Astound (company)

Astound, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in. It serves as the video game industry component for its parent company, Olshausen Inc., and includes several subsidiary studios. Astound is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world.

The company was founded in 1985 by Tom Olshausen, Frank A. Linfield and Gary Love, who had previously worked at (with Olshausen also having worked at  beforehand), out of a small office in, developing games for the , s, the , , the  and the. By the late-1980s, Astound had begun releasing games for the (NES) and became known for numerous series, including The Pursuit, Project: Unknown and Acceleration!.

By the early-1990s, Astound saw critical acclaim for Dana Armstrong: Unleashed (1990), the first major video game to be created by a woman, and strong sales for Gods & Heroes (1992) and Tales of The Nutcracker (1993). A 1995 management shift led to co-founders Linfield and Love leaving the company and Gordon Woodman being promoted to chief operating officer. With Tom Olshausen's other ventures in various technology sectors growing, he formed Olshausen Inc. as a holding company for his businesses. Astound started acquiring numerous studios and various types of intellectual property over the 1990s and 2000s.

Studios
Currently operating studios are: Astound also owns a minority stake in South African developer Tegnotrade, of which it is the current primary publishing partner of.
 * Astound Studios Portland (formerly Woodland Software) in, founded in 1986, acquired in 1997.
 * Astound Studios Shanghai in, , founded in 2006.
 * Gravitational Games (formerly Parkway Software) in, , , founded in 1984, acquired in 2008.
 * Hi-Energy (formerly Austin Games Company and Lyrick Software) in, founded in 1991, acquired in 2004.
 * Imaxina in, , founded in 1984, acquired in 2000.
 * KGS (formerly Köln-Game-Studios) in, , founded in 1986, acquired in 2003.
 * The Machine Plant in, founded in 1992, acquired in 2001.
 * River Otter Entertainment in, , founded in 1987, acquired in 1998.
 * Thoroughbred Software in, founded in 1995, acquired in 2002.