking with SH to see if they will
comment on this.
FACT: [6-12/96] "Spectrum HoloByte swimming in red ink"--Games
Domain News
Back to Top
Spectrum HoloByte changing name to MicroProse?
RUMOR: Spectrum HoloByte will announce at E3 Expo that they will
change the name of the entire
company to MicroProse Software, Inc.
UPDATE: [5-14/96] Just heard from a reliable source that there will be
no more Spectrum HoloByte
products. All existing Spectrum HoloByte products will be relabelled MicroProse products once the
boxes and stuff run out, and all new products will belong to
MicroProse as well.
FACT:: [6-8/96] Update above has been confirmed by a C|Net article.
The rumor didn't QUITE come
true.
COMMENTARY:It's interesting why Spectrum HoloByte have kept its own
name when it took over
MicroProse in 1993. SH was not well know for its products even during
its Tetris and Falcon days. Of
the four developement studios under the SH/MPS banner: SH, MPS, MPS
UK, and SimTex, three are
already under MicroProse brand. The news above, coming on the eve of cutbacks, has the
APPEARANCE of a face-saving gesture. Of course, it probably wasn't
intended as such...
Back to Top
Presidents of MPS and MPS-UK resigned?
FACT: Tony Parks, president of MicroProse US, and Rob Davies,
President of MicroProse UK, have
both resigned as of mid April. Also resigned is the head of Quality Assurance at MicroProse US. He is
believed to have moved over to another game-related company in
Maryland.
Back to Top
Jeff Briggs resigned from MPS?
RUMOR: Jeff Briggs, one of the top producers at MicroProse who worked
with Sid Meier on many
bestselling MPS titles, was offered the position of Presdient,
MicroProse US. Instead of accepting, he
handed in his resignation as well.
Note: It is clear that Jeff's no longer at MPS. Whether the scene
above happened or not is the only
thing in doubt. ALso see Jeff Brings starts Firaxis Software
Back to Top
Half of artists resigned from MPS?
RUMOR: Half of the current artists at MicroProse have resigned as
well.
MY COMMENTARY: It is unknown how much desertion uh... migration exists
at the lower ranks of
MPS.
Back to Top
MicroProse for sale?
RUMOR: Spectrum HoloByte, Inc. for the past few weeks was rumored to
be attempting to sell
MicroProse US and MicroProse UK, but have received no offers they
would accept. The asking price
was not known, but is expected to be several times the price SH paid
for MPS during the
takeover/merger, which was US$10 million (US$10,000,000.00).
MORE RUMOR [5-28/96] Anonymous source indicated that only one offer
was made, and it was
made by a Sony subsidiary.
MORE RUMOR [5-28/96] Anonymous source above also indicated that
another company, wishing to
make a bid, asked an independent firm to evaluate the net worth of MPS
and SH, not counting the
name recognition. The value was FAR BELOW expectations.
MY COMMENTARY How much do you think just the name "MicroProse" is
worth? SH is relying on
brand-name recognition when it chose to relabel ALL games MicroProse.
So if they had planned to
sell, they wouldn't need this relabel thing. Of course, this supposed offering occured BEFORE the
relabelling. -- This rumor is impossible to verify from SH, as SH
officials cannot comment on
something that could affect their stocks. In fact, I asked Mr.Louie
this question. He just chuckled.
Back to Top
Sid Meier leaving MPS?
RUMOR: Sid Meier is rumored to be leaving the company soon to form a
new developement house
with other former MicroProse game designers and producers, such as
Jeff Briggs. Behind Sid, Jeff is
probably THE producer at MicroProse.
NOTE It is quite clear that Sid had left the company, after finishing
his piece in Magic: The Gathering.
Sid Meier joins Firaxis Software
Back to Top
SH chairman settling down MPS employees after cutbacks?
RUMOR: MPS (Maryland) was in such an uproar after the cutbacks in
March that both Steve Race
(CEO) and Gilman Louie (Chairman) have to go over there weekly to
babysit them.
FACT: Gilman Louie, chairman of Spectrum HoloByte, is NOT at his
Alameda, California office as of
April 25th, 1996. According to his secretary, he has been out of the
office almost the whole week. I
was e-mail corresponding with him the week before and he promised to
grant me an interview about
the situation at MicroProse. I did get that interview later, of
course.
RUMOR: Unnamed sources indicate that Mr.Louie is at MicroProse US,
which is in Maryland.
Back to Top
SH offers carte blanche to Brian Reynolds?
RUMOR: Spectrum HoloByte is rumored to be offering "carte blanche" to
Brian Reynolds,
designer/producer of Civilization II. It is not known why this is so,
but the expected reason is: Sid
Meier had made up his mind to leave. Brian Reynolds quits MPS and
joins Firaxis Software
FACT: Brian Reynolds and the CIV2 team have released CIV2 V1.11, which
fixes additional bugs and
adds additional enhancements. So Brian's team is still hard at work. [6-17/96] Recently V1.11a seems
to have popped up over the net, but this is unconfirmed.
Back to Top
The News that started it all: Reorganization
FACT: Spectrum HoloByte (SH) has terminated all non-developement staff
at MicroProse Software
(MPS). This includes EVERYBODY (marketting, production, customer
support, on-line support, etc.)
that are not programmers, programming support, artists and musicians, designers, or playtesting. In
addition, half of the playtesting department are also given the "pink
slip" (dismissal). Spectrum
HoloByte has taken over all of the terminated operations out of their Alameda, California office. SH
have listed MPS's new support number on their website , which is a
number in the 510 area code
(Alameda).
Back to Top
MicroProse History
Sorry for the little history lesson, but here goes.
Both MPS and SH are great companies, started by gamers. SH was founded by Gilman Louie, who is best
known for his initial Mac version of Falcon. Before that he programed several games for Apple II and C64.
MPS on the other hand was founded on a bet. The story goes that "Wild Bill" Stealey was beating a "Red
Baron" flight sim arcade, then out of nowhere comes this guy in glasses who then proceeds to best Bill in
scoring. Bill asked him how did he do that, and the guy answered the game
AI is so predictable that
(technobabble). Bill said, if you can program a flight sim that's good I'll put up the money to market it. The
guy agreed. That guy in glasses was Sid Meier, and MicroProse software was born.
At the beginning, MicroProse was known for serious simulations. Their motto was "The Action is Simulated,
the Excitement is Real!" And real it was. First game out was Hellcat Ace, a flight sim based in the World War
II Pacific Theater. It was an instant hit. Followed soon were the landmark F-15 Strike Eagle and many other
classics such as Red Storm Rising, M-1 Tank Platoon, Railroad Tycoon, Civilization, Gunship, and many
more.
Somewhere around 1989-91 MicroProse saw the boom of the arcade market and Bill Stealey convinced the
company to try it, against popular opinion of the company, who wants to stick to computer games. The result
were 2 games: F-15 Strike Eagle:the arcade game, and B.O.T.T.S., a robot fighting game in the millieu of
Mechwarrior. Both are heavily 3D, and both received lukewarm to icy cold reception. The money invested in
them are wasted.
MicroProse, in an attempt to diversify its market of simulations and strategy games, attempted to enter
adventure, rpg, and sci-fi markets with various entries such as "Rex Nebular" (adv), "Darklands" (rpg) and
Lightspeed/Hyperspeed (sci-fi). None of the three were well-received. Darklands gained notoriety as being
one of the BUGGIEST RPGs ever released, requires OBSCENE amount of conventional memory (630K+?).
MicroProse eventually sold the adventure game engine to Santuary Woods, but MicroProse was in financial
trouble ever since.
Fast foward to 1993. MicroProse is in trouble, losing almost one million
per month. The money raised in
stock offering are almost gone, and they were short on cash. Without cash they can't pay their developers
and workers, and without workers, no games. It was then that Spectrum HoloByte approached them with a
bail-out/merger plan. SH will buy out/merge with MPS, and the stocks will change to Spectrum HoloByte,
Inc. (SBYT on NASDAQ). At the time, MPS needed the money, and they
accepted. Both Sid Meier and Bill
Stealey joined the board of directors at SH.
"Wild Bill" Stealey soon resigned from the board of directors at SH and
took a year off. After that he help
founded Interactive Magic, one of the rising stars in the simulation field, with recent titles such as Apache and
Capitalism.
Sid Meier stayed with MPS but didn't seem to do very much. He offered
inputs on remakes of his classics
such as Pirates! Gold, Railroad Tycoon Deluxe, etc. but he didn't seem to
be working on anything new until
MPS landed Magic:The Gathering rights and they needed something special for the solitaire game.
One of the former MPS employees had confided in me that he knew the company was doomed when SH
took over back in 1993, the only question is how long it would take. This attitude was shared by many other
former MPS employees that I have contact with. All have commented that neither company seems to have an
upper management that actually understands the computer game industry.
Pretty sad, isn't it? MPS was one of the best places to work at back then.
I used to want to work there. :-)
(Now I want to work for EA or Origin, but that's another story.) Are
mergers good or bad for the industry?
Is there a management problem at SH? Or as many people wanted to ask, who came up with this "brilliant"
idea?
========================================================================= Kasey K. S. Chang (a guy) | Paradox for Windows Programmer
[email protected] [email protected] | Star Trek Fan General PC Expert
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~kschang | X-COM Guru among other things...=========================================================================
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