Broderbund: History and Key Facts

Broderbund Software, Inc. (formerly stylized as Brøderbund) was an American maker of video games, educational software, and productivity tools. Broderbund is best known for the 8-bit video game hits Choplifter, Lode Runner, Karateka, and Prince of Persia (all of which originated on the Apple II), as well as The Print Shop—originally for printing signs and banners on dot matrix printers—and the Myst and Carmen Sandiego games. The company was founded in Eugene, Oregon, and moved to San Rafael, California, then later to Novato, California. Broderbund was purchased by The Learning Company in 1998.

Brøderbund is now the brand name for Riverdeep's graphic design, productivity, and edutainment titles such as The Print Shop, Carmen Sandiego, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, the Living Books series and Reader Rabbit, in addition to publishing software for other companies, notably Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm.

As of 2001, Ubisoft owns the entertainment titles of Brøderbund, including Prince of Persia.

The company would often release school editions of its games, which contained extra features to allow teachers to use the software to facilitate students' learning.

Source and attribution

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