Category:Star Trek

Computer
The history of the Star Trek personal computer game franchise began as early as 1971, with a Star Trek text-only computer game written in BASIC. Many PC titles have since been published, and the franchise was one of the first based on a TV program to break into the young PC gamer market in the 1990s.

Interplay, Simon and Schuster, Microprose and Activision released most of the best-known Star Trek games between 2000 and 2003. Titles like Star Trek: Armada, Star Trek: Elite Force and Star Trek: Bridge Commander were all published during this period, as were over half of all the other major Star Trek PC games. The absence of new titles after 2003 was due in large measure to a split and subsequent lawsuit between Activision and Viacom which ended in 2004.

With the departure of Activision in 2003, the franchise under the tenure of Paramount effectively came to a close. Since the end of 2005, CBS has assumed most franchise management, including games and other products. Even with no new licensed titles released during 2003-2006, the older games like Armada and Elite Force still have an avid fan base which keeps the small community going. Development of the new Star Trek: Online title is currently underway, with release expected in 2009.

Bethesda Softworks was announced by the outgoing Director for Products and Merchandise for Viacom (Mr Harry Lamg) as the new publisher for Star Trek gaming on the console (handheld and stand alone) and PC markets. In December 2006 they released their first 3 Star Trek games in the space of 3 weeks. Star Trek: Legacy for the PC and Xbox 360, Star Trek: Tactical Assault for the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, Star Trek: Encounters for the Sony PlayStation 2 and Star Trek: Conquest for the Wii and PlayStation 2, in late 2007. Bethesda had effectively done what Activision, Interplay, MicroProse, Simon & Schuster and Viacom had failed to do in the previous 15 years of Star Trek gaming history, they released a game for each platform.