Williams Electronics Games, Inc.

Moby ID: 32821

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Williams Electronics Games, Inc. was incorporated on April 13, 1984 by Williams Electronics, Inc. (renamed WMS Industries Inc. in 1987) to take over the pinball and video game business of its parent company.

Following a 1991 reorganization, the video game division of Williams was absorbed into Midway Manufacturing Company (which was purchased and reincorporated by WMS in 1988) and the Williams brand would be exclusively used for pinball machines.

WMS formed Williams Entertainment, Inc. in 1994 following their purchase of Tradewest, Inc. to publish titles for the home consumer market.

In 1996, WMS transferred the copyrights of Williams' video game properties to Midway Games, Inc. while inversely, Midway transferred its copyrights of their Bally pinball tables to Williams Electronics Games. That same year, Williams Entertainment was renamed Midway Home Entertainment, Inc. Midway spun off from WMS on April 1998.

Due to increasing losses, WMS shuttered their pinball division on October 25, 1999 and has since put gambling machines as its focus.

Williams Electronics Games, Inc. currently exists as a legal entity within Scientific Games Corporation (who acquired WMS Industries in 2013) to hold copyrights to its pinball tables and license them out to other companies for re-releases and virtual recreations.

Credited on 10 Games from 1985 to 2014

The Pinball Arcade (2012 on Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3...)
High Impact Football (1990 on Arcade)
Hit the Ice: The Video Hockey League (1990 on Game Boy, SNES, Genesis...)
NARC (1990 on Dedicated handheld)
Smash T.V. (1990 on Dedicated handheld)
Smash T.V. (1990 on SNES, Genesis, Amiga...)
NARC (1989 on Amiga, NES, Atari ST...)
Zero Wing (1989 on Linux, Windows, Genesis...)
Joust 2: Survival Of The Fittest (1986 on Arcade, Antstream)
1942 (1984 on Windows, Game Boy Color, NES...)

History +

October 25, 1999

The company announces to discontinue the pinball production after the games currently in production.

April 13, 1984

The company is founded

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