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Midway Games

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Midway Games NYSE: MWY is a video game publisher known for such game series as Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, and Spy Hunter.

Midway, originally known as Midway Manufacturing, began as an independent manufacturer of amusement equipment which was purchased by Bally in 1968. After some years making coin-operated electromechanical arcade games such as puck bowling and a simulated western shoot-out, Midway became an early US maker of arcade video games in the mid-1970s, developing their own games or establishing licensing agreements with Japanese video game developer Taito. Midway's breakthrough success came in 1978 with the licensing and distribution of the seminal arcade game Space Invaders in America; this was followed by a series of lucrative licensed titles including the hugely successful Pac-Man (1980). From the late 1970s through the late 1980s, Midway was the leading producer of arcade video games in the US.

The Midway division of Bally was purchased by the arcade and pinball game company Williams in 1988. Much later, in 1996, Williams also purchased Time-Warner Interactive, which included Atari Games, part of the former giant Atari. On October 25, 1999, all the company's pinball operations were shut down and the Atari Games division was renamed "Midway Games West". With this history Midway has a brilliant legacy, with games that were landmarks of their time, such as Joust, Spy Hunter, Tron, Mortal Kombat, and NBA Jam.

More recently Midway has fallen on harder times; they were listed as the #20 video game publisher in September 2003 by the magazine Game Developer. On February 2003 the company closed its Midway Games West division, putting an end to what was left of the original Atari company founded in 1972 (the other part of the original Atari had dissolved in 1996 when Atari Corporation merged with hard-disk company JTS). In October 2003 Midway said it expected to see about $100 million in revenues for the 2003 year, and $100 million in losses despite this. Sumner Redstone, the head of Viacom, is a large investor in the company. He also plans to buy the company in the near future.

In 2004 Midway began a purchasing spree of independent video game development studios which "strengthens our internal product development team and reinforces our ability to make high quality games" (From Midway's May 2005 Quarterly Report). In April of 2004 Midway acquired Surreal Software of Seattle, Washington. In October of 2004 they acquired Inevitable Entertainment of Austin, Texas (now known as Midway-Austin). In December of 2004 they acquired Paradox Development of Moorpark, California.

On August 4, 2005 Midway acquired the privately-held Australian based developer Ratbag. The Studio will be renamed Midway Studios-Australia.

Founded around 1955, Midway is probably the oldest American electronic game company that is still in the videogaming industry today. Midway Games is based in Chicago, Illinois.


List of Midway's Subsidaries

  • Midway Amusement Games: Formerly the arcade division of Midway; the Bally-Midway and Williams arcade game library are now copyrighted as "Midway Amusement Games, LLC"
  • Midway Games West: Formerly Atari Games; named was changed in 1998; owns the post-1984 Atari Games library
  • Midway Home Entertainment: Console/home entertainment division; first started as Tradewest. The latter company was acquired by WMS Industries in 1994, and was renamed Williams Entertainment, Inc.


List of arcade games developed or licensed by Midway (selection)

List of console games developed or licensed by Midway (selection)

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