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For the company formerly known as iMagic, see IEntertainment Network.

Imagic (/ɪˈmædʒɪk/ i-MA-jik) was an American video game developer and publisher that created games initially for the Atari 2600. Founded in 1981 by corporate alumni of Atari, Inc. and Mattel, its best-selling titles were Atlantis, Cosmic Ark, and Demon Attack.[1] Imagic also released games for Intellivision, ColecoVision, Atari 8-bit computers, TI-99/4A, IBM PCjr, VIC-20, Commodore 64, TRS-80 Color Computer, and Magnavox Odyssey². Their Odyssey² ports of Demon Attack and Atlantis were the only third-party releases for that system in America. The company never recovered from the video game crash of 1983 and was liquidated in 1986.

History

Imagic was the second independent video game publisher in the early days of home programmable video game systems following Activision. Prior to Activision only Atari and Mattel offered games for their respective consoles.[2] In early 1981, Bill Grubb,[3] the founding CEO of Imagic, had recently left his position as the VP of Sales and Marketing at Atari. After witnessing Activision’s meteoric success, Grubb began making plans to form another independent Atari game developer and teamed up with Dennis Koble [4] who was managing game development at Atari. By coincidence at the same time, Jim Goldberger, a marketing executive at Mattel, was working on a business plan with Brian Dougherty, a senior engineer at Mattel, to form the first independent game company for the Mattel Intellivion, the second largest game console at the time. Grubb and Goldberger knew each other and soon discovered each other’s plans. Grubb suggested joining forces which would allow the new company to distinguish itself from Activision by offering games for both platforms. An agreement was reached and in the Spring of 1981 Grubb and Dougherty pitched venture capitalist Kleiner Perkins and Merrill Pickard raising $2 million in seed capital. The company was organized as a California Corporation on June 1, 1981, with Frank Caufield and Steve Merrill joining the board along with Grubb and Dougherty. Other founders included Bob Smith and Rob Fulop from Atari, Inc.,[5] Dave Durran from Mattel[6] as well as Pat Ransil[7] and Gary Kato.

It was Grubb’s goal to take Imagic public[6] and to eventually overtake Activision as the number one third-party video game publisher.[4] Like Activision, Imagic had a meteoric rise, in its first 3 quarters of sales in 1982, the company sold $48 million worth of games led by Demon Attack developed by Rob Fulop, which became one of the top selling games in the industry. An Intellivion version was also developed by Gary Kato. Fulop, was previously a programmer at Atari, and claimed in a 2019 interview with Paleotronic Magazine that he left the company in favor of Imagic after being paid for developing the Atari 2600 port of Missile Command with a Safeway coupon for a free turkey rather than the monetary Christmas bonus he had expected.[8]

Atari sued Imagic over Demon Attack because of its resemblance to Phoenix,[9] to which Atari had the exclusive home-version rights. The case was settled out of court.

Imagic filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in November 1982 with underwriters Merrill Lynch, Hambrecht & Quist, and Alex Brown. Grubb and Dougherty, along with CFO Dennis Rowland completed a public offering road show. The offering was well received and the company was set to go public in early December. During the IPO’s review period, Atari announced that video game console sales were significantly down for the 1982 Christmas season and fellow games publisher Games by Apollo went out of business.[10] This news negatively affected demand for Imagic’s stock forcing the offering to be delayed indefinetly.[10]

Imagic was heavily affected by the video game crash of 1983. Following outcry from retailers following the 1982 Christmas season, Imagic implemented a buyback program. Imagic agreed to buy millions of games back from retailers to provide shelf space for new titles. In order to raise money for storage fees on these old games, Imagic reportedly sold $12 million of its own company stock. In early September 1983, the company laid off 40 out of 170 employees.[11] By October, Imagic had laid off most of its workforce and announced that they would exclusively become a “game design house” and discontinue production of their own games.[10] They appeared at the 1984 Consumer Electronics Show with plans for four IBM PCjr games.[12] Imagic was eventually liquidated in 1986.[citation needed] The rights to Imagic’s most popular titles have been owned by Activision since the late 1980s,[citation needed] and they have been re-released on several occasions.

Fan club

During its height, Imagic ran a fan club for their games, the Numb Thumb Club, which published an annual newsletter.[13] Only two issues were published before Imagic’s decline began in late 1983.[13]

Games

Imagic 2600 cartridges were distinct from both Activision and Atari cartridges with an extended ridge at the top of the cart. Packaging was distinctive due to the use of reflective silver on the boxes, with a tapered, ridged end intended for an easy grip. The years are for the original versions only, not subsequent ports.

Title Designer[a] Released[14][15] Platform
Demon Attack Rob Fulop April 1982 Atari 2600, Intellivision, Atari 8-bit (1983), Odyssey 2 (1983), Vic-20 (1983), TI-99/4A (1983), IBM PC (1984), TRS-80 CoCo (1984), Commodore 64 (1984)
Star Voyager Bob Smith April 1982 Atari 2600
Trick Shot Dennis Koble April 1982 Atari 2600
Atlantis Dennis Koble July 1982 Atari 2600, Intellivision, Vic-20 (1983), Atari 8-bit (1983), Odysssey 2 (1983)
Cosmic Ark Rob Fulop July 1982 Atari 2600
Fire Fighter Brad Stewart August 1982 Atari 2600
Riddle of the Sphinx Bob Smith August 1982 Atari 2600
Beauty & the Beast Wendell Brown October 1982 Intellivision
Microsurgeon Rick Levine October 1982 Intellivision, IBM PC (1984), TI-99/4A (1984)
Dragonfire Bob Smith December 1982 Atari 2600, Intellivision, Vic-20 (1983), ZX Spectrum (1984), TRS-80 CoCo (1984) Colecovision (1984), Commodore 64 (1984), Apple II (1984)
Swords & Serpents Brian P. Dougherty February 1983 Intellivision
Dracula Alan Smith March 1983 Intellivision
Ice Trek Patrick Schmitz March 1983 Intellivision
No Escape! Michael Greene April 1983 Atari 2600
Nova Blast Clinton Ballard April 1983 Intellivision, Colecovision, Commodore 64 (1984)
Shootin’ Gallery Dennis Koble April 1983 Atari 2600
Truckin’ Rick Levine April 1983 Intellivision
Tropical Trouble Steve DeFrisco May 1983 Intellivision
White Water! Douglas A. Fults May 1983 Intellivision
Solar Storm Dennis Koble June 1983 Atari 2600
Moonsweeper[16] Bob Smith July 1983 Atari 2600, Colecovision, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, MSX, TI-99/4A
Safecracker Marvin Mednick July 1983 Intellivision
Fathom Rob Fulop August 1983 Atari 2600, Intellivision, Colecovision (1984), TI99/4A (1984), MSX (1985)
Laser Gates Dan Oliver October 1983 Atari 2600
Quick Step David Johnson October 1983 Atari 2600
Subterranea Mark Klien December 1983 Atari 2600
Wing War Michael Greene March 1984[17] Colecovision, Atari 2600[b] (1984)[18], TI-99/4A (1984)
Touchdown Football Mark Klien August 1984[19] IBM PC, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Atari 7800
Injured Engine Dave Johnson November 1984[20] Commodore 64, Apple II
Chopper Hunt[c] Tom Hudson December 1984[21] Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64
Tournament Tennis Steve Kelly December 1984[21] Colecovision, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MS-DOS (1985), Atari ST (1985), Amstrad CPC (1985), Sinclair QL (1985), Thompson TO (1985)

Notes

  1. ^ As printed on each game’s packaging
  2. ^ Only released in PAL regions
  3. ^ formerly Buried Bucks from ANALOG Software

References

  1. ^ “Demon Attack”. Atari Age. Archived from the original on 2012-10-15. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
  2. ^ “Classic Gaming Expo Distinguished Guest: Alan Miller”. Classic Gaming Expo. Archived from the original on February 8, 2012. Retrieved 2006-08-30.
  3. ^ Hayes, Thomas C. (22 November 1982). “Imagic Scores in Video Games”. The New York Times. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  4. ^ a b Grubb, Bill; Koble, Dennis (January 1983). “Video Games Interview: Bill Grubb and Dennis Koble”. Video Games Magazine. Atari HQ. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  5. ^ “Playing Catch Up: Night Trap’s Rob Fulop”. Gamasutra. CMP. Archived from the original on January 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
  6. ^ a b “The Making of Atlantis”. Enterprise. 1982. PBS – via YouTube.
  7. ^ Just Kidding TV Show – The Making of Imagic’s Wing War – via YouTube.
  8. ^ “An Interview with Atari 2600 Developer and Imagic Co-Founder Rob Fulop”. Paleotronic Magazine. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  9. ^ Nobles, Ethan C. (February 19, 2002). “Demon Attack: This Game Is Pure Imagic!”. Atari Times. Archived from the original on 2006-10-25. Retrieved 2007-04-10.
  10. ^ a b c Herman, Leonard (December 1983). “Tragic Imagic”. Videogaming & Computergaming Illustrated. No. 12.
  11. ^ “Imagic Layoffs”. The New York Times. September 17, 1983. p. 34.
  12. ^ Cook, Karen (1984-03-06). “Jr. Sneaks PC into Home”. PC Magazine. p. 35. Retrieved 24 October 2013 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ a b “Imagic Titles for Intellivision”. Intellivision Lives. Intellivision Productions. Archived from the original on 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
  14. ^ Bunch, Kevin. “Atari VCS game release dates”. Atari Archive. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  15. ^ Bunch, Kevin. “Mattel Intellivision game release dates”. Atari Archive. Retrieved June 9, 2026.
  16. ^ Holyoak, Craig (May 30, 1984). “Here Are ColecoVision’s Jewels”. Deseret News. pp. 4 WV. Retrieved 10 January 2015 – via Google News.
  17. ^ “Availability Update”. Computer Entertainer. Vol. 3, no. 1. April 1984. p. 16.
  18. ^ “Screen Games at Las Vegas”. TV Gamer. April 1984. p. 9.
  19. ^ “Availability Update”. Computer Entertainer. Vol. 3, no. 6. September 1984. p. 96.
  20. ^ “Availability Update”. Computer Entertainer. Vol. 3, no. 9. December 1984. p. 144.
  21. ^ a b “Availability Update”. Computer Entertainer. Vol. 3, no. 10. January 1985. p. 160.