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

DDNI · 08 July 2013, 18:44

http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/08/a...ames-acquired/

Forget Mac versus PC, there was a time when Amiga reigned supreme -- at least in the heart of many computer gamers of a certain age. The Amiga 500 simply blew other computers from the '80s away, especially in the gaming department. But then the '90s happened (and you know where this is going): Microsoft won, Apple nearly went bankrupt and Sony introduced the world to Crash Bandicoot. So what about all those old classics like Alien Breed and Wings? Amiga Games Incorporated, and its library of over 300 titles, have been purchased for $500,000 by Writers' Group, a company that acquires and distributes digital content. The new owner is promising several announcements over the next few weeks, and hopefully one of them has to do with Overdrive.

brett71 · 08 July 2013, 22:35

OK, dumb question...

Who is (or WAS) Amiga Games, Inc.? This is the first I've heard of them and the website at amigagamesinc.com isn't very helpful.

Predseda · 08 July 2013, 23:04

xactly

fryguy · 08 July 2013, 23:08

seems like scAmiga stInc again

Marcuz · 08 July 2013, 23:38

I expect any news on Amiga to be either bad or unconsequential news, except for EAB projects, Winuae, Whdload, and the like.
Which is this? Bad or unconsequential?

Steve T · 08 July 2013, 23:45

Another company trying to cash in on cheap conversions of old software that has long fallen out of the original developers hands?

TCD · 08 July 2013, 23:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve T

Another company trying to cash in on cheap conversions of old software that has long fallen out of the original developers hands?

Aye. Nobody heard of them yet and they have just been bought? Smells fishy, very fishy...

jimbob · 09 July 2013, 00:22

Could be this amiga games inc has been slyly picking up title rights as assorted devs and publishers vanished and changed hands, waiting til they felt they could cash in on a bit of retro fever, either by remakes or re-releases on mobile platforms.

Either that or someone just got shafted for half a million bucks.

lilalurl · 09 July 2013, 08:43

You can click on Show Full PR Text for more info.

Among things, you can read:

Quote:

Amiga Games Inc. ("AGI"), a company which licenses classic video game libraries and re-publishes the most popular titles for smartphones, modern game consoles, PCs, and tablets. Leveraging the intellectual property of Amiga Inc., AGI builds on the "Amiga" brand and technology to create new revenue from publisher's dormant game libraries. AGI resurrects classic Amiga games and other classic titles, by giving them new life on today's gaming platforms: smartphones, PCs, consoles, and tablets.

So it seems this is exactly what people have been guessing in the previous posts.

Predseda · 09 July 2013, 13:47

OMG, there is Bill McEven behind it

TCD · 09 July 2013, 13:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Predseda

OMG, there is Bill McEven behind it

zenox98 · 09 July 2013, 14:06

... for $500,000 apparently.

Article from Eurogamer http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...for-USD500-000

alenppc · 09 July 2013, 22:31

This does not make sense. So, this Amiga Games inc went around buying the title rights first? Or are they trying to sell rights to titles they don't own? I'd imagine Alien Breed to still belong to Team17.

Still amazing how this company always manages to scam someone, one way or another.

TCD · 09 July 2013, 22:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by alenppc

So, this Amiga Games inc went around buying the title rights first? Or are they trying to sell rights to titles they don't own? I'd imagine Alien Breed to still belong to Team17.

It sounds a bit like 'right laundry', doesn't it? I mean you never hear anything about Amiga Games Inc. until it's sold to another company...

Since Team 17 stil sells Alien Breed games (http://www.team17.com/games/alien-br...-breed#Android for example), you'd imagine they still own the rights to the franchise.

IFW · 10 July 2013, 11:36

Amiga was never a publisher of any title apart from a handful licensed for one-off bundles.
So they had no right whatsoever to sell rights to 300 titles, unless they actively bought them up.
Even console platform holders couldn't release dormant titles on their own, despite having a different licensing model in place... so I call BS on this, or a scam to increase company value, attract investors.

Eclipse · 10 July 2013, 14:38

I can't see how they own the rights to popular titles either.
Amiga themselves may have had a small library, maybe the bundled titles for instance...but that's not superfrog or alien breed.

Or, "these titles are dead, lets hope no one notices us making a buck from them, after all most of these developers are not around anymore".

s2325 · 10 July 2013, 14:59

Dangerous Streets was bundled with CD32, that's for sure better than SuperFrog or Alien Breed

dlfrsilver · 11 July 2013, 01:24

Even Martyn Brown has answered about this, and they have not the right to do this. They could even be prosecuted for that. It seems that they have contracted rights from people which are not the legal owners, as such, if for any reason anyone got problems, contact via facebook the owner (ex: Martyn Brown for team 17 games), or others.

xArtx · 11 July 2013, 10:10

I saw Project-X on an Amiga site that supposedly offers up adf files from
developers who have given up titles for free distribution.

When I emailed Team-17 about using Project-X in a one off distribution,
I was declined, and it turns out the game wasn't given up at all.
Turns out I inadvertantly dobbed the site in... Team-17 replied saying they
are going to send a friendly email asking for Project-X files to be removed.

In their last reply they also said they have plans to revive some older titles,
but didn't say if thats by native ports or through emulation.

Amiga Inc... just look at their site.
The only thing it seems to have in common with anything Amiga,
is cashing in with regard to licensed branding, and Kickstart stuff.
If you want to produce an Amiga T-Shirt, it costs $1000 just to send the form.

dlfrsilver · 11 July 2013, 15:09

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

08 July 2013, 18:44	#1
DDNI Targ Explorer Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Northern Ireland Posts: 5,431	Amiga Games (and our childhood memories) acquired for $500,000 http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/08/a...ames-acquired/ Forget Mac versus PC, there was a time when Amiga reigned supreme -- at least in the heart of many computer gamers of a certain age. The Amiga 500 simply blew other computers from the '80s away, especially in the gaming department. But then the '90s happened (and you know where this is going): Microsoft won, Apple nearly went bankrupt and Sony introduced the world to Crash Bandicoot. So what about all those old classics like Alien Breed and Wings? Amiga Games Incorporated, and its library of over 300 titles, have been purchased for $500,000 by Writers' Group, a company that acquires and distributes digital content. The new owner is promising several announcements over the next few weeks, and hopefully one of them has to do with Overdrive.

09 July 2013, 14:06	#12
zenox98 Joy Division Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: East Yorkshire Age: 60 Posts: 239	Amiga Games Inc bought ... for $500,000 apparently. Article from Eurogamer http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...for-USD500-000

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08 July 2013, 22:35	#2
brett71 Registered User Join Date: May 2010 Location: Ames, IA, USA Posts: 521	OK, dumb question... Who is (or WAS) Amiga Games, Inc.? This is the first I've heard of them and the website at amigagamesinc.com isn't very helpful.

08 July 2013, 23:04	#3
Predseda Puttymoon inhabitant Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Tromaville Age: 46 Posts: 7,544	xactly

08 July 2013, 23:08	#4
fryguy Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Skarabörg, Sweden Age: 44 Posts: 1,020	seems like scAmiga stInc again

08 July 2013, 23:38	#5
Marcuz Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: . Age: 48 Posts: 5,562	I expect any news on Amiga to be either bad or unconsequential news, except for EAB projects, Winuae, Whdload, and the like. Which is this? Bad or unconsequential?

08 July 2013, 23:45	#6
Steve T Registered User Join Date: May 2013 Location: UK Age: 44 Posts: 351	Another company trying to cash in on cheap conversions of old software that has long fallen out of the original developers hands?

09 July 2013, 00:22	#8
jimbob Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Location: Kilmacolm Age: 46 Posts: 632	Could be this amiga games inc has been slyly picking up title rights as assorted devs and publishers vanished and changed hands, waiting til they felt they could cash in on a bit of retro fever, either by remakes or re-releases on mobile platforms. Either that or someone just got shafted for half a million bucks.

09 July 2013, 13:47	#10
Predseda Puttymoon inhabitant Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Tromaville Age: 46 Posts: 7,544	OMG, there is Bill McEven behind it

09 July 2013, 22:31	#13
alenppc Registered User Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Canada Age: 44 Posts: 910	This does not make sense. So, this Amiga Games inc went around buying the title rights first? Or are they trying to sell rights to titles they don't own? I'd imagine Alien Breed to still belong to Team17. Still amazing how this company always manages to scam someone, one way or another.

10 July 2013, 11:36	#15
IFW Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: ... Age: 52 Posts: 1,838	Amiga was never a publisher of any title apart from a handful licensed for one-off bundles. So they had no right whatsoever to sell rights to 300 titles, unless they actively bought them up. Even console platform holders couldn't release dormant titles on their own, despite having a different licensing model in place... so I call BS on this, or a scam to increase company value, attract investors.

10 July 2013, 14:38	#16
Eclipse Turpentine Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Kent, United Kingdom Posts: 744	I can't see how they own the rights to popular titles either. Amiga themselves may have had a small library, maybe the bundled titles for instance...but that's not superfrog or alien breed. Or, "these titles are dead, lets hope no one notices us making a buck from them, after all most of these developers are not around anymore".

10 July 2013, 14:59	#17
s2325 Zone Friend Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Gargore Age: 43 Posts: 17,789	Dangerous Streets was bundled with CD32, that's for sure better than SuperFrog or Alien Breed

11 July 2013, 01:24	#18
dlfrsilver CaptainM68K-SPS France Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Melun nearby Paris/France Age: 46 Posts: 10,420	Even Martyn Brown has answered about this, and they have not the right to do this. They could even be prosecuted for that. It seems that they have contracted rights from people which are not the legal owners, as such, if for any reason anyone got problems, contact via facebook the owner (ex: Martyn Brown for team 17 games), or others.

11 July 2013, 10:10	#19
xArtx Registered User Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Australia Posts: 685	I saw Project-X on an Amiga site that supposedly offers up adf files from developers who have given up titles for free distribution. When I emailed Team-17 about using Project-X in a one off distribution, I was declined, and it turns out the game wasn't given up at all. Turns out I inadvertantly dobbed the site in... Team-17 replied saying they are going to send a friendly email asking for Project-X files to be removed. In their last reply they also said they have plans to revive some older titles, but didn't say if thats by native ports or through emulation. Amiga Inc... just look at their site. The only thing it seems to have in common with anything Amiga, is cashing in with regard to licensed branding, and Kickstart stuff. If you want to produce an Amiga T-Shirt, it costs $1000 just to send the form.

11 July 2013, 15:09	#20
dlfrsilver CaptainM68K-SPS France Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Melun nearby Paris/France Age: 46 Posts: 10,420	all the titles from team 17 can be freely downloaded from dream17 website. All of them.

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