Atari Games
The arcade powerhouse behind Tetris and Tengen.
Atari Games Corporation was an American producer of arcade video games, active from 1985 to 1999, then as Midway Games West Inc. until 2003. It was formed when the coin-operated video game division of Atari, Inc. was transferred by its owner Warner Communications to a joint venture with Namco, being one of several successor companies to use the name Atari.
Quick Facts
- Role
- Arcade game developer and publisher
Lore & Background
The company developed and published games for arcades under the Atari brand, and across consumer home systems such as the Commodore 16, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Nintendo Entertainment System, and others using the Tengen label for legal reasons. Some of the games Atari Games had developed include Tetris, Road Runner, RoadBlasters, Primal Rage, Hard Drivin', and San Francisco Rush. Atari Games effectively operated independently from 1987, when Namco sold its controlling stake, until 1994, when it was consolidated into Time Warner Interactive. In 1996, Atari Games was sold to WMS Industries, and the company then became part of Midway Games when that company was spun-off by WMS in 1998. After dropping the Atari name, it ceased operations in 2003; its former assets were later sold back to Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (now Warner Bros. Games) in 2009 following Midway's bankruptcy.
Reader's Guide
Atari Games continued to manufacture arcade games and units, and starting in 1988, also sold cartridges for the Nintendo Entertainment System under the Tengen brand name. The Tengen name was used for its home consumer division that released games, while its home games were mainly developed by Atari Games staff. The companies exchanged a number of lawsuits in the late 1980s related to disputes over the rights to Tetris, of which Tengen had published a version for the NES, and Tengen's circumvention of Nintendo's lockout chip. The suit finally reached a settlement in 1994, with Atari Games paying Nintendo cash damages and use of several patent licenses.
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