Game publishing grand-daddy Atari confirmed on Tuesday the closing of their Hunt Valley studio, formerly known as independent game development and publishing powerhouse Microprose Software Inc.

Creators of such popular games as Sid Meier's Civilization I & II, the Railroad Tycoon series, Pirates!, and the Master Of Orion series, Microprose's popularity was built upon the award-winning strategy and simulation games they distributed since their inception in 1984.

After a surprisingly large number of game releases, Microprose was bought by game publishers Spectrum Holobyte in early 1993, where the developers continued to publish new titles under the Microprose label. After a further series of corporate buyouts, Microprose found themselves in the hands of game publishing monopoly Infogrames Entertainment.

The 35 staff of the studio, who had recently completed the XBox-only Dungeons & Dragons Heroes, have all been laid off. A spokesperson has announced that Atari is currently in negotiations with "a handful" of the staff in order to retain their services elsewhere in the organisation.

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