Revived MicroProse Announces WarBirds 2020

VRdude · 17 Jun 2019 at 07:53

iEntertainment Network Inc. and MicroProse announce agreement for Development and Co-Publishing of the new WarBirds 2020 World War II flight simulation..
CEO David Lagettie of MicroProse says, “I am excited to work with iEntertainment Network CEO and Co-Founder of MicroProse, ‘Wild Bill’ Stealey, to produce the next generation of WarBirds 2020 WW II combat flight simulation using new modern technology and promoting worldwide.”
Wild Bill Stealey says, “It will be fun to be working with MicroProse again to do great simulation games! We are very excited to be partnering with David and his team to update our very successful WarBirds 2020 product for WW II combat simulation fans around the world.”

http://www.combatsim.com/topics/combat-flight-sim/warbirds-2020/

http://microprose.com/

Malevolence · 17 Jun 2019 at 07:59

OK, colour me interested. I dread to think how much time I spent playing MicroProse sims back in the days of the Spectrum and C64.

TheMightyTen · 17 Jun 2019 at 08:10

Just have every last penny of my money now, I'm fully invested buying a ticket for the hype train!

AWPC · 17 Jun 2019 at 08:17

Project Stealth Fighter & Red Storm Rising were great disk based games on the Commodore 64 spent a lot of time on them

Here's hoping Microprose get around to making 21st century versions of them for a new generation of gamer & hardware

VRdude · 17 Jun 2019 at 08:18

TheMightyTen said:
Just have every last penny of my money now, I'm fully invested buying a ticket for the hype train!

You and me both

TonyTurbo78 · 17 Jun 2019 at 08:45

All over this. The amount of hours I played the Microprose flight Sims in the early 90s was insane. B17, Gunship, Knights Of The Sky, F15 Strike Eagle, Stealth Fighter....The list goes on and on for me. They were the best Dev back then by far IMO.

If this has any of those old feels, take my money now.

sgavan · 17 Jun 2019 at 09:25

Interested and joining the hype Plane

iv-tecman · 17 Jun 2019 at 09:52

my god microprose, I was hooked on their games back in the early days, knights of the sky, Strike Eagle, silent service etc..

Then Grand Prix, great games, I thought they closed down years ago, be interesting to see how this pans out.

VRdude · 17 Jun 2019 at 10:10

They got some screens on site

bigmike20vt · 17 Jun 2019 at 10:23

is this any relation to the microprose that i remember back in the day or is it just unrelated folk using the same name?

(i loved microprose sims but more importantly, iirc Geoff Crammond worked with them, and he made stunt car racer, imo the best racing game ever made)

VRdude · 17 Jun 2019 at 10:28

bigmike20vt said:
is this any relation to the microprose that i remember back in the day or is it just unrelated folk using the same name?

The person who founded MicroProse with Sid Meier is there, Wild Bill Stealey, he is responsible for all the great simulators we know

HaloUK · 17 Jun 2019 at 11:24

I purchased many Microprose games back in the day. Used to love the box they came in normally including a nice thick manual and a keyboard overlay. I for one would love to see some remakes/upgraded games.

VRdude · 17 Jun 2019 at 12:00

So many memories

SPG · 17 Jun 2019 at 12:53

HaloUK said:
I purchased many Microprose games back in the day. Used to love the box they came in normally including a nice thick manual and a keyboard overlay. I for one would love to see some remakes/upgraded games.

Absolutely, even the box just carried a steam code and contained a proper manual and overlay.

varkanoid · 17 Jun 2019 at 13:08

Cant see the Microprose link due to being at work but I`m a bit sceptic over the first link and if you read that page it does look a bit odd.

Especially when it says the new 2020 game is an updated version of https://store.steampowered.com/app/365620/WarBirds__World_War_II_Combat_Aviation/ which gets some really awful review comments.

The latest version, WarBirds – World War II Combat Aviation – 2018 is available for Windows and macOS on Steam since it was released a few years ago as WarBirds 2016. Now this announcement reveals plans for a new version of the game to be published by MicroProse, which is odd in light of the company’s closure over 15 years ago. The circumstances surrounding the revival of MicroProse go unexplained in the announcement, but the brand was last owned by Atari, and it was snapped up in one of the Atari fire sales in 2007. Here’s WarBirds 2020announcement:

VRdude · 17 Jun 2019 at 13:11

varkanoid said:
Cant see the Microprose link due to being at work but I`m a bit sceptic over the first link and if you read that page it does look a bit odd.

Especially when it says the new 2020 game is an updated version of https://store.steampowered.com/app/365620/WarBirds__World_War_II_Combat_Aviation/ which gets some really awful review comments.

Yes but it states that they are using Unreal Engine 4, which means they are building a new game or a sequel if you wish.

If they would be making gunship 2020 or secret service 2020 from 1990, it would mean they are also building a new game and not the one from 1990

Atleast that's how I understand it.

OspreyO · 17 Jun 2019 at 14:23

TonyTurbo78 said:
All over this. The amount of hours I played the Microprose flight Sims in the early 90s was insane. B17, Gunship, Knights Of The Sky, F15 Strike Eagle, Stealth Fighter....The list goes on and on for me. They were the best Dev back then by far IMO.

If this has any of those old feels, take my money now.

Same here. My golden age of gaming.

But this would a entirely different team, most who will never have played those games.

varkanoid · 17 Jun 2019 at 17:29

VRdude said:
Yes but it states that they are using Unreal Engine 4, which means they are building a new game or a sequel if you wish.

If they would be making gunship 2020 or secret service 2020 from 1990, it would mean they are also building a new game and not the one from 1990

Atleast that's how I understand it.

Thats not what the concern is, ie okay its a new game what worries me is that the previous game has got a "mostly negative" review on Steam it doesnt instill you with confidence. The Microprose website is also very sparce and looks like it was built on a template, no news on how Microprose rose from the ashes from being an Atari throwaway company. I can see lots of people going on a memory lane trip I too loved Gunship and F15 but are they banking on that to sell this ?

Be interesting to see what comes out of it but I ain't holding my breath.

Bit more digging -

John Wilbur Stealey Sr. is a game developer and publisher who founded MicroProse with Sid Meier. He also founded and is the current[when?] CEO of iEntertainment Network

iEntertainment Network are the dev for Warbirds 2019 which is basically the same version of Warbirds they updated over the last 24 years. So at least this lends some authenticity to Warbirds 2020 being a new game. However when you look at their track record of games. Oh dear. He's got a very expensive looking summer house on his Facebook page though must have done alright for himself !

https://corporate-ient.com/

https://corporate-ient.com/warbirds-2020/

MicroProse and iEntertainment Network Inc.,

Announce Co-Publishing of WarBirds 2020, Online Combat Flight Simulation

CARY, N.C. – February 20th, 2019 – iEntertainment Network Inc., (OTCBB: IENT) and MicroProse announce agreement for Development and Co-Publishing of the new WarBirds 2020 World War II flight simulation that has been successfully entertaining millions on virtual online pilots since 1995. The new sim is expected to be released October 2019.

MicroProse was a world-famous simulation software company known for such successful simulation games as Falcon, F-15 Strike Eagle, F-19 Stealth Fighter, Gunship, and many more sim products that sold millions of copies each at retail.

WarBirds 2020 FEATURES

Launching for PC/Mac computers fall 2019.

Mobile and game system versions to launch in 2020.

Brand new graphics system using the Unreal 4 engine.

High Detail Cockpits and Aircraft.

New technology to map actual physical locations for more realistic simulation.

Regular Historical Events are held monthly over large geographical areas like Europe, Japan, and not the small area skirmishes of many other sim games.

Why do these screenshots on the website look nothing like the ones on the Microprose website ? UE4 Engine ??

VRdude · 17 Jun 2019 at 17:59

what worries me is that the previous game has got a "mostly negative" review on Steam it doesnt instill you with confidence.......no news on how Microprose rose from the ashes from being an Atari throwaway company

Ah, I follow the history of this a little bit, and it's mainly because they went to steam with a 10 year old game and wanted subscription for it, now they are rebuilding from scratch with help from a new dev team of this new MicroProse led by David Legettie. David Legettie is a simulator expert, his been building non commercial simulators for military for over 15 years as you can see here.

https://au.linkedin.com/in/david-lagettie-b55a8426

Also the 2020 version will have new payment model, it will be free to play + subscription combined. Basic planes will be free, sub will be purchased for 1 day, 1 week or a month.

btw that plane on screenshot is a placeholder from older version as I've read on their forums, they had not started yet on the planes

Smokey Deza · 17 Jun 2019 at 18:56

Hello Microprose, thanking you for Xcom, Civ and MOO2