is a
Computer Game Developer . It was founded in
1996 by
Sid Meier and
Jeff Briggs upon leaving
Microprose . The company focuses on
Strategy Game s and is based in
Hunt Valley, Maryland in the
United States .
Firaxis has produced several games, including ''
Gettysburg '' and ''
Antietam '', based on their namesake famous
American Civil War Battle s. ''
Sid Meier's SimGolf '' was a co-production with
Will Wright of ''
SimCity '' and ''
The Sims '' fame. ''
Alpha Centauri '' is a
Space Colonization game taking place in the
Alpha Centauri star system. Perhaps their most popular release has been ''
Civilization III '', a sequel to Meier's ''
Civilization '' series.
In November 2004, Firaxis released ''
Sid Meier's Pirates! '', an update of Meier's classic
1987 computer game of the same name. An
Xbox version of the game was released in July,
2005 .
''
Civilization IV '' started production in late
2003 and was released on
October 24 2005 in the United States, and was released on
November 4 2005 in
Europe .
On
November 7 2005 ,
Take-Two Interactive announced that it was acquiring Firaxis. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The company was consolidated with
PopTop Software in March of 2006, the resultant combined studio to be headed up by Sid Meier.
In addition to games they developed on their own, Firaxis also co-developed at least one title with
Electronic Arts '
Will Wright , ''
SimGolf ''. Most of Firaxis' titles are prefixed with Meier's name, due to the enormous influence of his name in the gaming industry. But most of the games are known among players without the prefix.
