The game was developed byAtomic Games, as the fourth game in theClose Combat series.[4] Atomic had made the first three games forMicrosoft, but the publisher had ended the series after the release ofClose Combat III: The Russian Front.[5][6] While all three games had been profitable, Marc Dultz ofCNET Gamecenter reported "indications that the company is now only interested in publishing games that have the potential of selling 250,000 units or more."[7] Atomic reacted by splitting from Microsoft and migrating toMindscape'sStrategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) label in April 1999,[5] in order to createBattle of the Bulge.[4]
It was a finalist forComputer Games Strategy Plus' 1999 "Wargame of the Year" prize, although it lost toPanzer Campaigns I: Smolensk '41. The staff wrote, "Atomic Games’ innovative series finds a new home but retains its high-quality gameplay."[18] The game was also a runner-up forComputer Gaming World's 1999 "Wargame of the Year" award, which ultimately went toSid Meier's Antietam![19] The staff wrote that the former was the latter's only "serious competition" for the award, but was hampered by "AI quirks and mysteriously reincarnating units".[19]
Following the game, Atomic began work on a fifthClose Combat game with SSI in early 2000.[20] However, Mindscape had since been sold toMattel when that company boughtThe Learning Company, Mindscape's parent, for $3.5 billion in 1999.[21][22][23] As a result,Close Combat V was published byMattel Interactive,[24] a financially unstable company.Computer Games Magazine's Robert Mayer noted in September 2000 that "the future of this game series is up in the air—Mattel Interactive is perennially on the trading block, and Atomic ... has lost some key staff members in recent months".[24] Late in September, Mattel sold The Learning Company at a bargain price toThe Gores Group. A spokesman for the new managers announced that they expected to make it "profitable within six months."[21] The fifthClose Combat, subtitledInvasion: Normandy, was released in October.
[10]