Cyclone Studios was an American

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 ...

and publisher based in

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough to the west, San Francisco Bay and Foster C ...

. It developed several titles for the

3DO Interactive Multiplayer The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, also referred to as simply 3DO, is a home video game console developed by The 3DO Company. Conceived by entrepreneur and Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, the 3DO was not a console manufactured by the company ...

and later

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Early works

Cyclone Studios was founded in December 1993 by Helmut Kobler and Ron Little. Kobler recounted, "Ron left college about a year after I did, and we started discussing what it would be like to design a game, then just talked ourselves into believing it was possible." After securing a contract with 3DO to develop ''

Captain Quazar ''Captain Quazar'' is a science fiction third-person action game by developer Cyclone Studios, first published in 1996 by 3DO. Though initially released as an exclusive for 3DO's Interactive Multiplayer console, after the system was discontinu ...

'', a cartoony isometric

Shooter Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, Bow and arrow, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or Blowgun, blowpipe). Even the acts of launching Flamethrower, flame, artillery, Dart (missile), darts, ha ...

for 3DO's home console, they moved from Little's apartment to Redwood City, California in June 1994. At the time they started another 3DO title called ''

BattleSport ''BattleSport'' is a 1996 futuristic sports video game developed by Cyclone Studios. It was originally published by Studio 3DO (the software division of The 3DO Company) exclusively for their 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in 1996, but after the 3DO ...

'', a first-person 3D game. In spring of 1995 Cyclone moved to Menlo Park, California. Both ''BattleSport'' and ''Captain Quazar'' were released after Cyclone's acquisition by The 3DO Company; ''BattleSport'' was released in late 1995 and ''Captain Quazar'' in early 1996.

Cyclone as a division of the 3DO Company

The company was acquired by

The 3DO Company The 3DO Company (formerly THDO on the NASDAQ stock exchange), also known as 3DO, was an American video game company. It was founded in 1991 by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, in a partnership with seven other companies. After 3DO's flagshi ...

in December 1995 and moved to San Mateo, California. Kobler was assigned as the leader of the division and Little was chosen to be the tech leader. Cyclone began developing games as a division of The 3DO Company for the PC and

Panasonic M2 The Panasonic M2 is a video game console platform developed by 3DO and then sold to Matsushita, a company known outside Japan by the brand Panasonic. Initially announced as a peripheral chip for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, it was later un ...

''Uprising''

''Uprising'' is a hybrid first person

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...

game. It was shipped in October 1997 and met solid critical response, but sold below expectations due primarily to the marketing challenge of clearly communicating the unique and compelling aspects the blending of the two genres. Many consumers were unsure of what the game was and pre-launch hype proved difficult to build. Two sequels were developed thanks to the game's critical success: ''Uprising 2: Lead and Destroy'' was released for PC and ''Uprising-X'' was released on the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

. After the release of ''Uprising-X'' the members of Cyclone Studios were absorbed into The 3DO Company. The editors of ''

Computer Games Strategy Plus ''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...

'' named ''Uprising: Join or Die'' the best action game of 1997. The sequel, ''Lead and Destroy'', was published in December 1998 for Windows.

Requiem

'' Requiem: Avenging Angel'' is a story-driven

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

. It was released in April 1999 and met modest critical acclaim and poor sales.

Games

References

{{Cyclone Studios Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies established in 1993 Video game development companies Companies based in San Mateo, California