On Monday, June 24, 1996 at 12:00:00 AM UTC-7, Kuo-Sheng Kasey Chang wrote:
> Last Updated 6-20/96
> 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
> kas...@discopy.com ksc...@sfsu.edu | Star Trek Fan General PC Expert
> URL> http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~kschang | X-COM Guru among other things...
> ========================================================================good read!

On Sat, 23 Sep 2023 18:04:06 -0700 (PDT), KP2 KP2
<jungletrain@outlook.com> wrote:
>On Monday, June 24, 1996 at 12:00:00?AM UTC-7, Kuo-Sheng Kasey Chang wrote:

a.k.a., documenting the slow decline of a once great company.

But for all their memorable, excellent titles, Microprose was losing
money prior to their purchase (not helped by its largely unsuccessful
foray into adventure games) by Spectrum Holobyte. SH was flush in cash
thanks to the success of its Tetris games, so it could afford the
purchase... but it over-extended itself and soon found itself in
similar straits. (apparently, there were also a lot of difference in
leadership values between the two organizations, which led to a rapid
exodus of staff).

Meanwhile, development costs were skyrocketing, but Spectrum
Holobyte/Microprose games remained fairly niche: high-end sims,
complex strategy games, and almost entirely on PC. They just didn't
have the audience to break even. Spectrum (soon rebranded as
Microprose) tried to staunch the flow by acquiring licenses to popular
IPs (amongst others, "Top Gun" and "Star Trek") but none of this
really helped, and eventually the company was acquired by Hasbro - who
half-heartedly released a few games even as they closed a few studios
- before passing it onto Infogrammes/Atari, where it effectively died.

The thing is, as much as we might like to point fingers, I'm not
really sure /anyone/ could have saved Microprose. It's games were
awesome, but largely lacked wide-spread appeal, and the expense of
developing games like "X-Com" or "Falcon 4.0" or "Civilization" were
quite high. And despite its best efforts, Spectrum Holobyte was unable
to stumble across another lucrative license like "Tetris". Being so
heavily PC based didn't help either.

The mid-to-late 90s saw a culling of a lot of classic PC game
developers for a reason: developing games solely for that platform
wasn't profitable. There just wasn't a large enough audience to keep
up with the expense of making 'modern' games. Ten years later, when
the Internet had exploded and EVERY household had a PC, it was a
different story... but in the mid 90s? You needed a large audience to
support the cost of making cutting-edge games, which meant you either
built for consoles or made games with wide-spread appeal. Microprose
had neither.

Still, they did manage to pump out some great titles while they
lasted. But great just wasn't enough...