Indie Built — Lemma

Indie Built, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah, best known under its original name, Access Software, for the Links series of golf games and the CD-ROM Tex Murphy adventures.⁴ ⁵ Founded in 1982, the studio operated for more than two decades before its closure in 2006, passing through ownership by both and .⁵ ⁹

Access Software was established in 1982 in Salt Lake City by Bruce Carver, who served as its founder and chief executive.¹ ⁶ The team that founded Access had earlier created the original Microsoft Golf franchise before leaving to develop the Links games independently.⁶ Under Carver, the company produced classic 1980s titles such as Beach Head, before moving on to early CD-ROM products including the Tex Murphy adventure Under a Killing Moon.¹ ⁴ Carver was particularly associated with the Links golf series, which became the studio’s signature franchise.¹ ⁵ The Links line traced its lineage back to the studio’s earliest computer-golf work, evolving from Leader Board through to its modern three-dimensional, console-powered, multiplayer form, and the studio characterized the franchise as having continually pushed the technology and gameplay of video golf.¹⁰

Microsoft acquired the privately held Access Software in 1999, taking on the development company, the complete Links series, its add-on courses, and back catalog for an undisclosed sum.⁶ Ed Fries, general manager of the Microsoft Games Group, framed the deal as reuniting the team that had created the original Microsoft Golf franchise, describing its top-flight management and development talent as a true asset.⁶ Microsoft kept the development studio intact in Salt Lake City, with Carver staying on to oversee continued work on the Links franchise.⁶ At the time of the acquisition the studio was at work on Links Extreme, a humorous version of its golf game with deathmatch and other modes, scheduled for release at the end of May 1999.⁶ Microsoft positioned the Links series as its premium computer-golf game for serious players, while continuing to offer the existing Microsoft Golf line as a budget twenty-dollar product for novices.⁶

Under Microsoft, the studio — by then known as Indie Built — developed the Amped and Amped 2 snowboarding titles and the original-Xbox Links 2004, and supervised the creation of the tennis title Top Spin.⁸ ⁵ Carver left in 2003 to pursue other interests, including construction and large-screen golf simulation projects.¹ By the time of the studio’s later marketing, Links 2004 on Xbox supported online play, and the studio promoted online community building — tournaments, news sites, and fansites — as a top priority alongside the games themselves.¹⁰

In December 2004, Microsoft sold the studio to Take-Two Interactive, a move that finalized Microsoft Game Studios’ withdrawal from the sports-game market.⁸ ⁷ The sale ended Microsoft’s broader ambitions in the sports sector, which had been launched with much fanfare at E3 in 2003 under the XSN Sports name; the company had earlier made redundant the teams behind NFL Fever, Inside Drive, and NHL Rivals before disposing of Indie Built.⁸ The sale was confirmed by Take-Two president Paul Eibeler, and Take-Two acquired the studio with the stated ambition of focusing on sports titles for the next generation of consoles and the PC platform.⁸ ⁵ Following the acquisition in October 2004, the company was renamed Indie Built.¹⁴

In January 2005, Take-Two folded Indie Built into its newly announced 2K Games publishing label, which incorporated the company’s internally owned studios — Visual Concepts, Kush Games, Indie Built, Venom Games, PopTop Software, and Frog City Software, as well as the Take-Two Licensing team.³ ¹⁴ The 2K Games label replaced Globalstar as Take-Two’s main non-Rockstar publishing brand, and was announced alongside a dedicated 2K Sports label created after a new arrangement between ESPN and Electronic Arts removed Take-Two’s ability to use the ESPN brand on its sports titles.³ Over its lifetime the studio shipped more than 37 titles across seven different platforms.⁵

Indie Built’s final releases came during the transition to high-definition consoles. The studio created the extreme-sports title Amped 3 for the , released on November 22, 2005 as an Xbox 360 launch title.¹ ¹⁴ It also co-developed the tennis title Top Spin 2 with PAM, a Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS version of which shipped on March 29, 2006.⁵ ¹⁴ Amped 3 failed to achieve notable commercial success and was among the first next-generation titles to receive retail price cuts.⁵

Take-Two announced the closure of Indie Built in May 2006, citing uncertainty surrounding the console transition as the main reason for the studio’s demise.⁵ ⁹ Reporting at the time linked the closure to the lackluster sales of Amped 3, with observers describing the studio as another victim of a historically tumultuous generational transition.⁴ ¹³ Take-Two’s director of corporate communications, Jim Ankner, said employees were being offered packages including continuation of salary and benefits as well as other opportunities within Take-Two, though an unspecified number of job losses were expected.⁵ Take-Two retained the rights to the Amped, Top Spin, and Links franchises, but gave no confirmation of any future titles in them.⁵

Bruce Carver, the studio’s founder, died of cancer on December 28, 2005 at the age of 57, and his funeral was held in Salt Lake City.¹ He was survived by his mother Mary, his wife Lenna, three sons, three daughters, and sixteen grandchildren.¹

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