 | |
| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1988 |
| Defunct | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Austin, Texas1 |
Key people | Steve Barcia |
| Products | Master of Orion Master of Magic 1830 |
Simtex Software was a video game developer established by Steve Barcia in 1988. It created a number of turn-based strategy games for the PC, most notably the first two Master of Orion games. The company closed in 1997.2
History
Spectrum HoloByte acquired SimTex in 1995.1
Games
- Master of Orion (1993)
- Master of Magic (1994)
- 1830: Railroads & Robber Barons (1995)
- Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares (1996)
- Mech Lords (renamed Metal Lords during development following FASA dispute) (1995 — unreleased)
- Guardians: Agents of Justice (in development at time of closure — never finished)
The rights to Simtex's games were held by Atari until sold to various parties in a 2013 auction. Wargaming now owns the rights to the Master of Orion series, while Slitherine holds the publishing rights to Master of Magic;3 it is eXtremePro Group Inc, that owns the full IP, based on trademark records.4 A third Master of Orion game named Master of Orion III was published by Atari (a subsidiary company of Infogrames) in 2003, having been developed by Quicksilver Software.
References
References
- "Corporate Background". MicroProse. Archived from the original on December 21, 1996. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
- Troy S. Goodfellow. "Revisionist History: Simtex". Computer Games Magazine. Archived from the original on November 4, 2011. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
- Brown, Fraser (5 August 2019). "Master of Magic acquired by strategy publisher Slitherine". PC Gamer.
- Sliwinski, Alexander. "More Atari IP auction winners announced, Stardock plans Star Control reboot". Joystiq. Archived from the original on February 23, 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2013.