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), in. During its early years, Astound concentrated primarily on games for home computers – primarily the, , s and computers – and the  (NES), having one of the first Western third-party developers for the NES. By the late-1980s, it had begun releasing titles for the and  – and became known for numerous series, including The Pursuit, KnightMyth, Project: Unknown and Acceleration!.

By the early-1990s, Astound saw critical acclaim for Dana Armstrong: Unleashed (1990), their first video game with a female main character, and strong sales for Gods & Heroes (1992) and Tales of The Nutcracker and Orville: Hero of the High Seas (both 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, among these being the Menace, Global Combat and Dimensional Soccer Tournament series.

Foundation (1985)
Tom Olshausen, Frank A. Linfield and Gary Love founded Astound in 1985; Olshausen had previously worked for and, while Linfield and Love had gotten their start at Activision. The three left Activision after the company posted a $18 million dollar loss following the, and started to seek to create their own company, believing the video game market could eventually recover from the crash. Olshausen in particular felt home computers – such as the then-recently-introduced and the Britton's department store chain's range of  computers – could save the market, while Love took interest in 's plans to release a redesigned version of their Family Computer console as the  in North America when he saw a prototype at the June 1985  (CES).

Soon after their CES trip, the trio approached several investment groups with their funding plan, but were turned down multiple times before approaching, a. While initially hesitant to fund the company, Cook Inlet, after extensive discussions with its shareholders, agreed to help the trio secure $1-3 million in capital and a 6-year source of funding, in exchange for them developing a computerized educational course for Alaska Native schools. Olshausen and Linfield purchased five Tesuji TCS-80 MSX computers and began developing an educational software package called the Cook Inlet Computer Education Course. Once it was finished, 9,000 copies were produced and shipped to along with 10,000 MSX computers donated by Britton's, allowing Olshausen, Linfield and Love to gain funding to create their company. The trio secured $1 million in capital from. Astound, Inc. was incorporated on October 20, 1985. The name of the company was picked because Olshausen wanted it to be alphabetically close to those of Atari and Activision.

Early years (1985–1989)
With funding secured, Olshausen, Linfield and Love rented office space in, with each of the three developing their own game that was planned for release in mid-1986, Amusement Park Manager, KnightMyth and The Pursuit.

Ahead of the release of their new games, Astound obtained space at the 1986 Summer to present their first three video games, and quickly obtained a large amount of favorable press. The three games were released in August 1986 to critical acclaim, especially KnightMyth and The Pursuit.

Soon after the CES, Love hired three additional programmers – Tom Reilley, a former employee, James Scherzer, a former  programmer who programmed games for the  as well as a few  titles for the, and Leona Patrick, formerly a programmer for  – and tasked them with purchasing a Nintendo Entertainment System and reverse-engineering its technology. By July 1986, at the same time Astound's first three games were released, Scherzer and Patrick had prepared four tech demos, including a rough, one-level NES conversion of KnightMyth, and traveled to to present them to Nintendo executives in. Impressed with their efforts, Nintendo decided to grant Astound a license to develop games for the NES. In October 1986, a "more polished" NES conversion of KnightMyth was released, making it Astound's first ever NES title. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews, which surprised Patrick, as she and Scherzer were given only a month-and-a-half to rework their tech demo into a full conversion for the console.

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.
 * Dimensional Developments in, , founded in 1986, acquired in 1999.
 * Gravitational Studios (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 2001.
 * Industrial Graphics in, , founded in 1990, acquired in 2001.
 * KGS (formerly Köln-Game-Studios) in, , founded in 1986, acquired in 2003.
 * Langley Productions in, founded in 1986, acquired in 2000.
 * The Machine Plant (formerly Astound Studios Daly City) in, founded in 1985, current incarnation founded in 1996.
 * River Otter Entertainment (formerly Industrial Gadgets & Gizmos) in, , founded in 1987, acquired in 1998.
 * Stan's Workshop in, founded in 1990, acquired in 2001.
 * Thoroughbred Software in, founded in 1995, acquired in 2002.