Midway vs. Infogrames

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

Just curious as to where the dividing line is.

 

Since Midway had at least two 1984 titles (Paperboy & Marble Madness) on their MAT compilations, I think the split must've either been late 1983 or early 1984.

 

Is there a precise list which has all 83/84 Atari coin-op titles that belong exclusively to Midway already? That should basically be a list of all titles released after the coin-op division was separated from home entertainment I think.

 

Some infos anyone?

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Cybergoth]

Just trying to verify things myself. It seems Infogrames has access to all 82 & 83 Arcades:

 

1. Black Widow, Gravitar, Liberator, Major Havok, Crystal Castles and Millipede appeared on the "80 Atari Classics" compilation.

2. Food Fight was included in Flashback 1

3. The Arcade flyers for Quantum, Cloak & Dagger and I, Robot still read "A Warner Communications Company" in the fine print.

4. Star Wars is also still a Warner release, but most likely neither Midway nor Infogrames can use it without dealing with Lucasarts.

 

The 1984 titles Peter Packrat, Paperboy and Marble Madness seem to be the first three Midway exclusives.

[Curt Vendel]

Everything you stated below is correct...

 

 

Any "Released" coin-op prior to July 1984 is owned by Atari, Inc. (Now under Infogrames) Games like Marble Madness, Peter Packrat and Papaerboy, while being developed in early 84' were not commercially sold/released until post-Atari sale from Warner Comm in 1984 and are Atari Games Corp titles which were then originally owned under Warner Comm and eventually sold to Midway Game Corp.

 

 

 

Curt

 

Just trying to verify things myself. It seems Infogrames has access to all 82 & 83 Arcades:

 

1. Black Widow, Gravitar, Liberator, Major Havok, Crystal Castles and Millipede appeared on the "80 Atari Classics" compilation.

2. Food Fight was included in Flashback 1

3. The Arcade flyers for Quantum, Cloak & Dagger and I, Robot still read "A Warner Communications Company" in the fine print.

4. Star Wars is also still a Warner release, but most likely neither Midway nor Infogrames can use it without dealing with Lucasarts.

 

The 1984 titles Peter Packrat, Paperboy and Marble Madness seem to be the first three Midway exclusives.

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[+DamonicFury]

StarROMS, of course, offers most of the Atari, Inc. (now Infogrammes) games. They briefly offered the Atari Games (Midway) ROM's as well, but pulled them when it was made clear that they were not owned by Infogrammes.

 

Curiously, I, Robot was one of the pulled games. Does that one indeed belong to Midway?

[Cybergoth]

I, Robot might be a third party issue like Star Wars, especially with the movie being released only 2 years ago.

[JimmydelaKopin]

Y'know...

 

...we wouldn't have this problem is an attorney general didn't try making a name for himself by filing a BS "antitrust" suit against Atari.

Especially when Bushnell NEVER PATENTED ANY OF HIS INVENTIONS BACK THEN!!!

[Retro Rogue]

Just saw this thread. Just to add to this - Atari Inc. owns the trademarks and copyrights, etc. of all titles, and characters pre 1984. However, Midway West owns the actual roms and hardware (that hasn't expired yet) of the pre 1984 titles, as well all rights to their apperance in coin-op format. For exmaple when Keita was seeking licensing for Tempest 3000 on the Nuon, he found he could license it from either Midway or (at that time) Hasbro.

 

Likewise, the roms for the Atari 3 in 1 by Team Play were provided by Midway and the actual Atari name licensed from Infogrames. Hence, when Team Play originally recieved the roms, the Atari name on the copyrights were wiped out and replaced with Midway. Team Play hadn't finalized the Atari name license yet and through in the copyright to Infogrames instead (which is why their name instead of Atari appeared on the coin-op).

 

As another example, all the coin-op roms for Hasbro's (Atari Interactive) and Infogrames (Atari Inc.) arcade rehash collections for consoles and pc's were licensed from and provided by Midway.

 

So to recap, Atari Inc. owns the console, computer, and promotional (shirts, mugs, etc.) licensing rights, but Midway owns the actual coin-op rights and coin-op game code/hardware.

 

 

Everything you stated below is correct...

 

 

Any "Released" coin-op prior to July 1984 is owned by Atari, Inc. (Now under Infogrames)  Games like Marble Madness, Peter Packrat and Papaerboy, while being developed in early 84' were not commercially sold/released until post-Atari sale from Warner Comm in 1984 and are Atari Games Corp titles which were then originally owned under Warner Comm and eventually sold to Midway Game Corp.

 

 

 

Curt

 

Just trying to verify things myself. It seems Infogrames has access to all 82 & 83 Arcades:

 

1. Black Widow, Gravitar, Liberator, Major Havok, Crystal Castles and Millipede appeared on the "80 Atari Classics" compilation.

2. Food Fight was included in Flashback 1

3. The Arcade flyers for Quantum, Cloak & Dagger and I, Robot still read "A Warner Communications Company" in the fine print.

4. Star Wars is also still a Warner release, but most likely neither Midway nor Infogrames can use it without dealing with Lucasarts.

 

The 1984 titles Peter Packrat, Paperboy and Marble Madness seem to be the first three Midway exclusives.

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