Company:FarSight Studios
| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1988 |
| Founder | Jay Obernolte |
| Headquarters | Big Bear Lake, California , |
| Website | farsightstudios |
FarSight Studios (formerly FarSight Technologies) is an American video game developer established in 1988 by Jay Obernolte.
History
Jay Obernolte founded FarSight in 1988 while still a student at Caltech.[1] He first learned to program on an Apple II as a child and went to college to study computer engineering. While there, Obernolte was hired by Nintendo, who had recently entered the American video game console market and needed English-language programmers to create games. FarSight Studios' first release was a coloring and animation application, Videomation, for the NES in 1991.[2] They then released a similar game for Sega, Art Alive![3] In 1992, the company moved to Big Bear.[4] During the 1990s, FarSight Studio's initial success was based on a series of first party football games for Sega. In 2002, the NFL decided to limit the licenses for their brand, forcing FarSight's publisher Konami to stop producing NFL games.[1]
In the 2000s, FarSight transitioned to creating a series of games based on sports and arcade activities. In 2003, they partnered with publisher Crave Entertainment to create the rolling puzzle game Mojo![5] While reviews were mixed, FarSight studios were able to leverage Mojo's game engine to create a series of games that recreated existing pinball machines.[5][6][1] They subsequently released Software:Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection in 2004, Software:Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection in 2008, their best-known pinball game The Pinball Arcade in 2012, and Stern Pinball Arcade in 2016.[7][8]
By 2013 the company had grown to over 30 employees with a two-story building in Big Bear Lake. As of 2024, Obernolte still headed the company, but no longer oversees day to day operations.[2]
Pinball games
FarSight Studios has released four video games that have recreated dozens of pinball machines. For their first game they sought the licenses to existing pinball machine designs, citing a hesitance to develop original pinball designs when existing games already had the necessary creativity and complexity to be successful.[9] FarSight met with Pinball Hall of Fame founder, Tim Arnold, who advised that Gottlieb would be the easiest and most affordable company to obtain licenses from.[1] Software:Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection was developed and released in 2004 (two years before actual the Pinball Hall of Fame opened). FarSight again partnered with Crave Entertainment to publish the game.[7] Surprised at how successful this was they obtained the more expensive Williams license and released Software:Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection in 2008. This received positive critical reviews, but had limited commercial success with disappointing sales.[1]
Bobby King was the lead designer for The Pinball Arcade and this was the first game FarSight Studios self-published in February 2012. For this a more extensive licensing agreement was agreed with Williams, the Gottlieb contract was extended, and a new license was signed with Stern. Unlike prior games ROM emulation was used. By 2013 it had been downloaded over 7,000,000 times.[1] The re-creation of pinball machines was described as a form of curation and preservation.[10]
They are an official licensed developer for numerous home and handheld consoles including the Sony PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and Move, PlayStation 2, PSP, and PlayStation Vita;[11] the Microsoft Xbox, Xbox 360, and Kinect; as well as the Nintendo Wii, Wii U, DS, and 3DS. In September 2018, FarSight announced that they will also be developing several pinball tables for the Oculus Rift.[12]
Stern Pinball Arcade was released in 2016, with tables from Stern Pinball.[13][8] Users could play Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for free while additional games, including Starship Troopers and Ripley's Believe It or Not!, would be priced at $5 to $10 per game.[13]
The company is best known for its pinball games that focus on virtual recreations of classic pinball machines, such as The Pinball Arcade.[9][14] The first season of the game included 22 tables.[15] It was announced in May 2018 that FarSight will no longer produce games licensed from Williams and Bally, leading to a loss of 61 tables from The Pinball Arcade catalog,[16] and announced they will focus mainly on tables under the Stern Pinball license.[17][18]
Other games
Game Party was developed in 2007, incorporating classic games of skill.[4]
FarSight Studios have also released official games based on PBA Pro Bowling from 2019,[19][20] Cornhole in 2023, and Pickleball in 2024.[21][22]
Games
This is a sortable table of computer and video games produced by FarSight Studios, in alphabetical order.
| Title | Publisher(s) | Release | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Action 52 | Active Enterprises | 1993 | SMD |
| ACL Pro Cornhole | FarSight Studios | 2023 | PC |
| Art Alive! | Sega | 1991 | SMD |
| Backyard Baseball '09/'10 | Atari | 2008-9 | PS2, PC, X360, Wii |
| Backyard Football '08/'09/'10 | Atari | 2007-9 | PS2, PC, DS, Wii ('10: PS2, X360, Wii) |
| Brunswick Pro Bowling | Crave Entertainment | 2007 | X360, PS3 |
| Color a Dinosaur | Virgin Games | 1993 | NES |
| David Crane's Amazing Tennis | Absolute Entertainment | 1993 | SMD |
| ESPN NFL PrimeTime 2002 | Konami | 2001 | PS2, Xbox, PC |
| Game Party (series) | Midway Games | 2007-9 | Wii |
| Software:Game Party: In Motion | Warner Bros. Interactive | 2010 | X360 |
| Golden Tee Golf: Home Edition | Radica Games | 2006 | |
| Hard Rock Casino | Crave Entertainment | 2006 | PS2, PSP |
| Hotel for Dogs | 505 Games | 2009 | PS2, PSP |
| Jibbi | Radica Games | 2006 | |
| Mojo! | Crave Entertainment DreamCatcher Interactive (PAL) |
2003 2004 (PAL) |
PS2, Xbox |
| NASCAR Road Racing | EA Sports | 1999 | PC |
| NCAA Football 98/99 | EA Sports | 1997, 1998 | PC |
| NFL '95 | Sega | 1994 | SMD |
| NFL Prime Time '98 | Sega | 1997 | SMD |
| Orbals | FarSight Studios | 2021 | PC |
| PBA Pro Bowling (series) | FarSight Studios | 2019-2026 | PC (PS4, XONE for 2019 version only) |
| The Pinball Arcade | FarSight Studios | 2012 | PC, X360, PS3, VITA, PS4, XONE |
| Software:Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection •Gottlieb Pinball ClassicsEU |
Crave Entertainment | 2004 2005 (PSP) 2010 (Wii) |
PS2, NGC, Xbox, PSP, Wii |
| Software:Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection | Crave Entertainment | 2008 2009 (PS3, 360) |
PS2, PSP, X360, PS3, Wii, 3DS |
| Play TV (series) | Radica Games | 2004-6 | |
| PPA Pickleball Tour 2025 | FarSight Studios | 2024 | PC |
| Prime Time NFL Starring Deion Sanders | Sega | 1995 | SMD |
| Software:Scarface: Money. Power. Respect. | Sierra Entertainment | 2006 | PSP |
| Stern Pinball Arcade | FarSight Studios | 2016 | PC, PS4, XONE |
| Vacation Isle: Beach Party | Warner Bros. Interactive | 2010 | Wii |
| Videomation | THQ | 1991 | NES |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Joosten, Jonathan; Rubens, Paul (2013). "The Pinball Arcade: Interview with Bobby King". Pinball Magazine (2): 166-176.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Schreier, Jason (August 9, 2024). "How a Video Game Developer Wound Up in Congress". https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-08-09/how-jay-obernolte-a-video-game-developer-from-california-went-to-congress.
- ↑ Weiss, Brett (2018-07-09) (in en). Classic Home Video Games, 1989-1990: A Complete Guide to Sega Genesis, Neo Geo and TurboGrafx-16 Games. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-9231-2. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Classic_Home_Video_Games_1989_1990/lmRjDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22FarSight+Studios%22+%22Art+Alive%22&pg=PA47&printsec=frontcover.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Charles, Brian (December 12, 2007). "It's not all fun and games". Big Bear Grizzly. https://www.newspapers.com/article/big-bear-grizzly-its-not-all-fun-and-ga/194526303/.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Navarro, Alex (2003-08-26). "Mojo! Review" (in en-US). https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/mojo-review/1900-6074002/.
- ↑ Dunham, Jeremy (2003-07-29). "Mojo!" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/2003/07/29/mojo.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Hill, Murray (2005-01-09). "Pinball Hall of Fame best of its genre". Saskatoon Sun: pp. 7. https://www.newspapers.com/article/saskatoon-sun-pinball-hall-of-fame-best/194526676/.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Stern & FarSight in Partnership Deal". September 26, 2015. https://www.pinballnews.com/news/sternfarsight.html.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Virtual games bring pinball to new audiences" (in en-GB). BBC News. 2014-02-03. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-26018682.
- ↑ Hamilton, Kirk (2012-02-21). "The Painstaking Process Behind 'The Best Pinball Video Game Ever Made'" (in en-US). https://kotaku.com/the-painstaking-process-behind-the-best-pinball-video-g-5886736.
- ↑ Workman, Robert (March 15, 2013). "FarSight Studios Officially Bringing The Pinball Arcade To PlayStation 4" (in en). https://www.primagames.com/games/pinball-arcade/news/farsight-studios-officially-bringing-pinball-arcad.
- ↑ "Stern Pinball and FarSight Studios to Release New Stern Pinball Arcade Tables for Oculus Rift" (in en). September 25, 2018. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/stern-pinball-and-farsight-studios-to-release-new-stern-pinball-arcade-tables-for-oculus-rift-300718262.html.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Graham, Meg (June 10, 2016). "Stern takes full-tilt shot at virtual reality pinball". Chicago Tribune. https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-stern-takes-full-tilt-sh/194526493/.
- ↑ Dyer, Mitch (April 5, 2012). "The Pinball Arcade Review" (in en-US). https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/04/05/the-pinball-arcade-review.
- ↑ Workman, Robert (January 3, 2014). "Farsight Studios shows its wizardry with 'The Pinball Arcade'". Lexington Herald Leader: pp. 19. https://www.kentucky.com/news/business/technology/article44464821.html.
- ↑ Lawson, Aurich (2018-05-08). "The Pinball Arcade is losing its classic tables; grab them while you can" (in en). https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/05/the-pinball-arcade-is-losing-its-classic-tables-grab-them-while-you-can/.
- ↑ Santa Maria, Alex (May 7, 2018). "Pinball Arcade Losing Over 50 Bally and Williams Tables On June 30th" (in en-US). https://techraptor.net/content/pinball-arcade-removing-50-tables.
- ↑ Grosso, Robert (June 22, 2018). "Juggling Multiball: FarSight Studios and the Loss of Pinball Licenses" (in en-US). https://techraptor.net/content/farsight-studios-pinball-arcade-licenses.
- ↑ "review-pba-pro-bowling-nintendo-switch" (in en-US). 2019-10-24. https://www.digitallydownloaded.net/2019/10/review-pba-pro-bowling-nintendo-switch.html.
- ↑ Donaldson Former, Alex (2025-12-20). "PBA Pro Bowling 2026 is an earnest, accurate sports sim that feels like it fell out of 2010. I love it" (in en). https://www.eurogamer.net/pba-pro-bowling-2026-is-an-earnest-accurate-sports-sim-that-feels-like-it-fell-out-of-2010-i-love-it.
- ↑ Schreier, Jason (July 17, 2024). "Video-Game Firm Started by Congress Debuts Pickleball Title". Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-17/video-game-firm-started-by-congressman-debuts-pickleball-title.
- ↑ "Review: PPA Pickleball Tour 2025 (Nintendo Switch)" (in en-US). 2024-08-08. https://www.digitallydownloaded.net/2024/08/review-ppa-pickleball-tour-2025-nintendo-switch.html.
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