Summary
In modern times, the video game industry stands as an economic and cultural titan, but only a few decades earlier (and not just the once), the future of the interactive art form was thrown into serious doubt. Without the combined efforts of inspired designers, sharp administrators, talented artists, and innovative programmers, the video game medium could have died off multiple times, going down as a simple curiosity.
Many of the companies that helped bring video games to mainstream success, such as Nintendo, arecelebrated and highly successful, but many studios, and even some rising stars in their day, have been lost to gamers' collective memories. These companies may not be in the limelight anymore, but they should be honored and remembered for laying the groundwork for modern games, their groundbreaking innovations, and their willingness to put their skin in the game for the love of games.
Midway
From Amusement Park Games To Pac-Man & Mortal Kombat
Despite its relatively mundane name, Midway had always been in the business of fun and thrills. It was founded all the way back in 1958 as an amusement park game manufacturer, but quickly dropped its hammers and BB guns for control pads and joysticks, first with arcade machines, then on home consoles. It was famous for publishingSpace InvadersandPac-Manin the West, but went on to develop its own household-name titles as well.
Most notably, Midway was responsible for spawningtheMortal Kombatfranchiseand almost two decades ofNBA Jamgames. In 1998, Midway publishedQuakeandDoom 64. In the mid-2000s, after agreeing to publish a number of Cartoon Network games, Midway was starting to show signs of faltering. Between 2009 and 2010, Midway had sold all of its assets to Warner Bros. and would file for bankruptcy.
Bullfrog Productions
God Creators And Dungeon Keepers
Peter Molyneux might be better known for his involvement in games from Lionhead Studios, which produced legendary games such asFableandBlack and White.However, before Lionhead was Bullfrog Productions, a venture founded by Molyneux and fellow hyperbolist Les Edgar. Bullfrog developed several important games between 1987 and 2001, includingPopulous(considered to be the first inthe genre of god games), the technologically groundbreakingMagic Carpet, theThememanagement simulation series, andDungeon Keeper.
Despite Edgar and Molyneux’s doubts about the game’s appeal, Electronic Arts agreed to publishPopulous, which yielded lucrative sales. In 1995, Bullfrog was acquired by EA, and Molyneux was made vice president. In 1997, three years before the studio’s closure, Molyneux left EA due to dissatisfaction with the more restricted role, and several members of Bullfrog joined him in their next venture.
Sir-Tech
The Great-Grandfather Of Japanese RPGs And Souls Games
While computer role-playing games developed in Japan would go on to evolve into their own distinct subgenre, the earliest Japanese titles took heavy inspiration from early Western RPGs, themselves inspired by the newly emerging tabletop RPGs such asDungeons and Dragons. Due to memory limitations, these early proto-RPGs would often take the form of dungeon crawlers. The series with arguably the greatest impact wasWizardryby Sir-Tech, which also produced theJagged Allianceseries. However, the impact their dungeon crawler series had on RPG fans and developers, especially in Japan, is hard to overstate.
Japanese developers borrowed from its party and formation-based combat systems and first-person, grid-based movement systems, which can be found in the earlyDragon Quest, Shin Megami Tensei,Phantasy Star, andFinal Fantasygames, among others. Meanwhile,the punishing difficulty curve, winding dungeon exploration, and occasional one-hit kill traps are built right into the DNA of many FromSoftware games. Although Sir-Tech’s final entry in theWizardryseries was in 2001, Japanese developers kept the series and its format alive with their own spin-offs andWizardry-inspired iterations.
Westwood Studios
A Forgotten Dynasty Of Strategic Mastery
While Westwood Studio didn’t exactly develop the concept single-handedly, they were instrumental in bringing it to popular consciousness with the release ofDune 2: The Building of a Dynastyin 1992. They would cement themselves as masters of the RTS in theirCommand and Conquerseries, which sold over 10 million copies. Although the genre has become somewhat dormant since the early 2010s,real-time strategy was massively popularat the turn of the millennium.
Westwood had delved into the RPG genre with a computer adaptation ofDungeons & Dragon’sEye of the Beholderand Westwood’s ownLand of Lore:The Throne of Chaos,but after its success withCommand and Conquer, the company was bought up by Electronic Arts. Sadly, as Westwood was unable to meet EA’s lofty expectations, many employees were laid off or transferred to other EA properties, and in 2003, the studio closed its doors.
Sierra
A Prolific Early Pioneer Of Adventure And Role-Playing Experiences
Despite becoming an obscure name to video game players today, Sierra was at the forefront of game development in its heyday, producing classic adventure titles such asKing’s Quest,Space Quest,Leisure Suit Larry, and one of the first adventure games “with RPG elements,“Quest for Glory: So You Want To Be A Hero. As well as injecting much needed color and levity into RPGs and their stories, Sierra was also responsible for shipping the originalHalf-Life.
As with many forgotten video game studios,Sierra met its demise after a buyoutand several restructurings after its parent company was found to have committed financial fraud. After being traded from Vivendi Games to the newly merged Activision Blizzard in 2008, the rights to many of Sierra’s properties were sold off, and the studio closed not long after.
Origin Systems
The Creator Of Worlds And Genres
Precious few video game companies have the vision to create an entirely new genre of games, but this studio, founded by Richard Garriott, invented several. After several prototypes, Garriott createdUltima 1: The First Age Of Darknessas a teenager, not only one of the first examples of a commercially available RPG but the first ever open-world video game. By the third entry in the series, Garriott had formalized Origin Systems, the company that would go on to later develop a title that many consider the first true massively multiplayer online role-playing game:Ultima Online.
Origin System’s tagline, “We create worlds,” was by no means hyperbole; Garriott and the rest of the team pioneered the concept that video and computer games could be so much more than simple amusements or toys. With each game, they set out to create experiences that wouldallow players to experience other lives. While studios across the Pacific took inspiration from Garriott’s stories (the originalFinal Fantasytook more than a single cue fromUltima 1), just about every video game with an explorable world, aspirations for immersive storytelling, or sandbox mechanics owes a debt to Origin Systems.
