Company:Imagic

From HandWiki
Imagic
TypePrivate
IndustryVideo games
FateLiquidation
Founded1981
Defunct1986
Headquarters
Los Gatos, California
,
United States
Key people
Bill Grubb
Dennis Koble
Jim Goldberger
Brian Dougherty
Bob Smith
Rob Fulop
Dave Durran
Pat Ransil
Gary Kato

Imagic (/ɪˈmædʒɪk/ i-MA-jik) was an American video game developer and publisher that created games initially for the Atari 2600. Founded in 1981 by corporate alumni of Atari, Inc. and Mattel, its best-selling titles were Atlantis, Cosmic Ark, and Demon Attack.[1] Imagic also released games for Intellivision, ColecoVision, Atari 8-bit computers, TI-99/4A, IBM PCjr, VIC-20, Commodore 64, TRS-80 Color Computer, and Magnavox Odyssey². Their Odyssey² ports of Demon Attack and Atlantis were the only third-party releases for that system in America. The company never recovered from the video game crash of 1983 and was liquidated in 1986.

History

Imagic was the second independent video game publisher in the early days of home programmable video game systems following Activision. Prior to Activision only Atari and Mattel offered games for their respective consoles.[2] In early 1981, Bill Grubb,[3] the founding CEO of Imagic, had recently left his position as the VP of Sales and Marketing at Atari. After witnessing Activision's meteoric success, Grubb began making plans to form another independent Atari game developer and teamed up with Dennis Koble [4] who was managing game development at Atari. By coincidence at the same time, Jim Goldberger, a marketing executive at Mattel, was working on a business plan with Brian Dougherty, a senior engineer at Mattel, to form the first independent game company for the Mattel Intellivision, the second largest game console at the time. Grubb and Goldberger knew each other and on April 1, 1981 had a meeting in which they discussed each others plans. Grubb suggested joining forces which would allow the new company to distinguish itself from Activision by offering games for both platforms. An agreement was reached and Grubb and Dougherty pitched venture capitalist Kleiner Perkins and Merrill Pickard, ultimately raising $2 million in seed capital.[5] The company was organized as a California Corporation on June 1, 1981, with Frank Caufield and Steve Merrill joining the board along with Grubb and Dougherty.[citation needed] Other founders included Bob Smith and Rob Fulop from Atari, Inc.,[6] Dave Durran from Mattel[7] as well as Pat Ransil[8] and Gary Kato.

It was Grubb's goal to take Imagic public[7] and to eventually overtake Activision as the number one third-party video game publisher.[4] Like Activision, Imagic had a meteoric rise, in its first 3 quarters of sales in 1982, the company sold $48 million worth of games led by Demon Attack developed by Rob Fulop, which became one of the top selling games in the industry. An Intellivision version was also developed by Gary Kato. Fulop, was previously a programmer at Atari, and claimed in a 2019 interview with Paleotronic Magazine that he left the company in favor of Imagic after being paid for developing the Atari 2600 port of Missile Command with a Safeway coupon for a free turkey rather than the monetary Christmas bonus he had expected.[9] Atari later sued Imagic over the Intellivision version of Demon Attack claiming it was to similar to Phoenix, which Atari had the exclusive home console rights to.[10] The case was later settled out of court.[11]

Imagic filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in November 1982[12] with underwriters Merrill Lynch, Hambrecht & Quist, and Alex Brown. Grubb and Dougherty, along with CFO Dennis Rowland completed a public offering road show.[citation needed] The offering was well received and the company was set to go public on December 10, 1982. On December 8th, Warner Communications announced that sales at Atari were significantly down for the 1982 Christmas season.[5] This news negatively affected demand for Imagic's stock forcing the offering to be delayed indefinetly.[13]

Imagic was heavily affected by the video game crash of 1983. Following outcry from retailers following the 1982 Christmas season, Imagic implemented a buyback program. Imagic agreed to buy millions of games back from retailers to provide shelf space for new titles. In order to raise money for storage fees on these old games, Imagic reportedly sold $12 million of its own company stock.[13] In early September 1983, the company laid off 40 out of 170 employees.[14] By October, Imagic had laid off most of its workforce and announced that they would exclusively become a "game design house" and discontinue production of their own games.[13][15]. By November, Bill Grubb had been replaced by Bruce Davis as CEO.[16] Davis had represented the company as legal counsel during the failed IPO launch. After losing confidence in Grubb, the board was drawn to Davis thanks to his accounting background and his previous prediction of the industry crash.[5]

Imagic appeared at the 1984 Consumer Electronics Show with plans for four IBM PCjr games.[17] Imagic was eventually liquidated in 1986. The rights to Imagic's most popular titles have been owned by Activision since the late 1980s,[citation needed] n several occasions.

Fan club

During its height, Imagic ran a fan club for their games, the Numb Thumb Club, which published an annual newsletter.[18] Only two issues were published before Imagic's decline began in late 1983.[18]

Games

Imagic 2600 cartridges were distinct from both Activision and Atari cartridges with an extended ridge at the top of the cart. Packaging was distinctive due to the use of reflective silver on the boxes, with a tapered, ridged end intended for an easy grip. The years are for the original versions only, not subsequent ports.

Title Designer[lower-alpha 1] Released[19][20] Platform
Demon Attack Rob Fulop 1982 Atari 2600, Intellivision, Atari 8-bit (1983), Odyssey 2 (1983), Vic-20 (1983), TI-99/4A (1983), IBM PC (1984), TRS-80 CoCo (1984), Commodore 64 (1984)
Star Voyager Bob Smith 1982 Atari 2600
Trick Shot Dennis Koble 1982 Atari 2600
Atlantis Dennis Koble 1982 Atari 2600, Intellivision, Vic-20 (1983), Atari 8-bit (1983), Odysssey 2 (1983)
Cosmic Ark Rob Fulop 1982 Atari 2600
Fire Fighter Brad Stewart 1982 Atari 2600
Riddle of the Sphinx Bob Smith 1982 Atari 2600
Beauty & the Beast Wendell Brown 1982 Intellivision
Microsurgeon Rick Levine 1982 Intellivision, IBM PC (1984), TI-99/4A (1984)
Dragonfire Bob Smith 1982 Atari 2600, Intellivision, Vic-20 (1983), ZX Spectrum (1984), TRS-80 CoCo (1984) Colecovision (1984), Commodore 64 (1984), Apple II (1984)
Swords & Serpents Brian P. Dougherty 1983 Intellivision
Dracula Alan Smith 1983 Intellivision
Ice Trek Patrick Schmitz 1983 Intellivision
No Escape! Michael Greene 1983 Atari 2600
Nova Blast Clinton Ballard 1983 Intellivision, Colecovision, Commodore 64 (1984)
Shootin' Gallery Dennis Koble 1983 Atari 2600
Truckin' Rick Levine 1983 Intellivision
Tropical Trouble Steve DeFrisco 1983 Intellivision
White Water! Douglas A. Fults 1983 Intellivision
Solar Storm Dennis Koble 1983 Atari 2600
Moonsweeper[21] Bob Smith 1983 Atari 2600, Colecovision, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, MSX, TI-99/4A
Safecracker Marvin Mednick 1983 Intellivision
Fathom Rob Fulop 1983 Atari 2600, Intellivision, Colecovision (1984), TI99/4A (1984), MSX (1985)
Laser Gates Dan Oliver 1983 Atari 2600
Quick Step David Johnson 1983 Atari 2600
Subterranea Mark Klien 1983 Atari 2600
Wing War Michael Greene 1984[22] Colecovision, Atari 2600[lower-alpha 2] (1984)[23], TI-99/4A (1984)
Touchdown Football Mark Klien 1984[24] IBM PC, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Atari 7800
Injured Engine Dave Johnson 1984[25] Commodore 64, Apple II
Chopper Hunt[lower-alpha 3] Tom Hudson 1984[26] Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64
Tournament Tennis Steve Kelly 1984[26] Colecovision, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MS-DOS (1985), Atari ST (1985), Amstrad CPC (1985), Sinclair QL (1985), Thompson TO (1985)

Notes

  1. ↑ As printed on each game's packaging
  2. ↑ Only released in PAL regions
  3. ↑ formerly Buried Bucks from ANALOG Software

References

  1. ↑ "Demon Attack". Atari Age. http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=134. 
  2. ↑ "Classic Gaming Expo Distinguished Guest: Alan Miller". http://www.cgexpo.com/bios/amiller.htm. 
  3. ↑ Hayes, Thomas C. (22 November 1982). "Imagic Scores in Video Games". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1982/11/22/business/imagic-scores-in-video-games.html. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Grubb, Bill; Koble, Dennis (January 1983). "Video Games Interview: Bill Grubb and Dennis Koble". Atari HQ. http://www.atarihq.com/othersec/library/imagic.html. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Smith, Alex; Daum, Jeffrey (October 15, 2021). "The Mysteries of Imagic". They Create Worlds (Podcast). No. 148.
  6. ↑ "Playing Catch Up: Night Trap's Rob Fulop". CMP. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=11832. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "The Making of Atlantis". Enterprise. 1982. PBS – via YouTube.
  8. ↑ Just Kidding TV Show - The Making of Imagic's Wing War – via YouTube.
  9. ↑ "An Interview with Atari 2600 Developer and Imagic Co-Founder Rob Fulop". 29 March 2019. https://paleotronic.com/2019/03/29/an-interview-with-atari-2600-developer-and-imagic-co-founder-rob-fulop/. 
  10. ↑ "Atari Sees Red Over Demon Attack: Sues Imagic for Infringement". Arcade Express (Reese Publications) 1 (11): 2. January 2, 1983. https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/6818b658-f5d5-488c-80bf-c69f9ee83c16. 
  11. ↑ Crookes, David (2016). "Imagic". Retro Gamer (Future Publishing) (161). ISSN 1742-3155. 
  12. ↑ Hayes, Thomas C. (November 22, 1982). "Imagic Scores in Video Games". New York Times: p. D1. https://www.nytimes.com/1982/11/22/business/imagic-scores-in-video-games.html. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Herman, Leonard (December 1983). "Tragic Imagic". Videogaming & Computergaming Illustrated (12). https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/617a4e6d-41aa-453b-bf61-bfd69f53a2ae. 
  14. ↑ "Imagic Layoffs". The New York Times: p. 34. September 17, 1983. https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/17/business/imagic-layoffs.html. 
  15. ↑ "Imagic Repositions". Television Digest Weekly 23 (40): 14. October 3, 1983. 
  16. ↑ "Consumer Electronics Personals". Television Digest Weekly 23 (45): 20. November 7, 1983. 
  17. ↑ Cook, Karen (1984-03-06). "Jr. Sneaks PC into Home". PC Magazine: pp. 35. https://books.google.com/books?id=ZhoP0KRkQe4C&pg=PA35. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Imagic Titles for Intellivision". Intellivision Productions. http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/credits/imagic.shtml. 
  19. ↑ Bunch, Kevin. "Atari VCS game release dates". https://www.atariarchive.org/atari-vcs-game-release-dates/. 
  20. ↑ Bunch, Kevin. "Mattel Intellivision game release dates". https://www.atariarchive.org/mattel-intellivision-game-release-dates/. 
  21. ↑ Holyoak, Craig (May 30, 1984). "Here Are ColecoVision's Jewels". Deseret News: pp. 4 WV. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PqZNAAAAIBAJ&pg=7081%2C6575510. 
  22. ↑ "Availability Update". Computer Entertainer 3 (1): 16. April 1984. https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/211bc931-fffd-4e97-82f3-f53e91578abe. 
  23. ↑ "Screen Games at Las Vegas". TV Gamer: 9. April 1984. https://archive.org/details/TV_Gamer_1984-04_Boytonbrook_GB/page/n7/mode/2up?q=%22wing+war%22. 
  24. ↑ "Availability Update". Computer Entertainer 3 (6): 96. September 1984. https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/b761a092-ca67-4d66-b3a1-77ccaf5001c3. 
  25. ↑ "Availability Update". Computer Entertainer 3 (9): 144. December 1984. https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/f0503916-a3d8-421a-9f97-d4cc50dfdce8. 
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 "Availability Update". Computer Entertainer 3 (10): 160. January 1985. https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/613de5d8-64f3-4f94-850d-dfd543e84633. 



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