Stainless Steel Studios

Not to be confused with Stainless Games.
Stainless Steel Studios
Private
Industry Software and programming, computer and video games
Founded January 15, 1998
Defunct November 20, 2005 (2005-11-20)
Headquarters Cambridge, Massachusetts
Key people
 Rick Goodman, Founder
Dara-Lynn Pelechatz, Director of Operations
Products Empire Earth
Empires: Dawn of the Modern World
Titan game engine
Titan 2.0 game engine
Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War (completed by Midway Games)

Stainless Steel Studios (SSSI) was a computer game development company, started in 1997 by Rick Goodman and Dara-Lynn Pelechatz.[1] The company was based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and focused on the development of real-time strategy software titles.

History

Stainless Steel was started in October 1997 by Rick Goodman and Dara-Lynn Pelechatz (Director of Operations).[1]

The name "Stainless Steel" was thought up by Rick Goodman on a returning flight from California. Dara-Lynn Pelechatz the Director of Operations said in an interview with GameSpy:[1]

While returning on a flight from California, Rick saw the Sky Mall catalog. Well he decided he was going to open the book and put his finger on the first item he saw, hence that would be the name of his new company. The item Rick located was a stainless steel Shower head.

The logo was designed by Stainless Steel with Jam Design, it is a Silver ball with a Salamander on top of it.[1]

On November 25, 2005, Gamasutra reported that Stainless Steel Studios quietly ceased operations and laid off its employees.[2][3] The content of the official website was removed in November. Former SSSI employees Bob Scott and Daniel Higgins confirmed rumors appearing on the HeavenGames Rise & Fall fan site forum.[4]

Higgins wrote in reply to questions about the credibility of the rumors:

This is true, SSSI is no more. I can't give details as to why, but I can tell you the product is in excellent shape, the team was in high morale and plowing ahead at full steam, and we were just weeks from gold disk.

The game was later completed by Midway Games and release on 12 June 2006.

Shortly after, it was learned that the reason why Stainless Steel closed shop was because of cuts in funding from its most important client: publisher Midway Games.[5] Since the Stainless Steel's closes, Sierra closed Empire Earth's server, so it is impossible to play online or update the game.

Notes

The company is sometimes confused with Stainless Steel Productions, an independent motion picture and television production company based out of Canada.

Also not to be confused with Stainless Games, developers of Carmageddon.

Portfolio

Year Released Game Title Publisher
2001 Empire Earth Sierra Entertainment
2003 Empires: Dawn of the Modern World Activision
2006 Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War Midway Games

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "GameSpy articles". GameSpy. Retrieved 2007-04-27.
  2. ↑ "Report: Stainless Steel Studios Closes Doors". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  3. ↑ "IGN: Stainless Steel Studios". IGN. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  4. ↑ "News Archives - November 2005, Stainless Steel Studios has Broken Up". HeavenGames LLC. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  5. ↑ "Rise and Fall developer closes". GameSpot. 2005-11-28. Retrieved 2007-02-19.


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