Simtex was a

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

established by Steve Barcia in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

. 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 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

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 Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

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; it is eXtremePro Group Inc, that owns the full IP, based on trademark records. A third ''Master of Orion'' game named Master of Orion III was published by Atari (a subsidiary company of Infogrames) in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, having been developed by Quicksilver Software.

References

Video game companies established in 1988 Video game companies disestablished in 1997 Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game development companies {{videogame-company-stub