Difference between revisions of "Atari Games"

Latest revision as of 12:25, 26 August 2023

Atari Games

Founded: 1984-07-02

Defunct: 1999-12-22

Headquarters:

Milpitas, California, United States

1984-07-02

1999-12-22

← Atari, Inc.

Midway Games West →

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Atari Games (or Atari Games Corporation) was a company formed in 1984, after the original Atari, Inc. split into two halves (the other half being Atari Corporation, sold by Warner Communications to Jack Tramiel). Atari Games started life off as the arcade division of Atari Inc., producing a number of top arcade games during the 1980s. Unlike Atari Corporation, Atari Games was comprised of many former Atari Inc. imployees, and as such continued operating in a similar manner to Atari Inc. In 1985 Namco bought a controlling interest in the company, though in the following year these shares were bought back by Atari Games employees.

There were two conditions Atari Games had to follow after the split - the first was that Atari Games had to include "Games" in its title and logos, and the second was that Atari Games could not use the "Atari" name in the home video game market. Atari Games created a new division, Tengen, in 1987 as a result of the second condition. Tengen would be responsible for developing and publishing console games as well as licensing games made by other companies that contain Atari Games' properties. The division was also used to sub-license the Japanese arcade rights and illegitimate Mega Drive rights to Tetris to Sega after Atari Games acquired the arcade rights and illegitimate console rights to the game from Mirrorsoft.

In 1994, Atari Games was bought by long-term shareholders Time Warner Inc., becoming a subsidiary of the conglomorate. This period saw Atari Games and Tengen be merged with Time Warner's software division, Time Warner Interactive Group to form a new "Time Warner Interactive" (sans "Group") subsidiary^[1]. But while the same company internally, only Tengen traded under the Time Warner Interactive name - arcade games continued to be sold under the "Atari Games" moniker (though dropped the "Corporation").

On 29th March 1996, Time Warner Interactive was sold to WMS Industries.^[2] In 1998, WMS spun-off Midway Games as an independant entity, taking Atari Games with it. Midway subsequently chose to rename Atari Games to Midway Games West on December 22, 1999 to avoid confusion with Hasbro Interactive, which had at this point acquired the old Atari Corporation rights. The last game to use the Atari Games brand was San Francisco Rush 2049.

Softography

Arcade

Crowns Golf (1984)
Steel Talons (1991)

System 16

Dunk Shot (1987)
Tetris (1988)

Master System

Paperboy (1990)
Gauntlet (1990)
Klax (1991)
Marble Madness (1992)
Rampart (1992)
Pit-Fighter (1993)
Gauntlet II (unreleased)
Paperboy 2 (unreleased)

Mega Drive

Tetris (1989)
CyberBall (1990)
Klax (1990)
Klax (1990)
Hard Drivin' (1990)
R.B.I. Baseball 3 (1991)
RoadBlasters (1991)
Marble Madness (1991)
Pit-Fighter (1991)
Paperboy (1992)
Steel Talons (1992)
Rampart (1992)
R.B.I. Baseball 4 (1992)
Gauntlet IV (1993)
Paperboy 2 (1993)
R.B.I. Baseball '93 (1993)
Race Drivin' (1993)
R.B.I. Baseball '94 (1994)
Primal Rage (1995)
Pit-Fighter II (unreleased)
R.B.I. Baseball '95 (unreleased)
Road Riot 4WD (unreleased)
Skull & Crossbones (unreleased)
Xybots (unreleased)

Game Gear

Klax (1992)
Marble Madness (1992)
Paperboy (1992)
Paperboy 2 (1993)
R.B.I. Baseball '94 (1994)
Primal Rage (1995)
Off the Wall (unreleased)

Mega-CD

Pit-Fighter II (unreleased)

32X

RBI Baseball '95 (1995)
T-MEK (1995)
Primal Rage (1995)

Saturn

Race Drivin' (1995)
Primal Rage (1996)
Area 51 (1996)
Maximum Force (1997)

References

[:File:CashBox_US_1994-04-23.pdf_p30-1] Cash Box, "April 23, 1994" (US; 1994-04-23), page 30

[:File:NextGeneration_US_18.pdf_p26-2] Next Generation, "June 1996" (US; 1996-05-21), page 26

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Company
+{{CompanyBob
 | logo=AtariGames logo.svg
-| width=200px
+| founded=1984-07-02
-| founded=1984
+| defunct=1999-12-22
-| defunct=
+| headquarters=Milpitas, California, United States
-| tseries=
+| prevdate=1984-07-02
-| mergedwith=
+| prev=[[Atari, Inc. (1972–1984)|Atari, Inc.]]
-| mergedinto=[[Midway Games West]] (1996)
+| nextdate=1999-12-22
-| headquarters=
+| next=[[Midway Games West]]
 }}
-{{sub-stub}}'''Atari Games''' (or '''Atari Games Corporation''') was a company formed in 1984, after the original [[Atari Inc.]] split into two halves (the other half being [[Atari Corporation]], sold by Warner Communications to Jack Tramiel). Atari Games started life off as the arcade division of Atari Inc., producing a number of top arcade games during the 1980s. One of the conditions of the split requires Atari Games to always include "Games" in its title and logos - Atari Corporation did not have that restriction.
+{{sub-stub}}'''Atari Games''' (or '''Atari Games Corporation''') was a company formed in 1984, after the original [[Atari, Inc. (1972–1984)|Atari, Inc.]] split into two halves (the other half being [[Atari Corporation]], sold by Warner Communications to Jack Tramiel). Atari Games started life off as the arcade division of Atari Inc., producing a number of top arcade games during the 1980s. Unlike Atari Corporation, Atari Games was comprised of many former Atari Inc. imployees, and as such continued operating in a similar manner to Atari Inc. In 1985 [[Namco]] bought a controlling interest in the company, though in the following year these shares were bought back by Atari Games employees.
-Unlike Atari Corporation, Atari Games was comprised of many former Atari Inc. imployees, and as such continued operating in a similar manner to Atari Inc. In 1985 [[Namco]] bought a controlling interest in the company, though in the following year these shares were bought back by Atari Games employees.
+There were two conditions Atari Games had to follow after the split - the first was that Atari Games had to include "Games" in its title and logos, and the second was that Atari Games could not use the "Atari" name in the home video game market. Atari Games created a new division, [[Tengen]], in 1987 as a result of the second condition. Tengen would be responsible for developing and publishing console games as well as licensing games made by other companies that contain Atari Games' properties. The division was also used to sub-license the Japanese arcade rights and illegitimate Mega Drive rights to ''[[Tetris]]'' to [[Sega]] after Atari Games acquired the arcade rights and illegitimate console rights to the game from [[Mirrorsoft]].
-Atari Games' home console division was [[Tengen]], and was the company engaged in a legal battle with [[Nintendo]] over the NES release of ''Tetris''. In 1993, Atari Games was bought again by [[Time Warner Interactive]] though kept its identiy until 1996 when it was sold to WMS Industries. At the time, its cousin, Atari Corporation was also being purchased and re-organised by numerous companies, so WMS Industries brought together Atari Games and the remnants of Tengen and named the studio [[Midway Games West]] to avoid further confusion.
+In 1994, Atari Games was bought by long-term shareholders Time Warner Inc., becoming a subsidiary of the conglomorate. This period saw Atari Games and Tengen be merged with Time Warner's software division, Time Warner Interactive Group to form a new "[[Time Warner Interactive]]" (sans "Group") subsidiary{{magref|cb|1994-04-23|30}}. But while the same company internally, only Tengen traded under the Time Warner Interactive name - arcade games continued to be sold under the "Atari Games" moniker (though dropped the "Corporation").
-In 2003 [[Midway Games]] declared bankruptcy, and so Atari Games does not exist in any form. Much of is assets are now owned by Atari Corporation (now confusingly known as a different "Atari Inc.").
+On 29th March 1996, Time Warner Interactive was sold to [[WMS Industries]].{{magref|nextgeneration|18|26}} In 1998, WMS spun-off [[Midway Games]] as an independant entity, taking Atari Games with it. Midway subsequently chose to rename Atari Games to [[Midway Games West]] on December 22, 1999 to avoid confusion with [[Hasbro Interactive]], which had at this point acquired the old Atari Corporation rights. The last game to use the Atari Games brand was ''[[San Francisco Rush 2049]]''.
 ==Softography==
-Note: In most cases, Atari Games built the arcade versions, Tengen/Time Warner Interactive created the Sega ports.
+{{CompanyHistoryAll|Atari Games}}
-{{multicol|
-===Arcade===
-*''[[Tetris]]'' (licensed from Atari Games; 1988)
-===[[Master System]]===
-*''[[Gauntlet]]'' (1990)
-*''[[Paperboy]]'' (1990)
-*''[[Rampart]]'' (1991)
-*''[[Klax]]'' (1991)
-*''[[Marble Madness]]'' (1991)
-*''[[Pit-Fighter]]'' (1991)
-===[[Mega Drive]]===
+==References==
-*''[[CyberBall]]'' (1990)
+<references />
-*''[[Klax]]'' (1990)
-*''[[Hard Drivin']]'' (1990)
-*''[[Rampart]]'' (1991)
-*''[[Paperboy]]'' (1991)
-*''[[R.B.I. Baseball 3]]'' (1991)
-*''[[Marble Madness]]'' (1992)
-*''[[Pit-Fighter]]'' (1992)
-*''[[Paperboy 2]]'' (1992)
-*''[[RoadBlasters]]'' (1992)
-*''[[Steel Talons]]'' (1992)
-*''[[R.B.I. Baseball 4]]'' (1992)
-*''[[Gauntlet IV]]'' (1993)
-*''[[Race Drivin']]'' (1993)
-*''[[R.B.I. Baseball '93]]'' (1993)
-*''[[Primal Rage]]'' (1994)
-*''[[R.B.I. Baseball '94]]'' (1994)
-===[[Game Gear]]===
+[[Category:Licensors]]
-*''[[Paperboy]]'' (1991)
-*''[[Marble Madness]]'' (1992)
-*''[[Paperboy 2]]'' (1992)
-*''[[Primal Rage]]'' (1995)
-*''[[R.B.I. Baseball '94]]'' (1994)
-===[[Sega 32X]]===
-*''[[T-Mek]]'' (1995)
-*''[[Primal Rage]]'' (1995)
-*''[[RBI Baseball '95]]'' (1995)
-===[[Sega Saturn]]===
-*''[[Primal Rage]]'' (1995)
-*''[[Race Drivin']]'' (1995)
-*''[[Area 51]]'' (1997)
-}}
-[[Category:Companies]]