Amiga Games (and our childhood memories) acquired for $500,000

[gnujon]

Apparently this deal actually does include the distribution rights to over 300 Amiga games.

http://m.techspot.com/news/53161-la-...or-500000.html

How could Bill McEwen have managed to obtain the rights for so many titles I wonder?

[lilalurl]

Originally Posted by gnujon

http://m.techspot.com/news/53161-la-...or-500000.html

Only interesting thing IMO:

Further details, like which games are included in the bundle, won’t be known for a few more weeks according to the new owner.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by n00w

Amiga Games Inc. must have acquired the copyrights portfolio or at least a transferable license allowing them to do their business in the proper extent. If not, AGI wouldn't be worth a penny.

The moment they claim to own rights to games that will make money on the mobile market they are worth quite a bit more than a penny. If they actually own or are allowed to license any of those rights is another question. Time and the titles that they'll offer will tell. The whole deal sounds too vague to be considered 'perfectly legit' without further details.

[n00w]

I can ensure you that claims alone are worth nothing, and as long as WGF Corp is a publicly traded company having to publish 10-k reports and other stuff to the SEC, making wrong statements can lead them to investigations about manipulating stocks and having to pay more in fines than the price figure for which they have acquired this portfolio.

A public company has to be aware of this and it's extremely rare if not unbelievable that they wouldn't have at least audited the acquired company's assets if not performed an appropriate due diligence. Although I must admit that 500 k$ is very small but maybe the licences to old Amiga games are not worth more than this.

A few other things:
1. In the press release I've linked to, there's the classic rights' statement at the end and if one reads correcly:
"Amiga is the registered trademark of Amiga, Inc. in the U.S. and other territories. Amiga Inc. Trademarks and Software have been licensed to Amiga Games, Inc. for mobile devices under a Software and Trademark License Agreement. "

So apparently we know where the licenses are coming from.

2. There's more to this. I've just googled it very quickly:
https://www.google.com/search?q=site...rp.4_XW6H73B5c

Oh, it seems that Amiga Inc. really owns the licenses to some Team 17 games.

Maybe Debbie Bestwick, Managing Director of Team 17, quoted as saying, knows a little more than Martyn Brown who has left Team 17 in 2011 apparently for good reasons then founded his own consultancy, Insight For Hire Ltd.

Martyn Brown doesn't sign anymore Team 17 agreements since he left, does he? Should he also be aware of the NDAs?

His rants remind me of Peter Hook first engaging in battle with New Order before recognizing it was very childish. But it's normal for a guy like Martyn Brown who has devoted a big part of his life to his former company which he was the founder of. I bet that everything will get back to normal sooner or later.

[dlfrsilver]

indeed, then it means that those guys will then make us troubles, they will ask us to remove the games wherever they are and will threat to lawsuit (you are by copying games making us not be able to get the maximum money...... Pffffff

[TCD]

Originally Posted by n00w

Oh, it seems that Amiga Inc. really owns the licenses to some Team 17 games.

!=

Bitmap Brothers and Amiga, Inc. are working together to bring Bitmap Brothers catalog of Amiga games to the latest BlackBerry® devices.

I'm not saying the whole deal is a hoax. Still AGI might not have the proper agreements for all titles, so please allow me to remain suspicious

[n00w]

First let's forget the exclusivity with Barnes and Noble Nook Store:
SK Telecom's SK Planet T Store: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/amiga-...xRuj0AeL3QtDMD
BlackBerry World for BlackBerry Z10, Q10 and PlayBook: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/amiga-...xRuj0Aer3QtDMD

Second, the company Amiga Games Inc. has been founded by Bill McEwen, CEO of Amiga Inc.:
http://www.bizapedia.com/wa/AMIGA-GAMES-INC.html

For me that means that Amiga Inc. has packed its game software and trademarks portfolio into an incorporated business just to sell it to another company. The 500 k$ are really for the licenses, not for the walls and employees. This, obviously because Bill McEwen's strategy is to exit that business, which raises more questions about his new strategy at Amiga Inc.

Originally Posted by TCD

I'm not saying the whole deal is a hoax. Still AGI might not have the proper agreements for all titles, so please allow me to remain suspicious

If AI did not have the proper agreements then AGI probably doesn't have the proper agreements, which I doubt, again, for the exact reasons I've already exposed in my previous posts.

The only mitigating hypothesis I could see which could make you right up to some point, would be that of the 300 games, a certain number would have only trademark licensing agreements, which wouldn't allow them to make adaptations for instance (for this they would need a full copyright/software agreement).

On the other hand, if they have both trademark and distributor/reseller agreements for the games, they can still distribute them on platforms which have emulation applications.

[n00w]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

indeed, then it means that those guys will then make us troubles, they will ask us to remove the games wherever they are and will threat to lawsuit (you are by copying games making us not be able to get the maximum money...... Pffffff

Not more than the rights holders themselves, and not more than Amiga Inc. previously, but that's not impossible.

If you want to know what is Writers' Group Film Corp. (no website) it's a holding which main representation is Frontrow Networks:
http://frnetworks.com

Eric Mitchell the new Chairman & CEO has told his strategy to the press on May 22, 2013:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...208509291.html

Which, if you read the press release about Blackberry, means that Amiga Inc. has also sold its existing agreements with makers of tablets/smartphones and applications and WGF intends to exploit the revenue streams. And there are some games named in this particular release.

In the end WGF doesn't look like a copyright troll, still they can decide at any time to enforce their rights. Nothing prevents them to do so.

Hope this helps.

[n00w]

Looks like something really weird happened with Bill McEwen.

That's why I suggest continuation of this thread here:
http://eab.abime.net/amiga-scene/701...ewen-dead.html

Except maybe for discussions about Writers' Group Film Corp., its newly acquired subsidiary Amiga Games Inc. and what will happen to games in the portfolio...

[TCD]

Originally Posted by n00w

For me that means that Amiga Inc. has packed its game software and trademarks portfolio into an incorporated business just to sell it to another company. The 500 k$ are really for the licenses, not for the walls and employees. This, obviously because Bill McEwen's strategy is to exit that business, which raises more questions about his new strategy at Amiga Inc.

That's assuming that they ever owned such rights (which, in case there's any doubt left, many of us doubt). Amiga Inc. was on the brink of being bankrupt for years, so this whole deal comes as a surprise. I'd suggest to read up a bit about Amiga Inc. past to understand that there's reason why people don't believe in the perfect legitimacy of this deal.

[n00w]

I don't have much time as I'm currently at work and not supposed to participate in forum threads. Yes I've read the three bankruptcy filings and I've been following up the case for quite a while. I'm not looking at this with passionate or romantic glasses as I don't have anymore ties with anything Amiga, but it has been part of my job to investigate in companies, analyze their facts and figures, their shareholding structures, governance rules, etc. and I'm pleased to help you there with providing some new sources and insights.

If you have doubts and specific questions to ask about specific games (as in the case of Team 17 ones for instance) please don't refrain and I will be pleased to help.

Regarding the legitimacy as long as Amiga Inc. and WGF are completely separate entities, for such a transaction one should not stay with doubts on the selling side but should also consider the buying side, a public company, and the rules which are applying in this case.

If you have other doubts or considerations about my reading of Amiga Inc. past or anything else not related to this thread, thank you to go PM.

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

all the titles from team 17 can be freely downloaded from dream17 website.
All of them.

Freely... no permission made to sell which is what it sounds like this Amiga Games inc. Is trying to pass off.

[n00w]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

Freely... no permission made to sell which is what it sounds like this Amiga Games inc. Is trying to pass off.

Please read http://www.amiga.com/news/?art=48
September 26, 2012.
Quote:
“In partnership with Amiga, we are excited to announce the re-release of our chart-topping early games”, said Debbie Bestwick, Managing Director of Team 17. “Seeing the original versions of these Amiga games run on the BlackBerry PlayBook brought back many fond memories for us, as the tablet was passed around the Team 17 offices. We look forward to continued cooperation with Amiga to see more of our classic titles revived for fans old and new.”

[alexh]

In 2007 Amiga Inc tried to acquire the publication rights to lots and lots of Amiga games *legally*.

Here is the letter that Bill McEwen sent to Thalion :

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From: "Bill McEwen" <bill@amiga.com>
To: <a1exh@hotmail.com>
Subject: Trying to locate some of Thalion team
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Amiga is trying to reach members of the Thalion team. Any help that you could provide would be appreciated.

Let me explain what is happening.

1. Amiga has been very quiet for some time, and we will continue this for another few months. Once we start making noise we will be making a great deal of noise.

2. We are in the process of closing several distribution deals with Cable and Satellite companies who are looking for their customers to play Amiga games. We are creating an Amiga game player so that consumers can play Amiga games on several different hardware platforms. The opportunity for Thalion and the members of the team are two fold.

1. We can use their existing games and make them available as they are through the game player on the supported hardware. So I am looking for any and all titles that they would like to make available, other for pay or for Free. For those titles where we make money we will pay a royalty of 25% and we handle all of the contracts, distribution, marketing and sales.
   
2. We are going to also start porting and making Amiga titles available on other platforms where we are going to have to "port" them to the other device types. Amiga would need access to source code where available, or the ok to "clone" the titles and run them on the other platforms. Amiga would handle all of the technical details of porting as well an handle all of the sales and marketing of those titles and we pay a royalty of 12% for those "ported" titles.

I look forward to reading your reply.

Bill McEwen

Amiga, Inc.

bill@amiga.com

Tel: 425.557.9600 x23

Fax: 425.557.0090

Before you all jump to conclusions and say *this is piracy bullshit* I think you should check your facts.

Amiga Games Inc do not appear to have ever said which games titles they had the rights to publish. It just says "300 Amiga titles".

That said I doubt the rights were transferable from Amiga Inc. to Amiga Games Inc? (Which I can confirm is a company by Bill McEwan)

http://www.bizapedia.com/wa/AMIGA-GAMES-INC.html

[n00w]

Maybe you could start looking at this?
http://appworld.blackberry.com/webst...21741/?lang=en

This is the place where you buy all Amiga Games sold by now inactive Amiga Inc. (maybe this will be renamed soon in the catalog, as Amiga Games Inc.) and there is already a nice list of them.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by n00w

Regarding the legitimacy as long as Amiga Inc. and WGF are completely separate entities, for such a transaction one should not stay with doubts on the selling side but should also consider the buying side, a public company, and the rules which are applying in this case.

I couldn't find the homepage for "Writer's Group Film Corp". Do you have a link? Seems like the homepage that is linked to from most stock reports (http://writersgroupfilmcorp.com) is expired since the 10th of this month.

[alexh]

Their website is http://www.FRNetworks.com

According to the Writer's Group Film Corp (WRIT:OTC US) filings. The purchase of Amiga Games Inc is in fact $500k in cash AND $500k in stock. So a cool $1M

Plus they intend to sell on Android via Google Play

http://www.bloomberg.com/article/201....M.CtRqLA.html

[TCD]

Thank you for the link, but it seems it's another subsidary like AGI: "Writers' Group Film Corp. (OTCQB: WRIT) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Front Row Networks"

[n00w]

Originally Posted by TCD

Thank you for the link, but it seems it's another subsidary like AGI: "Writers' Group Film Corp. (OTCQB: WRIT) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Front Row Networks"

I wrote this in one of my previous posts - see above:
If you want to know what is Writers' Group Film Corp. (no website) it's a holding which main representation is Frontrow Networks:
http://frnetworks.com

Holdings do not always have websites, I have many examples of this, including some much much larger than this one. Plus this site has an "investor relations" section (short, the company is listed only on a secondary market exclusively with obligations to report to the SEC), and you will find most WGF press releases on this website.

[alexh]

I wonder how they will pay the second part of Amiga Games Inc. with $500k of shares when the market cap of the company is only $370k? Down 42% today and down 80% over the last few months

https://www.google.co.uk/finance?q=W...UZC8BszCwAPpVw