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Cyan history
Cyan company history timeline
Cyan was founded in 1987 by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller, operating out of their parents' basement in their Spokane, Washington home.
Cyan was a software development company founded in 1988 in Spokane, Washington, by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller and a friend, Chris Brandkamp.
In 1991 Cyan began work on Myst.
In 1993, Cyan shot to worldwide fame with the release of Myst, a 3D pre-rendered adventure game aimed at an older audience unlike their previous games.
People who had enjoyed Myst waited with great excitement for the release of Riven: The Sequel to Myst in the fall of 1997. It was the third most popular software of any kind in 1995, its sales surpassed only by Quicken and the program to upgrade Microsoft Windows.
At that time the average retail price for Myst had been discounted to $18 (down from $47 in 1996), while Riven's average price was $39.
In 1997 North American retail sales of computer games reached $5.1 billion.
The sequel to Myst, Riven, was released in 1997.
In 1998 Scrabble, Monopoly Game, and Frogger—all marketed by Hasbro Interactive—were among the top 20 computer games.
During the first half of 1998 the computer gaming industry grew by about 30 percent.
The leading title in 1998 was StarCraft, marketed by Havas Interactive, Inc., which also marketed the popular Diablo and Titanic: Adventure out of Time.
NOTE: Since the initial appearance of this essay in the 1999 edition of Major Marketing Campaigns Annual, the Riven product was acquired by Cyan Worlds Inc.
During this time, the company started going by the name "Cyan Worlds, Inc.". Partly as a test of their new real-time 3D engine, Cyan released realMyst in 2000, a complete recreation of the original Myst game.
At the same time, the next Myst game, Myst III: Exile, was developed by Presto Studios and published by Ubisoft, and released in 2001.
The title sold more than six million copies and was the best-selling PC game ever, until The Sims exceeded Myst sales in 2002.
Myst also holds the honor of being the best-selling video game of the 20th century; a record that was not surpassed until 2003.
In response to this demand, Cyan Worlds released Untìl Uru in late 2004, a modified version of the client and server software of Live.
In 2006, Rand Miller announced that Uru Live would return in full capacity using GameTap-hosted servers and funding.
Myst Online: Uru Live launched officially on GameTap on February 15, 2007, after being available through GameTap as an open beta for a few months.
On November 30, 2007, Cyan released Cosmic Osmo's Hex Isle via the online service Fanista.
Game servers remained online for 60 days following, and were finally shut down on April 10, 2008.
On June 30, 2008, it was announced that Cyan Worlds had regained the rights to Uru, and had plans to relaunch it under the name Myst Online: Restoration Experiment.
In November 2008, "Cyan Test" (a third "Cyan" company created to provide testing services) laid off about 50 game testers.
In August 2009, it was announced that Cyan Worlds would be working with Creative Kingdoms to create an online version of their MagiQuest virtual reality game.
In February 2010, Cyan took steps towards opening up Uru, with the launch of a new Myst Online: Uru Live server (dubbed "MOULagain" by fans) with access to all of the Ages of Uru.
On April 6, 2011, Cyan released the source code to the URU client as well its development tools.
Prior to this, the company was working on an as yet unannounced project (reportedly named Latus by Richard A. Watson) and negotiating with an undisclosed publisher, but its status is now unclear, though Rand Miller made mention of it in August 2011 and confirmed its name as Latus.
On October 17, 2013, Rand Miller announced a new video game designed as a spiritual successor to Myst and Riven called Obduction.
As of April 2014, over 128,000 accounts had been created.
The game was officially released on August 24, 2016 for Microsoft Windows and OS X, and later for Oculus Rift.
On March 1, 2018, Cyan announced Firmament, which they described as "a new VR experience", though will also be available for standard displays.
Like Obduction, Cyan launched a Kickstarter on March 26, 2018 to raise funding for the game.
Cyan announced in November 2018 the formation of a new publishing label, Cyan Ventures, to publish games for virtual reality and other platforms.
Exile and Revelation, along with updated versions of the other games of the series, appeared on GOG.com and STEAM in Summer/Fall 2018.
Today, Cyan continues development on their next VR adventure game, Firmament, which was funded via a successful Kickstarter campaign in the spring of 2019.
On September 16, 2020, Cyan announced Myst, a VR remake which they described as "the definitive version" of the original game, though it will also be available for standard displays.
"Cyan Worlds Inc. ." Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns. . Retrieved June 22, 2022 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/marketing/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/cyan-worlds-inc
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Cyan competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electronic Arts | 1982 | $7.6B | 9,800 | 31 |
| Daybreak Game | 2015 | $25.0M | 450 | 17 |
| Take-Two Interactive Software | 1993 | $5.3B | 6,495 | 51 |
| Epic Games | 1991 | $500.0M | 1,001 | 111 |
| Bungie | 1991 | $2.7M | 901 | 6 |
| Monolith Productions | 1994 | $8.4M | 100 | 1 |
| Obsidian Entertainment | 2003 | $18.0M | 200 | 9 |
| 3Di | 1995 | $8.5M | 240 | - |
| Information Design | 1983 | $750,000 | 5 | - |
| eFORCE Global | 1999 | - | 376 | - |
Cyan history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Cyan, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Cyan. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Cyan. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Cyan. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Cyan and its employees or that of Zippia.
Cyan may also be known as or be related to CYAN INC, Cyan, Cyan Inc, Cyan Inc. and Cyan, Inc.