Founded in 1999, Bohemia Interactive released its first major game Arma: Cold War Assault (originally released as Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis*) in 2001. Developed by a small team of people, and published by Codemasters, the PC-exclusive game became a massive success. It sold over 1.2 million copies, won multiple industry awards, and was praised by critics and players alike. Riding the wave of success, Bohemia Interactive created the popular expansion Arma: Resistance (originally released as Operation Flashpoint: Resistance*) released in 2002.
Following the release of its debut game, Bohemia Interactive took on various ambitious new projects, and was involved in establishing a successful spin-off business in serious gaming and simulations with its first game for training: VBS1. In 2005, Bohemia Interactive released Operation Flashpoint: Elite* for Xbox – followed by Arma in 2007, which marked the studio’s first full independent release without support from a major publisher.
Afterwards, the studio started to work on Arma 2. This project also marked the beginning of Bohemia Interactive’s co-operation with two other Czech game development studios, Altar Games and Black Element Software, who assisted in the development of the Arma: Queens Gambit expansion and Arma 2. They were both officially acquired by Bohemia Interactive soon after. Arma 2 proved to be another success for Bohemia Interactive, and remained a priority for several years after release, resulting in several expansions, such as Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead, Arma 2: British Armed Forces, Arma 2: Private Military Company, and Arma 2: Army of the Czech Republic.