History of Panther Games in Timeline

By Popular Timelines Editorial Team · Updated: May 15, 2025

Panther Games Pty Ltd is an Australian game developer renowned for its operational-level wargames, particularly the WWII Airborne Assault and Command Ops series for PC. The company specializes in creating detailed and realistic wargaming experiences catering to the PC wargame market, focusing on historical accuracy and strategic depth in their game design.

1985: Panther Games Founded

In 1985, Panther Games was founded by David O’Connor in Canberra, Australia.

1988: Release of Fire Brigade

In 1988, Panther Games shifted their focus to developing computer games with the release of their first computer wargame, Fire Brigade, on Mac, DOS, Atari and Amiga.

1991: Release of Alien Drug Lords and Cubit

In 1991, Panther Games released Alien Drug Lords, a sci-fi adventure game, and Cubit, a puzzle challenge game, taking a step into the mainstream games market.

1996: Development of Airborne Assault

In 1996, Panther Games returned to its wargame roots and began developing a new real-time computer game engine for the Airborne Assault wargame series.

2002: Release of Airborne Assault: Red Devils over Arnhem

In 2002, Panther Games released the first title in the Airborne Assault series, Airborne Assault: Red Devils over Arnhem, through battlefront.com. In Europe, the game was released as simply Airborne Assault through CDV Software Entertainment AG.

2003: Release of Airborne Assault: Highway to the Reich

In 2003, Panther Games released the second installment of the Airborne Assault series, Airborne Assault: Highway to the Reich, through Matrix Games.

2006: Release of Airborne Assault: Conquest of the Aegean

In 2006, Panther Games released the third installment of the AA series, Airborne Assault: Conquest of the Aegean, through Matrix Games.

2007: Panther Games Participates in JDSSC Project

In 2007, Panther Games was a team partner along with Booz Allen Hamilton, Ball Solutions, CAE and Calytrix Technology in the successful Joint Decision Support and Simulations Centre (JDSSC) project for the Australian Department of Defence.

2009: Panther Games Joins RPDE

In 2009, Panther Games became an associate member of the joint Defence-Industry initiative, Rapid Prototyping, Development and Evaluation Program (RPDE).

October 2010: Scoping Study for Australian Defence Simulation Office

In October 2010, Panther Games began a four-month scoping study for the Australian Defence Simulation Office (ADSO) to determine the Defence requirements for a course of action analyser simulation tool.

2010: Rebranding to Command Ops and Release of Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge

In 2010, Panther Games rebranded their game series to Command Ops and released Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge.

2012: Release of Command Ops: Highway to the Reich expansion pack

In 2012, Panther Games released their first official expansion pack, Command Ops: Highway to the Reich, for Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge. It covers content from the original two Airborne Assault games.

October 2014: Panther Games Moves to Lock 'n Load Publishing

On 18 October 2014, Panther Games announced their move to Lock 'n Load publishing following their split with Matrix Games. It was also revealed that Panther Games would be re-releasing their 1985 board game Trial of Strength and would be releasing their new game engine, Command Ops 2, through the publisher.

June 2015: Command Ops 2 Public Beta and Commander Pack Sale

In June 2015, Command Ops 2 went into public beta. The "Commander Pack," consisting of all five modular data packs for Command Ops 2, went on sale on 16 June 2015.