Games by Apollo
.png) |
|
| Industry | Video game industry |
|---|---|
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Defunct | 1983 |
| Headquarters |
Richardson, Texas, United States |
|
Key people
|
Pat Roper (founder) Ed Salvo (Director of Development) |
| Products | Spacechase, Shark Attack |
|
Number of employees
|
30 |
Games by Apollo (often shortened to Apollo) was a third-party developer of games for the Atari 2600 video game system, based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded in October 1981 by Pat Roper as a subsidiary of his National Career Consultants (NCC). Apollo's first title was "Skeet Shoot," and neither it nor the ten games that followed caught on, and the company was one of the first to declare bankruptcy as a result of the North American video game crash of 1983 Several former employees went on to form Video Software Specialists (VSS) and MicroGraphic Image, which both developed Atari 2600 games.
In 1980, Pat Roper was president of Texas-based National Career Consultants (NCC), a producer of educational films. He knew nothing about the games industry, but while playing NFL Football on the Intellivision, he realized that there was money to be made. Roper formed a game company called Games by Apollo, citing the name "Apollo" as a recognizable symbol of youth and activity.
Instead of hiring away existing game designers from Mattel or Atari, as some developers had done, Roper placed an advertisement in the Dallas Morning News and the San Francisco Chronicle.
PROGRAMMER-VIDEO-GAMES We nd you to join us in our exciting adventures. If you have exper & know-how in this area, pls. send is your resume and telephone. Send to this paper ad no 3397752. All replies strictly confidential
Sent a copy of the Morning News ad by a friend, a young programmer from Iowa names Ed Salvo contacted Roper to pitch him Skeet Shoot, a game he had developed in about four weeks. Roper flew Salvo to Dallas and offered to make him lead developer for the nascent company. Salvo initially turned him down, thinking it was too risky.
After Salvo returned to Iowa, Roper contacted him and offered to buy Skeet Shoot for $5,000. Salvo accepted and agreed to a contract to develop a second game, Spacechase. With Games by Apollo now a going concern, Roper gave Salvo the job of director of development; his first job was to hire 25 programmers to develop games.
...
Wikipedia