atari without warner bros

kerri369

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where do you think atari would have been without warner bros purchasing them in the late seventies? were all those great titles due to the deep pockets of such a large entertainment company? or did such a large company hold down atari's creativity? just a thought
 
From what I have read/seen it seems that Warner's approach drove lots of the talent away and that is why Activision (among others) were started. The suits didn't like paying the developers bonuses, etc., for delivering the big selling titles.

Been a while since I read about this stuff, though.
 
I would love to ask Nolan Bushnell this question.

And I'm pretty sure he sold Atari in the early '80's to Time Warner, not Warner Bros., just to clarify.
 
Time Warner merger was 1990. Bushnell sold Atari in 1984 to Warner Brothers. :)

Are you sure it was in '84? I heard it took place before the crash of '83 (and it is believed to have contributed to the crash). Also games such as Pac-Man, Space Invaders were released in 1981, supposidely after the merger, not to mention ET in 1982.
 
Your both wrong.....:D

Via Wikipedia:
"Looking for outside investors, in 1976 Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications for an estimated $28 – $32 million, using part of the money to buy the Folgers Mansion. Nolan continued to have disagreements with Warner Management over the direction of the company, the discontinuing of the Pinball division and most importantly, he felt that the Atari 2600 should be discontinued. In 1978, the Kee Games brand was dropped.[15] In December of that year during a heated argument between Nolan Bushnell and Manny Gerard, Bushnell was fired."
 
I was helping a friend move some games the other day and noticed the Warner Bros logo (like you would see on TV shows that were produced by Warner Bros) on the back of his Tempest and Centipede cabs.
 
From what I have read/seen it seems that Warner's approach drove lots of the talent away and that is why Activision (among others) were started. The suits didn't like paying the developers bonuses, etc., for delivering the big selling titles.

I have also read this too. Activision was created by former Atari employees. From Activision wikipedia entry:

"Before the formation of Activision, software for video game consoles were published exclusively by makers of the systems for which the games were designed. For example, Atari was the only publisher of games for the Atari 2600. This was particularly galling to the developers of the games, as they received no financial rewards for games that sold well, and did not receive credit for their games. This caused several programmers to resign from their jobs. Activision became the first third-party game publisher for game consoles.

The company was founded by former music industry executive Jim Levy and former Atari programmers David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead. Atari's company policy at the time was not to credit game creators for their individual contributions; Levy took the approach of crediting and promoting game creators along with the games themselves. The steps taken for this included devoting a page to the developer in their instruction manuals and challenging players to send in a high score (usually as a photograph, but sometimes as a letter) in order to receive a patch. These draws helped the newly formed company attract experienced talent. Crane, Kaplan, Levy, Miller, and Whitehead received the Game Developers Choice "First Penguin" award in 2003, in recognition of this step.
The departure of the four programmers, whose titles made up more than half of Atari's cartridge sales at the time, caused legal action between the two companies which were not settled until 1982. As the market for game consoles started to decline, Activision branched out, producing game titles for home computers and acquiring smaller publishers."
 
For those of you who want the story in great detail, I highly recommend the following book:

http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Hist...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264082160&sr=8-1

The book has lots of quotes from the actual people involved. This author had good access to a lot of the key players. I'm almost finished with it, and it has been fascinating. There is a funny anecdote in the book where Nolan was 'surfing' the production line at Atari at the exact moment the suits from Warner came to have a look at the company. Talk about a clash of cultures!
 
challenging players to send in a high score (usually as a photograph, but sometimes as a letter) in order to receive a patch

I still have a picture of me next to the TV screen for a high score I wanted to send in... Unfortunately the image on the TV was not visible in the picture. I was pretty disappointed when that picture came back from being developed. :(
 
...Bankrupt

I agree that the crash might have bankrupted them, but it would have been interesting to see which directions Bushnell would have gone as opposed to WB. From what I understand they needed WBs capital in the first place to have the distribution capability they needed.
 
I thought about this myself the other night as I was working on my Missile Command (1980). I noticed on the tag that it said, " a Warner Communications Company" or something to that effect. I thought wow, Atari came out with all these kick ass games after they got bought by "the man". How often does that happen?

Generally in other hobbies, the most collectible era, always seems to be before a company gets bought out or "sells out". Fender Guitars and the "pre CBS" era would be an example. Another could be recorded music before the big labels ruin the artists.

Any thoughts on why Atari did arguably their best work after the founder no longer held the reins?
 
fact- during the pong boom (which actually was a stolen idea from magnavox, not bushnell's) atari did not have the distribution, manufacturing facilities, or the money to keep up with demand. warner brothers at the time wanted to be in every aspect of the entertainment business (movies tv gaming) the thought was if you went out on a sat night to spend money, warner wanted to be involved. an exec at warner approached bushnell and recomended warner buy him out at the estimated 28-32 million and kept him on as part of the deal. what came with the deal was also the concept of his pizza time theater, which they then negotiated back when he mutually "resinged" from atari. warner thought it was a waste of time. in 1980 1/3 of warners entire revenue came from atari's coin op division. atari had a coin op and home gaming division second to none. and although the employees didnt get along with corperate and never got the credit or royalties they thought they deserved from thier efforts, warner continued to pour money into the gaming division leading many to believe most of the incredible titles home and arcade would never have been possible without warner bros.
 
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