Just Curious...how much the brand "AMIGA" worths ?

[masteripper]

Just a question out of curiosity.
If someone was going to buy the brand "AMIGA" how much would it cost.
When I say "brand" I mean everything from License Rights to full source code of every "official" project (OS,extensions...etc)

[TCD]

I don't think that anyone can give you that answer. 'Amiga' as a brand (including the OS, patents etc) is owned by several companies. Have a look here for starters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga,_Inc.

[XPD]

If the "seller" was to look here, they'd charge a small fortune, knowing its a popular thing

For Joe Bloggs who knows nothing about the Amiga, not much - but still more than Joe Average can afford on their own I'd think.

[alexh]

It's worth a lot less than it once was because so many potential buyers are dying of old age. Original Amiga users are now probably +40 yo

[BSzili]

Probably, but it must be worth quite a lot, as we still have companies willing to battle to death over it

[JonSick]

What actual tenable object could you apply a brand like Amiga to today and call it valuable?

I'm pretty sure some clowns tried to attach the Commodore Pet name to some mobile phones trying to get through a loop hole. Really they were nothing more than cheap tat and the Commodore branding despite being ripped off did nothing to save that.

Are you talking new games console? Hate to break it to you, Amiga is no longer established further than old goons like us with peers that say, "Ah yea, Amiga? Yea I remember them. Still goin' are they?"

New console despite brand name? It's not the 1980s anymore. Chucking a Zilog and a few electronics in a box and calling it done won't cut it anymore. R&D costs associated with a modern gaming device absolutely eclipses old off-the-shelf style consoles. Added, people have tried to create new consoles with the image of attempting to compete with the market leaders. In my view, if even Steam couldn't do it, a derp like you and me has no hope - as Ouya proved even!

Attaching Amiga to a box with a fancy custom Linux installation on it and calling it an Amiga? Good luck getting developers to buy onto that instead of the absolutely dominating Wintel and Apple markets. And most people will know it's just a lower spec PC with Linux running. Sort of like Macs right now (oooh ouch!)

So really, other than a bunch of old geezers that fancy playing Turrican II now and then, what appeal would the brand Amiga actually have today? Most gamers under 30 today (also known as the prime market share) no idea what an Amiga is. Even the tech savvy among them won't be blown away by anything less the best, which takes expensive R&D and 3rd party developer buy-in that want to make use of that hardware.

Could be a snip at a cool £10M if you have it laying around. Maybe a good bit extras I would doubt anybody that owns an Amiga trademark of any sort won't want a good slice of that pie rather than sell it to you outright.

Maybe get some pens and pencils made with the logo... I dare say you stand a much better chance of selling those.

[Bruce Abbott]

Originally Posted by JonSick

Are you talking new games console? Hate to break it to you, Amiga is no longer established further than old goons like us with peers that say, "Ah yea, Amiga? Yea I remember them. Still goin' are they?"

Yeah, this is why TheA500 Mini will be an unmitigated disaster.

New console despite brand name? It's not the 1980s anymore...if even Steam couldn't do it, a derp like you and me has no hope.

Attaching Amiga to a box with a fancy custom Linux installation on it and calling it an Amiga? Good luck getting developers to buy onto that

Jumping to conclusions? You have no idea what the OP's plans are - if any.

So really, other than a bunch of old geezers that fancy playing Turrican II now and then, what appeal would the brand Amiga actually have today? Most gamers under 30 today (also known as the prime market share) no idea what an Amiga is. Even the tech savvy among them won't be blown away by anything less the best, which takes expensive R&D and 3rd party developer buy-in that want to make use of that hardware.

A derp, and close-minded.

Could be a snip at a cool £10M if you have it laying around. Maybe a good bit extras I would doubt anybody that owns an Amiga trademark of any sort won't want a good slice of that pie rather than sell it to you outright.

You just made that number up, right? I bet you don't have a clue what it's worth.

Maybe get some pens and pencils made with the logo... I dare say you stand a much better chance of selling those.

"This is not investment advice and does not constitute any offer or solicitation to offer or recommendation of any investment product."

[masteripper]

Nothing regarding "investment"....poor guy..
I was just curious given the fact for "rebuilding" an Amiga replica case could get almost £150K in fund raising why then not a kickstarter to end everything...get the rights..get the code..the abandoned projects..you name it...

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by Bruce Abbott

A derp, and close-minded.

Ad hominems are an easy (and rather lame) way out of an argument, but in that whole post you haven't said one substantial thing as to why Amiga brand might be actually worth anything to anybody but, yes, "a bunch of old geezers".


The truth is that 10 mil he mentions is probably an overestimate. Sure, you can have moderate success with something like the Mini, but what do you follow it with? Oh, a Maxi, ok and then what?


Like it or not, we're talking and extremely niche - and shrinking, as alexh pointed out - market.



And maybe it's a good thing that nobody tries to do anything on a big corporate scale with it. When I watch the likes of Atari SA with their ghoulish, hare brained schemes, or clowns like the PET phone opportunists, I'm grateful that Amiga is both a great memory and unofficial, cottage-industry & homebrew thing.

[Locutus]

Not-Curve-Curveball... The less perceived value attached to the Amiga copyrights/trademarks/'IP' the better for everyone except vultures.

[S0ulA55a551n]

Originally Posted by JonSick

And most people will know it's just a lower spec PC with Linux running. Sort of like Macs right now (oooh ouch!)

.

Don't think you been keeping up on Apple silicon

[Bruce Abbott]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

Ad hominems are an easy (and rather lame) way out of an argument,

Ad hominem? Let's see..

Originally Posted by JonSick

a derp like you...

a bunch of old geezers that fancy playing Turrican II now and then

You're right! It is pretty lame.

Originally Posted by dreadnought

but in that whole post you haven't said one substantial thing as to why Amiga brand might be actually worth anything to anybody but, yes, "a bunch of old geezers".

'Old geezers' = anyone over the age of 20, right?

Want something 'substantial'? How about this:-

New York Times: The Impractical but Indisputable Rise of Retrocomputing

Retrocomputing, the hobby is called, is hardly just a way to pass the time. Instead, as enthusiasts see it, it’s a means of communing with the past.

“You get into this mind-set of what it must’ve been like to be somebody in the late ’70s, having spent thousands of dollars on this thing that barely does anything more than a calculator,” said Clint Basinger, 34, who runs the YouTube channel Lazy Game Reviews... “It’s like a time machine to me,”...

One of the largest vintage computing subreddits, Retro Battlestations, has more than doubled in size over the last few years, from 23,000 subscribers in 2018 to more than 58,000 as of this month. There are also active Discord servers devoted to retrocomputing...

Mr. Dunsany is passionate about bringing new people into the fold, especially those who lack a technical background or don’t fit the computer-nerd stereotype. “I would love to see more women in the hobby and more minorities getting involved because I’m a generic white guy in his late 30s,” he said. “I am sort of the default for this hobby"...

Ryan Horan, 22, has just three reasonably priced vintage computers in his collection: two Atari STs and one Commodore 64. He sees retrocomputing as a glimpse into a world he has never experienced.

“I was born at the tail end of the ’90s,” Mr. Horan said. “I just heard stories of things from my grandparents back in the ’50s and my parents back in the ’80s. So I’ve never been able to experience what those things were apart from stories and having physical things that were from that time that are still perfectly functional.”

Originally Posted by dreadnought

The truth is that 10 mil he mentions is probably an overestimate. Sure, you can have moderate success with something like the Mini, but what do you follow it with? Oh, a Maxi, ok and then what?

The A500 Mini has IP licensed from Cloanto, but they didn't get the name 'Amiga'. How much might that impact sales? I don't know - and neither do you. If it would have helped sell an extra million units then it might be worth $10 million. And we don't know how much they paid for IP they did get, or what the terms are. If The A500 Mini sells well it could be the start of a range of Amiga products like the CD32 or A1200, perhaps using ASICs to get the cost down and performance up.

Or perhaps not. At this point we don't know what will happen. But if Retro Games Ltd makes it big then they will probably want more control over the IP so they can make more use of it. Imagine if an Amiga themed smart phone captured the interest of more than just 'a bunch of old geezers'. With owning the IP - Profit! Without it - Lawsuits! Bankruptcy! $10 million would be a bargain if it hits the mainstream.

Like it or not, we're talking and extremely niche - and shrinking, as alexh pointed out - market.

More narrow-minded thinking.

And maybe it's a good thing that nobody tries to do anything on a big corporate scale with it. When I watch the likes of Atari SA with their ghoulish, hare brained schemes, or clowns like the PET phone opportunists, I'm grateful that Amiga is both a great memory and unofficial, cottage-industry & homebrew thing.

I agree. If some commercial interest bought up all the Amiga IP it could be bad news for us. We are lucky that everybody thinks only a few old geezers are interested in it.

[TCD]

There might be a little misconception here. Not 'old geezers' that are in retro gaming often are interested in the experience as a whole (as the person in the NYT article pointed out). That means original hardware. If there is really a mainstream market for the brand Amiga is at least doubtful at this time. It has certainly failed in the past to try to cash out on the brand alone.

[Mixel]

The Amiga brand at this point is the computer equivalent of the guy who has “a great book/game/movie/app idea that’d be really successful if someone just gave them the chance!” ideas are worthless without execution, the Amiga was executed beautifully, then basically executed in the other sense of the word within a few years, lol. There’s no bringing it back. Nobody has actually put forward any idea as to what a new platform (from most peoples POV) could bring to the table. It is dead outside of us, which is fine. Every market is changing, by the time our kids grow up, what we consider normal computers are going to be secondary/niche devices.. Everything is so well developed and entrenched now, what possible good could Amiga be other than just a license/logo to slap onto already extant stuff?

New software needs teams, time and money, all of which are better spent on platforms that actually, idk, exist? There is nothing wrong with the Amiga being a neat hobbyist scene, it’s part of its charm, but one party owning all of the rights isn’t going to put it any closer to a revival. Nobody seems to be able to agree on what the amiga is or should be, I wouldn’t trust the new owners.

[acidbottle]

It is worth whatever anyone is willing to pay, which wont be a a huge and massive amount, unless amiga goes back into the maintstream.

It has long since left the public eye, so imagine there is little profit on this IP, unlike the likes of nintendo which seem to grow and grow. This is because they are bang up to date and keep their IPs in the public eye.

If we had a mascot, like a sonic or mario, things "might" have been different. Our classic games, such as SOTB were released on multiple platforms and therefore difficult to class as Amiga only, just best on Amiga

The Amiga, for me, is all about classic 68x, no more or less. Have no particular beef with Vampires and such, but it is not true Amiga, but perhaps Amiga enough in spirit.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by acidbottle

If we had a mascot, like a sonic or mario, things "might" have been different.

What about Zool - The Ninja Of The N-th Dimension™?

[acidbottle]

I know Zool was a major attempt to mascot the Amiga, not only was it bang average but again converted to multiple platforms (badly). Id have said Lemmings or Worms to but at least 2 of my mates relate to them as PC!

If Commodore had invested in a great game that was Amiga only, sadly that wasn't their way of thinking.

[TCD]

There are a lot of 'what if' scenarios with Commodore and Amiga. Not sure if it's worth diving too deep into them

[morch]

not a huge amount to be honest, presume a 5% ROI and that return solely comes from name licensing... not a huge amount
my only dream is that someone just pays off both the litigating parties and open sources all the kickstart and workbench stuff so real work can be done by hobbyists like what happened with TOS