Other notable studios. Iconic gamedev studios of the 90s that vanished

The history of computer games and their developers from the 1990s is a topic for a thick book! For obvious reasons, it is impossible to spell it all out in one article. To finish off, let's briefly mention a few more famous companies that are no more, but were defining gaming in the 90s.

Acclaim

A huge US publisher, operating from 1987–2004. We remember its logo best from popping up in-between the rounds in subsequent installments of Mortal Kombat.

Apogee Software

The company, founded in 1987, famous for popularizing "shareware," i.e. publishing a small part of a game for free, with the possibility of buying the full version. It wasn't a "demo" in the classic sense of the word, but rather the first episode of the campaign. Thanks to this, Duke Nukem, Wolfenstein 3D, Commander Keen and Rise of the Triad gained great success and fame. In 1996, the company changed its name to 3D Realms, releasing its big hit: Duke Nukem 3D.

Blue Byte

German company founded in 1988. We know it best for the Battle Isle and The Settlers series. In 2001, it became part of Ubi Soft, and although the company retained its original name all the way until 2020, it can be said that real Blue Byte games ended at the turn of the century. Today it's fully a Ubisoft branch located in Germany, the creators of i.a. Anno, Rainbow Six: Siege, For Honor, Far Cry 6 or the upcoming Avatar.

Core Design

Founded in 1988, Core Design is the company primarily remembered as the inventors of Lara Croft and makers of the first Tomb Raider (1996). Their other famous games include Rick Dangerous, Heimdall, the Thunderhawk shooter and Fighting Force brawler.

LookingGlass Technologies

Real wizards of revolutionary mechanics and graphics, active in the years 1990–2000. They were always somewhat overshadowed by the publishers who reaped all the laurels for their works. And it is LookingGlass that we owe System Shock, Thief, Car and Driver to, or the game that used Earth satellite imagery already in the 90s, the Flight Unlimited simulator.

Infogrames

The history of the French company Infogrames, active in the years 1983–2009, which today belongs to Atari SA, is so complex, full of twists and changes of ownership that it's difficult to even find a specific list of games from this studio on the Internet. We will remember the characteristic logo with the battleship forever from such productions as the amusing North & South for Amiga, and, above all, the original Alone in the Dark trilogy.

NovaLogic

The beginning of NovaLogic dates back to 1985, but we don't really remember it until 1992, when the revolutionary shooter Comanche: Maximum Overkill was released. In the days when 1 MB of RAM was the prevailing standard, the simulator posed deadly requirements of as much as 4 MB to even launch properly. In return, it offered very plastic mountains and ravines, which made an electrifying impression when compared to competitive cones on a flat surface. Then, there were some more successful flight simulators and the Delta Force FPS series, as well as Joint Operations online shooter with servers for up to 150 people! NovaLogic's recent activity include the underperforming DF: Xtreme 2 (2009) and an attempt to bring Activision to court for using the phrase "Delta Force" in Modern Warfare 3, and failing. In 2016, all rights to these brands were purchased by THQ Nordic.