I remember reading an article in PC Gamer a few years back which branded the Star Trek franchise as “the most lucrative franchise for PC gaming in the world”. So why is it that just about every other Star Trek game was dire? There were a string of bad releases from Activision based on the Star Trek universe and ever since Klingon Academy, nothing seemed to have broken the cycle of very average games. Granted, Bridge Commander and Armada were both good games in their own right, however, a lot of work by the modding community was needed for the games to really shine.

Many blamed Activision for the string of bad games. Activision blamed Viacom, stating that:

“Activision cannot successfully develop and sell Star Trek video games without the product exploitation and support promised by Viacom. A continuing pipeline of movie and television production, and related marketing, is absolutely crucial to the success of video games based on a property such as Star Trek.”

So Activision was dropped, and with it, the licence to the Franchise (outside the MMO) was handed to Bethesda. With Bethesda having already had a string of good releases such as “Oblivion”, the future of Star Trek games looked safe.