Lobotomy Software

Lobotomy Studios, Inc.
Company type	Private
Industry	Video games
Predecessor	Lobotomy Software
Founded	1993
Founder	Former employees of Nintendo of America and programmers from Manley & Associates
Defunct	1999
Fate	Acquired by Crave Entertainment (1998), later shut down (1999)
Headquarters	Redmond, Washington, United States
Products	PowerSlave, Quake (Sega Saturn port), Duke Nukem 3D (Sega Saturn port)
Parent	Crave Entertainment (from 1998)

Lobotomy Studios, Inc., originally known as Lobotomy Software, was a United States-based video game developer established in 1993 and headquartered in Redmond, Washington. The company was responsible for porting Quake and Duke Nukem 3D to the Sega Saturn platform and created the first-person shooter PowerSlave (released as Exhumed in Europe). After being acquired by Crave Entertainment in 1998 and rebranded as Lobotomy Studios, the company ceased operations in 1999.

History

Founded in 1993 by former employees of Nintendo of America alongside programmers from Manley & Associates, Lobotomy Software initially operated out of co-founder Paul Lange’s apartment before moving to a dedicated office space in Redmond, Washington. Their initial projects included demos that eventually developed into the first-person shooter PowerSlave.

Following the launch of PowerSlave, Sega secured publishing rights from GT Interactive for Duke Nukem 3D and Quake. Dissatisfied with the progress made by previous developers, Sega entrusted these ports to Lobotomy Software, which faced concurrent deadlines for both titles. The Sega Saturn versions of Quake and Duke Nukem 3D were built using Lobotomy’s proprietary SlaveDriver engine, originally designed for the Saturn edition of PowerSlave. Although Lobotomy also completed a port of Quake for the Sony PlayStation, they were unable to find a publisher, which contributed to worsening financial strains.

In 1998, after being acquired by Crave Entertainment, the firm was renamed Lobotomy Studios. The team then worked on a gambling title based on Caesars Palace for the Nintendo 64, which was ultimately cancelled after approximately one year. Shortly thereafter, Lobotomy Studios was shut down; some staff members were laid off while others were offered positions relocating within Crave. Plans for a sequel named PowerSlave 2, intended to be a third-person shooter utilizing a new game engine, were never brought to fruition.

Games

Original release

PowerSlave (September 26, 1996) – available on Saturn, MS-DOS, PlayStation. Includes the hidden mini-game Death Tank.

Sega Saturn ports

Quake (October 31, 1997)
Duke Nukem 3D (October 31, 1997) – features the secret mini-game Death Tank Zwei.

External links