Aces Game Studio (ACES) was an American

video game developer A video game developer is 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 business with em ...

based in

Redmond, Washington Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 73,256 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Redmond is best known as the home of Microsoft and Nintendo of America. The city h ...

, owned by

Microsoft Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, fo ...

. It was founded in 1988 under the name Bruce Artwick Organization Limited (BAO Ltd.) at

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in ...

, by Bruce Artwick, creator of ''

Microsoft Flight Simulator ''Microsoft Flight Simulator'' is a series of Flight simulation video game, flight simulator programs for MS-DOS, Classic Mac OS, and Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was an early product in the Microsoft application portfolio and diff ...

'', '' Microsoft Space Simulator'' and also co-founder of

Sublogic Sublogic Corporation (stylized as subLOGIC) is an American software developer, software development company. It was formed in 1977 by Bruce Artwick, and incorporation (business), incorporated in 1978 by Artwick's partner Stu Moment as Sublogic Com ...

History

Following the purchase of BAO Ltd. in December 1995,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

renamed the studio to Microsoft Simulation Group, moving employees from Champaign, Illinois, to the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, where it became part of its Games Group division, which at the time was also co-owner of

DreamWorks Interactive Danger Close Games (formerly DreamWorks Interactive LLC and EA Los Angeles) was an American video game developer based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in March 1995 as joint venture between DreamWorks SKG and Microsoft (later moved to M ...

. The studio continued to develop its

simulation games Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...

, acting as the developer of the ''

'' and ''

Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator ''Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator: WWII Europe Series'' is the first version of all three combat flight simulation games from Microsoft. It was released on 28 October 1998 and it is set in the European Theatre of World War II. This game spawne ...

'' series. The group had also assisted

Kuju Entertainment Kuju Entertainment Ltd. is a British video game developer. The original company was Simis, formed in 1989 and purchased by Eidos Interactive in 1995. Kuju was formed in 1998 in Shalford, Surrey, England, after a management buyout of Simis f ...

in developing ''

Microsoft Train Simulator ''Microsoft Train Simulator'' (informally abbreviated to MSTS) is a 2001 train simulator game developed by UK-based Kuju Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft Games (now known as Xbox Game Studios) for Microsoft Windows, W ...

''. With the launch of the first Xbox console, the group was moved to

Microsoft Games Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, fo ...

(later renamed Microsoft Game Studios) in 2000 and renamed to Aces Game Studio in 2002. They worked with

Stormfront Studios Stormfront Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer based in San Rafael, California. In 2007, the company had over 50 developers working on two teams, and owned all its proprietary engines, tools, and technology. As of the end of 2007, ...

to develop '' Blood Wake'' as a launch title for the Xbox in 2001. In the following years, Aces led development on the next three iterations of ''Microsoft Flight Simulator'', including '' Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight'' (2004) and ''

Microsoft Flight Simulator X ''Microsoft Flight Simulator X'' (''FSX'') is a 2006 flight simulation video game originally developed by Aces Game Studio and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Microsoft Windows. It is the sequel to '' Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 ...

'' (2006). As part of a move that cut 5,000 jobs at Microsoft, Aces Game Studio was closed on January 22, 2009. In October 2009, Rick Selby and Kathie Flood, alongside other former members of Aces Game Studio, launched a new studio, Cascade Game Foundry, for the development of simulation games. Notable alumni of Aces include Rod Fergusson, who after Aces worked at both

Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American Video game developer, video game and software development, software developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney (game developer), Tim Sween ...

and The Coalition as one of the lead designers in the ''

Gears of War ''Gears of War'' (also referred to as ''Gears'') is a media franchise centered on a series of video games created by Epic Games, developed and managed by The Coalition (company), The Coalition, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios. The ...

'' series.

References

2009 disestablishments in Washington (state) Defunct companies based in Redmond, Washington Defunct companies based in Washington (state) Defunct video game companies of the United States Former Microsoft subsidiaries Microsoft Flight Simulator Video game companies disestablished in 2009 Video game development companies {{US-videogame-company-stub