Imagic
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Defunct | 1986 |
| Fate | Liquidation |
| Headquarters | , |
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
[edit]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 metoric 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 Intellivion, the second largest game console at the time. Grubb and Goldberger knew each other and soon discovered 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 in the Spring of 1981 Grubb and Dougherty pitched venture capitalist Kleiner Perkins and Merrill Pickard raising $2 million in seed capital. 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. Other founders included Bob Smith and Rob Fulop from Atari, Inc.,[5] Dave Durran from Mattel[6] as well as Pat Ransil[7] and Gary Kato.
It was Grubb's goal to take Imagic public[6] and to eventually overtake Activision as the number one third-party video game publisher.[4] Like Activision, Imagic had a metoric 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 Intellivion 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.[8]
Imagic filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in November of 1982 with underwriters Merrill Lynch, Hambrecht & Quist, and Alex Brown. Grubb and Dougherty, along with CFO Dennis Rowland completed a public offering road show. The offering was well received and the company was set to go public in early December. Just days before the offering Atari announced that video game console sales were significantly down for the 1982 Christmas season. This news negatively affected demand for Imagic’s stock and the underwriters along with the company decided to delay the offering. Unfortunately the industry was in for a prolonged decline and the company never managed to go public.
Atari also sued Imagic over Demon Attack because of its resemblance to Phoenix,[9] to which Atari had the exclusive home-version rights. The case was settled out of court.
Fan club
[edit]During its height, Imagic ran a fan club for their games, the Numb Thumb Club, which published an annual newsletter.[10] Only two issues were published before Imagic's decline began in late 1983.[10]
Decline
[edit]Although Imagic grew quickly in its early years, it was irreparably harmed by the video game crash of 1983. It released 24 games before going out of business by 1986, but the exact time it disbanded is unknown. In 1983, the company laid off 40 of their 170 employees[11] but appeared at the 1984 Consumer Electronics Show with plans for four IBM PCjr games.[12] The rights to Imagic's most popular titles have been owned by Activision since the late 1980s,[citation needed] and they have been re-released on several occasions.
Games
[edit] | This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2020) |
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 | Released | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Atlantis | 1982 | Atari 2600, Intellivision, Vic-20 (1983), Atari 8-bit (1983), Odysssey 2 (1983) |
| Cosmic Ark | 1982 | Atari 2600 |
| Demon Attack | 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) |
| Dragonfire | 1982 | Atari 2600, Intellivision, Vic-20 (1983), ZX Spectrum (1984), TRS-80 CoCo (1984) Colecovision (1984), Commodore 64 (1984), Apple II (1984) |
| Fire Fighter[13] | 1982 | Atari 2600 |
| Beauty & the Beast | 1982 | Intellivision |
| Microsurgeon | 1982 | Intellivision, IBM PC (1984), TI-99/4A (1984) |
| Riddle of the Sphinx | 1982 | Atari 2600 |
| Swords & Serpents[10] | 1982 | Intellivision |
| Star Voyager | 1982 | Atari 2600 |
| Trick Shot | 1982 | Atari 2600 |
| Dracula[14] | 1983 | Intellivision |
| Fathom | 1983 | Atari 2600, Intellivision |
| Ice Trek | 1983 | Intellivision |
| Laser Gates | 1983 | Atari 2600 |
| Moonsweeper[15] | 1983 | Atari 2600, Colecovision, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, MSX, TI-99/4A |
| No Escape! | 1983 | Atari 2600 |
| Nova Blast | 1983 | Intellivision, Colecovision, Commodore 64 (1984) |
| Quick Step | 1983 | Atari 2600 |
| Safecracker | 1983 | Intellivision |
| Shootin' Gallery | 1983 | Atari 2600 |
| Solar Storm | 1983 | Atari 2600 |
| Subterranea | 1983 | Atari 2600 |
| Tropical Trouble | 1983 | Intellivision |
| Truckin' | 1983 | Intellivision |
| White Water! | 1983 | Intellivision |
| Wing War | 1983 | Atari 2600, Colecovision (1984), TI-99/4A (1984) |
| Chopper Hunt, formerly Buried Bucks from ANALOG Software | 1984 | Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64 |
| Injured Engine | 1984 | Commodore 64, Apple ii |
| Touchdown Football | 1984 | IBM PC, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Atari 7800 |
| Tournament Tennis | 1984 | Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Colecovision, MS-DOS (1985), Atari ST (1985), Amstrad CPC (1985), Sinclair QL (1985), Thompson TO (1985) |
References
[edit]- ^ "Demon Attack". Atari Age. Archived from the original on 2012-10-15. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
- ^ "Classic Gaming Expo Distinguished Guest: Alan Miller". Classic Gaming Expo. Archived from the original on February 8, 2012. Retrieved 2006-08-30.
- ^ Hayes, Thomas C. (22 November 1982). "Imagic Scores in Video Games". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
- ^ a b Grubb, Bill; Koble, Dennis (January 1983). "Video Games Interview: Bill Grubb and Dennis Koble". Video Games Magazine. Atari HQ. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
- ^ "Playing Catch Up: Night Trap's Rob Fulop". Gamasutra. CMP. Archived from the original on January 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
- ^ a b "The Making of Atlantis". Enterprise. 1982. PBS – via YouTube.
- ^ Just Kidding TV Show - The Making of Imagic's Wing War – via YouTube.
- ^ "An Interview with Atari 2600 Developer and Imagic Co-Founder Rob Fulop". Paleotronic Magazine. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ Nobles, Ethan C. (February 19, 2002). "Demon Attack: This Game Is Pure Imagic!". Atari Times. Archived from the original on 2006-10-25. Retrieved 2007-04-10.
- ^ a b c "Imagic Titles for Intellivision". Intellivision Lives. Intellivision Productions. Archived from the original on 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
- ^ "Imagic Layoffs". The New York Times. September 17, 1983. p. 34.
- ^ Cook, Karen (1984-03-06). "Jr. Sneaks PC into Home". PC Magazine. p. 35. Retrieved 24 October 2013 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Atari 2600 VCS Fire Fighter : Scans, Dump, Download, Screenshots, Ads, Videos, Catalog, Instructions, ROMs". AtariMania.com.
- ^ "Availability Update". The Video Game Update. Vol. 2, no. 1. April 1983. p. 4.
- ^ Holyoak, Craig (May 30, 1984). "Here Are ColecoVision's Jewels". Deseret News. pp. 4 WV. Retrieved 10 January 2015 – via Google News.