Hasbro Interactive

Hasbro Interactive was formed late in the 1990s when Hasbro began buying up smaller game developers such as Avalon Hill and Wizards of the Coast. Hasbro also acquired some small video game developers such as Microprose[?] and Spectrum Holobyte[?]. Additionally they licensed several game franchises from Atari. Bringing all these components together, Hasbro formed Hasbro Interactive.

In 1998 Hasbro Interactive went to work in some of the former Microprose's offices. They started developing video games based on Hasbro's newly acquired properties and on at least two titles based on former Microprose property, X-COM. Hasbro began aggressively hiring to staff the new game projects.

Late in 1999 with several game projects underway and dozens of new employees[?], many of who moved just to work for the company, Hasbro Interactive shut down several studios. The studios effected included the former Microprose offices located in Alameda, California[?] and Chapel Hill, North Carolina[?]. Rumors abounded as to the reason for the closures, but no clear explanation arose. The most agreed-upon explanation is that Hasbro didn't know how to or even want to be a video game publisher. Hasbro had a lot of experience in developing board games and toys, but not in developing video games that cost millions to produce and sometimes years to complete.

In early 2000, Hasbro shut down the remaining Hasbro Interactive offices. They sold all of their video game related properties to video game publishing giant Infogrames[?].

External Link

• Vicious Cycle, Inc. (http://www.viciouscycleinc.com/): A game development company started by employees laid off in the North Carolina Hasbro Interactive studio closing.