4 ms·

For anyone interested, this company is unrelated to the original Microprose from a corporate history perspective, it’s just some people who bought the name “Mic

For anyone interested, this company is unrelated to the original Microprose from a corporate history perspective, it’s just some people who bought the name “Microprose” at an IP auction. However they have enlisted Wild Bill Stealey as some kind of advisor, so they are at least attempting to connect with the history. (Wild Bill was one of the two founders of Microprose. The other, Sid Meier, has his own things going on.) I’m unclear as to whether this new Microprose has rights to any of the original Microprose games, either in a “rereleasing the original” or in a “doing a remake” sense. Obviously TakeTwo has a lot of the rights — either that they bought directly or that Sid/Firaxis had and they acquired when they bought out Firaxis — which is how they can release new Civ and XCOM and Pirates. I think Sid owns Silent Service too, to pick a random example of one they haven’t done anything with, though I don’t remember for sure.

thev4lley 6y ago
Interesting tidbit, thanks. Where does an IP auction tend to happen?
- close04 6y ago
  When companies get dissolved, go bankrupt, or just to make a quick buck they sell or license IP, trademarks, etc. to extract value out of whatever was left. This is how you get the Polaroid and Kodak brands on all kinds of cheap electronics, or company revivals like this. Sometimes only the brand name and logo survive, with no actual IP, tech, knowledge, or personnel being passed on.
  - SmallPeePeeMan 6y ago
    Also Kodak and General Electric lightbulbs are now just licensed brand names nothing to do with original.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    One particularly persistent piece of PR scattershot emails I get is for random low-end electronic gadgets with an RCA brand. Though it's not just tech. The Pan American Airways brand seems to periodically get slapped onto some regional airline.
  - Qworg 6y ago
    Even weirder, sometimes those brand names/logos are _shared between companies_ - for example, Ryobi is made by various different entities who all partially own it and agree on packaging/branding.
simonw 6y ago
Thanks, this was exactly what I was wondering.
foobarian 6y ago
Hopefully they kept the flight sim IP. F15 III was the highlight of my game playing childhood :)
Exmoor 6y ago
Just the fact that they knew enough to buy the naming rights to the Microprose name gives me a fair amount of hope as to where they plan on going. Microprose released a huge amount of really good (for the time) flight simulators.
smacktoward 6y ago
Publishing rights for a lot of the classic MicroProse games seem to currently be held by Retroism: https://retroism.com/ https://retroism.com/ This includes the original MicroProse Mighty 8th (https://retroism.com/b-17-flying-fortress-the-mighty-8th/ https://retroism.com/b-17-flying-fortress-the-mighty-8th/), along with the Silent Service games, F-117A and F-19, the original Sid Meier's Colonization and a bunch of others. Though there are some notable MicroProse titles missing from their catalog: M1 Tank Platoon, the original Gunship and Gunship 2000, and F-15 Strike Eagle III all jump out at me.
egypturnash 6y ago
Their site sure is leaning on the history of the name they bought; the front page has a big image of every single Microprose game cover ever. A little further down there are some big statistics: Games developed, 93. Games published, 201. Awards received, 53. Then a history section that starts off with "American video game publisher and developer founded by Bill Stealey and Sid Meier in 1982." And waaaaayyyyyyyyy down in the footer? Contact info in Australia. Nothing about who runs it now. Nothing about their personal relationship with Microprose or the general genre of "war-themed games". Nothing about how delighted they are to be able to revive this much-loved brand and their hopes to carry it forwards to new glory. ---- In their subreddit, I did find a link to a Kotaku interview with the CEO of New Microprose: https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/05/the-australian-who-brought-microprose-back-from-the-dead/ https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/05/the-australian-who-brought... - he used to run the Australian division of the folks behind ArmA, including a spin-off designed for military training, which feels like something he should be crowing about in the "who are we" section. He does claim to have been profoundly influenced by Original Microprose's games. Kotaku asks him about the rights to Original Microprose stuff and his response is a whole lot of corporatespeak that I parse as "hahaha yeah that sure would be nice, but nope. Maybe someday if we can cut a deal with the various companies that own them, don't hold your breath though."
- stronglikedan 6y ago
  I suppose paying good money for IP rights only to not take full advantage of those rights wouldn't be the wisest business decision in some people's view.
sandworm101 6y ago
F-19 Stealth Fighter, later F-117 II, was epic. The air defence AI in that game still outshines today's best simulations.

thev4lley 6y ago

Interesting tidbit, thanks. Where does an IP auction tend to happen?

close04 6y ago
When companies get dissolved, go bankrupt, or just to make a quick buck they sell or license IP, trademarks, etc. to extract value out of whatever was left. This is how you get the Polaroid and Kodak brands on all kinds of cheap electronics, or company revivals like this. Sometimes only the brand name and logo survive, with no actual IP, tech, knowledge, or personnel being passed on.
- SmallPeePeeMan 6y ago
  Also Kodak and General Electric lightbulbs are now just licensed brand names nothing to do with original.
- ghaff 6y ago
  One particularly persistent piece of PR scattershot emails I get is for random low-end electronic gadgets with an RCA brand. Though it's not just tech. The Pan American Airways brand seems to periodically get slapped onto some regional airline.
- Qworg 6y ago
  Even weirder, sometimes those brand names/logos are _shared between companies_ - for example, Ryobi is made by various different entities who all partially own it and agree on packaging/branding.

simonw 6y ago

Thanks, this was exactly what I was wondering.

foobarian 6y ago

Hopefully they kept the flight sim IP. F15 III was the highlight of my game playing childhood :)

Exmoor 6y ago

Just the fact that they knew enough to buy the naming rights to the Microprose name gives me a fair amount of hope as to where they plan on going. Microprose released a huge amount of really good (for the time) flight simulators.

smacktoward 6y ago

Publishing rights for a lot of the classic MicroProse games seem to currently be held by Retroism: https://retroism.com/ https://retroism.com/ This includes the original MicroProse Mighty 8th (https://retroism.com/b-17-flying-fortress-the-mighty-8th/ https://retroism.com/b-17-flying-fortress-the-mighty-8th/), along with the Silent Service games, F-117A and F-19, the original Sid Meier's Colonization and a bunch of others. Though there are some notable MicroProse titles missing from their catalog: M1 Tank Platoon, the original Gunship and Gunship 2000, and F-15 Strike Eagle III all jump out at me.

egypturnash 6y ago

Their site sure is leaning on the history of the name they bought; the front page has a big image of every single Microprose game cover ever. A little further down there are some big statistics: Games developed, 93. Games published, 201. Awards received, 53. Then a history section that starts off with "American video game publisher and developer founded by Bill Stealey and Sid Meier in 1982." And waaaaayyyyyyyyy down in the footer? Contact info in Australia. Nothing about who runs it now. Nothing about their personal relationship with Microprose or the general genre of "war-themed games". Nothing about how delighted they are to be able to revive this much-loved brand and their hopes to carry it forwards to new glory. ---- In their subreddit, I did find a link to a Kotaku interview with the CEO of New Microprose: https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/05/the-australian-who-brought-microprose-back-from-the-dead/ https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/05/the-australian-who-brought... - he used to run the Australian division of the folks behind ArmA, including a spin-off designed for military training, which feels like something he should be crowing about in the "who are we" section. He does claim to have been profoundly influenced by Original Microprose's games. Kotaku asks him about the rights to Original Microprose stuff and his response is a whole lot of corporatespeak that I parse as "hahaha yeah that sure would be nice, but nope. Maybe someday if we can cut a deal with the various companies that own them, don't hold your breath though."

stronglikedan 6y ago
I suppose paying good money for IP rights only to not take full advantage of those rights wouldn't be the wisest business decision in some people's view.

sandworm101 6y ago

F-19 Stealth Fighter, later F-117 II, was epic. The air defence AI in that game still outshines today's best simulations.