Muse Software
347 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
USA

Year Founded: 1978
Year Defunct: 1987


Muse Software was a Baltimore-based software and computer game publisher and developer for the first generation of home computers.
They first published for the Apple II under the name Micro Users Software Exchange, and later expanded to the Commodore 64, Atari, and IBM PC markets.
They are best known for publishing the original Castle Wolfenstein in 1981.


History

Muse was founded in 1978 by Ed Zaron. Silas Warner was MUSE Software's first employee.
Initially publishing games, the team also sold non-game software such as Super-Text (written by Zaron), a word processor, and Appilot (written by Warner), a course-writing language.
Their original market was for the Apple II and II+, with their first programs sold on cassette, and later on floppy disk.
They expanded their software offerings for other computers, such as the Commodore 64 and the Atari 800.
The company also ran a retail store on the corner of Charles and Mulberry Streets in Baltimore called "Muse Software and Computer Center" which closed to the public in 1982.

At its peak, Muse was making more than US$2 million per year in sales.

According to Zaron, Muse's sales grew "extremely slow" because of a slump in the home computer software market.
The company, which had about 40 employees at its peak in 1983, had shrunk down to just six prior to filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in 1985.

Warner, who was leaving Muse to join MicroProse, said the company had difficulty setting up a sales program because of the long-term illness of a key sales employee.

The company closed down in 1987.

Years later, Id Software developed Wolfenstein 3D (the father of first-person shooter games), which was inspired—at least in part—by Castle Wolfenstein, one of Muse's popular titles.