in Japan, noticed the genre's omission on the market and knew how successful it was in the US. Henk Rogers, an American who founded Bullet-Proof Software, Inc. It was released at a time when the Japanese market was much more shut off from the American one. This artifact represents part of a donation from co-founder Doug Carlston, which includes approximately 1,500 electronic games and software products developed, published, and licensed by Broderbund, as well as archival materials such as company newsletters, competitive market research, financial statements, photographs, promotional materials, and awards.The Black Onyx was among the first traditional role-playing games developed in Japan and by a Japanese company. Additionally, Broderbund produced computer software programs such as the Print Shop, Kid Pix, and Family Tree Maker, as well as an interactive reading series known as Living Books. It also produced Raid on Bungeling Bay, the first video game created by SimCity-designer Will Wright. The company is best known for popular games such as Prince of Persia, Karateka, Myst, Lode Runner, and the educational Carmen Sandiego franchise. The company also licensed certain series overseas, allowing its games to appear on systems such as the British ZX Spectrum and Japanese MSX. The company's name comes from the Afrikaans word 'Broederbond,' loosely translated as 'association of brothers.' In order to distance themselves from a South African white supremacist group that shared the same name, the Carlstons altered the spelling and added the Scandinavian letter 퀏�, which also represents the slashed zero found in computer codes.īroderbund's popularity stemmed from its wide range of products, as well as the fact that it released games for nearly every home computer system in America. Their sister, Cathy Carlston, joined the venture a year later.

Brothers Doug and Gary Carlston founded the company in 1980, in order to market Doug's strategy game, Galactic Empire. In 1986, it was the 9th-largest United States computer software company, and by 1997, the company had annual revenues of $190 million.īroderbund began as a truly family affair. became one of the leading producers and distributors of home computer video games and electronic software. In the 1980s and 1990s, Broderbund Software, Inc.

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