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Is Stardock the oldest remaining private game studio?

By Frogboy on May 29, 2012 3:17:24 PM from JoeUser Forums JoeUser Forums

Frogboy

Chief Executive Officer
Join Date 03/2001
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A quick question:

Are there any privately held game studios older than Stardock still in business?

Stardock’s first game was released in 1994 (Galactic Civilizations) and was incorporated in 1993.

I don’t mean hobbyists but actual studio with full time employees.

Anyone know?

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Reply #1
the_Monk
Join Date 01/2008
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May 29, 2012 3:21:41 PM from Stardock Forums Stardock Forums

You very well may be..........you old fart! 

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Reply #2
jackswift85
Join Date 01/2009
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May 29, 2012 3:40:32 PM from Elemental Forums Elemental Forums

I was going to say Maxis but they merged with EA quite a while ago if I remember correctly.

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Reply #3
Kazriko
Join Date 07/2004
0
May 29, 2012 4:48:06 PM from Stardock Forums Stardock Forums

You're even older than Spiderweb software, by 1 year. That was the only other one I could think of. Kaser has been around longer, but has no employees. 

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Reply #4
Ashbery76
Join Date 02/2002
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May 29, 2012 5:47:00 PM from Elemental Forums Elemental Forums

DELETE.

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Reply #5
Cauldyth
Join Date 07/2004
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May 29, 2012 6:09:10 PM from Elemental Forums Elemental Forums

Stardock’s first game was released in 1994 (Galactic Civilizations) and was incorporated in 1993.

When in 1993?  Ambrosia Software, maker of the great Escape Velocity series, was founded August 18, 1993.

 

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Reply #6
Cauldyth
Join Date 07/2004
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May 29, 2012 6:20:10 PM from Elemental Forums Elemental Forums

Ah, there we go.  Codemasters, founded in 1986.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codemasters

 

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Reply #7
zigzag
Join Date 10/2001
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May 29, 2012 6:59:45 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

They're not that rare. LucasArts was the first company I checked, and it was founded in 1982.

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Reply #8
Frogboy
Join Date 03/2001
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May 29, 2012 7:32:55 PM from Elemental Forums Elemental Forums

LucasArts is part of LucasFilm.  Codemasters, though seems to be privately held. I'd say that counts.

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Reply #9
zigzag
Join Date 10/2001
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May 29, 2012 9:48:32 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

LucasFilm is privately held. Although, if you included subsidiaries of privately held companies, then you'd also need to include all the Valve and ZeniMax studios, so that's probably cheating.

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Reply #10
Frogboy
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May 29, 2012 9:58:17 PM from Stardock Forums Stardock Forums

Valve is privately held. But it's not that old of a studio.

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Reply #11
zigzag
Join Date 10/2001
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May 29, 2012 10:07:14 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Yeah, I was wondering if any of their subsidiaries were older. Guess not.

Did some quick Wikipedia research. Apparently, 1C is privately held. And produces a heck of a lot more than games. 

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Reply #12
alaknebs
Join Date 08/2010
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May 31, 2012 3:25:47 PM from Elemental Forums Elemental Forums

why privately held?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koei

koei was founded in 1978... 1st game in 1983 but merged with techmo a few years ago. but it's a publicly traded company..

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Reply #13
Lord Xia
Join Date 03/2006
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May 31, 2012 4:44:36 PM from Elemental Forums Elemental Forums

Ah Koei, they use to be something special...

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Reply #14
lhetre
Join Date 12/2003
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May 31, 2012 5:44:50 PM from Elemental Forums Elemental Forums

the Logic Factory, founded 1993, but they created only Ascendancy and Tone Rebellion that I know, the company is still alive, Ascendancy has become an iPod game

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Reply #15
Seleuceia
Join Date 01/2008
+141
May 31, 2012 11:48:11 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

This is an interesting thing to think about...

Do you think, Brad, that staying as a private company will be viable for SD in the future?  I'm not a video game market expert, but when you asked this question, it made me think...a lot of the private companies I grew up with are now gone, bought out/merged, or publicly traded...doesn't take an expert to see the trend, but the exact reasoning for it is beyond me...

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Reply #16
StevenAus
Join Date 06/2010
+74
June 1, 2012 3:25:18 AM from Elemental Forums Elemental Forums

Money, plain and simple.

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