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| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | November 1982; 43 years ago (1982-11) |
| Founders | |
| Defunct | May 1, 2006 (2006-05-01) |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Headquarters | , US |
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Indie Built, Inc., formerly known asAccess Software,Salt Lake Games Studio andIndie Games, was an Americanvideo game developer based inSalt Lake City,Utah. Founded in November 1982 byBruce Carver andChris Jones, the company created theBeach Head,Links andTex Murphy series, as well asRaid over Moscow. Access Software was acquired byMicrosoft in April 1999, transitioning in name twice before being acquired byTake-Two Interactive in October 2004, who renamed it Indie Built. In January 2005, Access Software became part of Take-Two's2K label. Following poor financial performance after the acquisition, Indie Built was closed down in May 2006.
TruGolf, a company that develops indoorgolf simulators, was formerly a subsidiary of Access Software based on the display technology they had made for theLinks games and spun out to its own company during the Microsoft acquisition. Following the closure by Take-Two, many of the studio's developers went to TruGolf. Separately, Jones has establishedBig Finish Games to continue theTex Murphy series.
In 1982,Bruce Carver, an engineer forSalt Lake City-based company Redd Engineering, created asprite-editing program called Spritemaster.[1][2] He presented the product to Steve Witzel, who operated Computers Plus, a retail computer store in Salt Lake City'sMidvale suburb; Witzel provided Carver with several improvement suggestions for the program. After Carver had implemented these changes, he began selling them under the name "Access Software" through Computers Plus. The name was chosen Carver and some of his friends had searched through a dictionary, considering "Action Software" and "Center Soft" before sticking with "Access Software".[2] In November that year, Carver, together withChris Jones, incorporated Access Software with a starting capital ofUS$25,000.[3] In its early days, Access Software operated out of Carver's basement.[2]
One of Access' key products were a series ofsprite-based golfing games in theLinks. In 1984, while there were other golf games on the market, most used a top-down approach, while Bruce Carver wanted to create a game that was shown from behind the golfer. With little artistic skill among their team, the developers set up a small studio in the basement, projecting frame-by-frameVHS footage of Roger Carver's golf swing onto a clear sheet, tracing his outline onto the sheets as to then convert them into sprites within the Commodore 64 system. This became the basis ofLeader Board, the first game considered part of theLinks series, and would establish the behind-the-golfer view for most other golf simulation games that followed. As Access continued to develop theLinks games for computers, they established a subsidiary, TruGolf, that createdgolf simulators, with Roger Carver overseeing this division.[2]
In April 1999, Access Software was acquired byMicrosoft for an undisclosed sum. Microsoft sought to acquire Access to gain itsLinks series of golf games; Access had createdMicrosoft Golf as one of the first games to run within theMicrosoft Windows operating system based onLinks 386 Pro. According to Steve Witzel, Microsoft looked to acquire Access afterUSA Today reviewed bothMicrosoft Golf andLinks and rated the latter much higher; Microsoft thought it would be easier to buy Access than try to compete.[2] Microsoft desired to produce a high-end line of golf games based onLinks with Access, while offeringMicrosoft Golf as lower-budget titles. With the acquisition, Access's principal offices remained in Salt Lake City.[2][4][5] Access divested itself of the TruGolf division and made the company its own entity with Microsoft's purchase.[2]
Upon the formation ofMicrosoft Game Studios (then called Microsoft Games) in 2000, Microsoft rebranded Access Software as Salt Lake Games Studio.[2] Initially working on products to for the personal computer, Salt Lake City Studio transitioned toXbox versions ofLinks as well as theAmped snowboarding andTop Spin tennis sports games, following the console's introduction in 2002.[6]
In 2003, Microsoft rebranded Salt Lake Games Studio as Indie Games.[2] That year, Carver left the company to pursue new interests, eventually founding Carver Homes, a construction company, in 2004.[2][3] He died fromcancer on December 28, 2005.[3]
Around 2004, Microsoft opted to leave the sports-game development market due to the impact of theElectronic Arts Sports (EA Sports) label, using their strength to produce sports-related games for the Xbox console. Microsoft had laid off about 76 employees with Microsoft Game Studios, and around August and September, sold Indie Games toTake-Two Interactive, who renamed the studio to Indie Built.[7][8][9] Take-Two had been keen on challenging the dominance of EA Sports, and its acquisition of Indie Built was amongUS$80 million it had spent through 2005 acquiring developers. In early 2005, Take-Two Interactive established the publishing label2K, which would henceforth manage their development studios for sports games, including Indie Built.[10]
While part of Take-Two, Indie Built created sequels forAmped andTop Spin, but these titles were not strong successes. Take-Two's 2006 fiscal year was poor as the company was dealing with bothSecurity and Exchange Commission investigations related to its past reporting, and harsh criticism for theHot Coffee mod as part ofGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas.[11][12] Indie Built was closed in May 2006 by Take-Two as part of a re-alignment of their business strategy to overcome the weak fiscal year.[13][14]
Following Indie Built's closure, most of the employees transitioned to TruGolf, helping to improve the golf simulations. Additionally, Jones and Conners establishedBig Finish Games in 2007, where they planned to continue more narrative games, including expanding theTex Murphy series.[2]
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