Line #15 Creator/BroderbundSoftware


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/broderbund_logo_669.jpg]]
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3	Brøderbund Software was an American computer game company founded in February 1980 by Doug Carlston, a semi-professional programmer of Platform/TRS80 games, with his brother Gary. (The name "Brøderbund," which is "brotherhood" in broken Danish[[note]]a direct translation of "brøderbund" would be "brothersbottom" or "brothersfoundation"[[/note]], first appeared in Doug's first game, ''Galactic Empire''.) Along with [[{{Creator/Sierra}} Sierra Online]], Brøderbund was one of the dominant publishers of the early 1980s, soliciting games from independent programmers (of which Jordan Mechner and Will Wright would become the most famous) to publish primarily on the Platform/AppleII, Platform/Atari8BitComputers and Platform/{{Commodore 64}}. Brøderbund's early hits also included non-game software, such as the word processor ''Bank Street Writer'' and the desktop publishing program ''The Print Shop''.
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5	Brøderbund had close ties to Japanese video game companies from its very first year, when it began to distribute games from the Japanese company Starcraft, which would publish several Brøderbund games in Japan. Several Brøderbund games were ported to the Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem early on, by Creator/HudsonSoft and Creator/{{Irem}}. By 1987, Brøderbund had a subsidiary publishing its own games in Japan.
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7	As the 1990s progressed, the company focused increasingly on edutainment software, eventually creating a new label, [[SdrawkcabAlias Red Orb Entertainment]]. It also published some non-game software, including The Print Shop.
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9	Unfortunately, despite its focus on edutainment (or because of it, though ''VideoGame/TheLastExpress'' helped), Brøderbund was a money-losing company, and was bought by Creator/TheLearningCompany (actually a Canadian CD-ROM company which bought the original The Learning Company [[InNameOnly and changed its name to reflect that]]) for $400 million, laid off most of its workforce, [[AlwaysABiggerFish was bought]] by Creator/{{Mattel}} just a year later, and the whole thing (Mattel Interactive) was a big money-loser (The Learning Company, likewise, was losing money), they eventually sold that off.
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11	Today, the only remnants of Brøderbund include a line of software sold by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (and notably missing the "ø") and some of Creator/{{Ubisoft}}'s products (which bought the entertainment division, continuing the ''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'' franchise and selling sequels to ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'').
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14	!!Games published by Brøderbund include:
15	* ''Airheart''/''Tyhpoon Thompson in Search for the Sea Child''
16	* ''VideoGame/AlienTales'' (also known as ''Reading Galaxy'')
17	* ''Literature/AmericanGirl''
18	** ''The American Girls Premiere''
19	** ''The American Girls Premiere 2nd Edition''
20	** ''The American Girls Dress Designer''
21	** ''Your Notebook with Help from Amelia''
22	* ''VideoGame/TheAncientArtOfWar''
23	* ''[[VideoGame/YsIAncientYsVanishedOmen Ancient Land of Ys]]'' (Western PC version)
24	* ''VideoGame/TheBattleOfOlympus'' (Western localization)
25	* The ''Franchise/CarmenSandiego'' series
26	** ''VideoGame/WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego''
27	** ''VideoGame/WhereInTheUSAIsCarmenSandiego''
28	** ''VideoGame/WhereInEuropeIsCarmenSandiego''
29	** ''VideoGame/WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego1989''
30	** ''VideoGame/WhereInAmericasPastIsCarmenSandiego''
31	** ''VideoGame/WhereInSpaceIsCarmenSandiego''
32	** ''VideoGame/CarmenSandiegoJuniorDetectiveEdition''
33	** ''VideoGame/WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego1997''
34	** ''VideoGame/CarmenSandiegoWordDetective''
35	** ''VideoGame/CarmenSandiegoMathDetective'' (the last ''Carmen'' game released under the Brøderbund banner; subsequent entries were produced by The Learning Company and, eventually, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
36	* ''VideoGame/TheCastlesOfDoctorCreep''
37	* ''VideoGame/{{Choplifter}}''
38	* ''Cosmic Soldier: Psychic War'' (Western PC version)
39	* ''Cosmopolitan Virtual Makeover'' (sublicensed to Hearst Communications; aimed towards girls; Western localization)
40	* ''VideoGame/DavidsMidnightMagic''
41	* ''VideoGame/DeadlyTowers'' (Western localization)
42	* ''Drol''
43	* ''Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball'' (Western localization)
44	* ''VideoGame/TheGuardianLegend'' (Western localization)
45	* ''VideoGame/InThe1stDegree''
46	* ''VideoGame/{{Karateka}}'' (''Creator/D3Publisher'' still owns the rights)
47	* ''VideoGame/KidPix''
48	* ''VideoGame/TheLastExpress'' (later bought out by ''Creator/InterplayEntertainment'')
49	* ''VideoGame/LegacyOfTheWizard'' (Western localization)
50	* ''VideoGame/LivingBooks''
51	* ''VideoGame/LodeRunner''
52	* ''VideoGame/LogicalJourneyOfTheZoombinis''
53	* ''VideoGame/MathWorkshop''
54	* ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}''
55	* ''VideoGame/OrlysDrawAStory''
56	* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1''
57	* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2''
58	* ''VideoGame/ShufflepuckCafe''
59	* ''VideoGame/SimCity'' (before Maxis got on its feet as an independent company and later bought out by ''Creator/ElectronicArts'' as an official product brand due to their success of ''VideoGame/TheSims'')
60	* ''VideoGame/{{Spelunker}}'' (originally published by [=MicroGraphicImage=])
61	* ''Star Blazer''
62	* ''Wibarm'' (Western PC version)
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64	!!Games published under Red Orb include:
65	* ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject III: Legacy of Time''
66	* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia3D''
67	* ''VideoGame/{{Riven}}''
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Context Creator / BroderbundSoftware