3 replies to this topic

[tyranthraxus]

So I've been enjoying the new Midway collection recently. And I got
to wondering as to what were the details between Midway owning
Williams and Atari and other competition I'm not aware of?

[tyranthraxus]

Well I finished checking out the the trivia section and answered my own
question. Williams bought Midway out. Which explains why Williams games
have all the interviews and other extras while the other titles are pretty
bare. Still I am looking for more information on Williams purchase and
a reason why the have kept the Midway name front and center?

[JB]

Williams moved into gambling machinery, and left Midway as their video game brand.

Seperation of products, or something like that.
Same reason Kentucky Fried Chicken isn't called Pepsi Chicken.

[goatdan]

JB said:

Williams moved into gambling machinery, and left Midway as their video game brand.  

Seperation of products, or something like that.  
Same reason Kentucky Fried Chicken isn't called Pepsi Chicken.

I'm a little late on this but...

Bally, Midway and Williams were all different divisions of the same company. Furthermore, Atari Games was a division of Midway. It was all from mergers of the 80's.

Midway "became" the video game brand mostly because Atari Games couldn't produce home console stuff under the Atari name. Thus, we ended up with Tengen / Time Warner Interactive and more recently Midway producing the Rush series and Gauntlet series for home consoles.