Blue Byte Software

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Blue byte-logo.jpg Blue Byte Software is a computer game developer based in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The company was founded in October 1988 by Thomas Hertzler and Lothar Schmitt in Mülheim. Their first published game was the tennis simulation Great Courts, released in 1989 by Ubisoft (then called Ubi Soft).

Blue Byte's first big success in Germany and Europe was the turn-based strategy game Battle Isle, completed in 1991. Inspired by the Japanese game Nectaris for the PC Engine, Battle Isle spawned numerous add-ons and sequels. The company's next big success followed in 1993 with the release of the managerial game Die Siedler, marketed internationally as The Settlers. Settlers also had numerous sequels and became the most well-known of Blue Byte's products.

Over the years, Blue Byte developed and published numerous innovative titles including Chewy - Escape from F5 and Albion, but most of them were not successful internationally. Efforts to break into the American market, usually aided with publishing by Accolade, failed and success was limited to Germany and parts of Europe.

In January of 2001, Blue Byte was acquired by Ubisoft, and tasked to focus on Blue Byte's two most popular series. As of 2004, Blue Byte was working on new titles in the Settlers series.

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