Play Meter

Pac-Man
mutation multiple
Pac -Man may have finished its run at
Midway, but the profits off the phe -
nomenally successful game are just
beginning.
Pac -Man production reached
96,000 before its closing after
becoming the video game industry's
biggest seller.
In a New York Times story,
Midway's Stan Jarocki indicated that
some thirty companies in the last
eight months have signed sublicens-
ing agreements with M idway
relevant to the Poe-Man creatures .
The companies produce greeting
cards, bumperstickers, watches ,
and mugs, among other things .
Three of the sublicensees of Poe-
Man are companies making home
games, including one from Coleco
Industries which has put quite an
advertising campaign around its
$55 unit.
Called a " tabletop game ,"
Coleco's Pac-Man is eight inches
deep by six inches wide by eight
inches high. Analysts say that
Coleco 's strategy of copying
precisely the arcade game's look and
sound should make it the most suc -
cessful Pac-Man sublicensee.
In addition to Coleco's effort ,
Atari , the home game industry
leader, is producing a home version
Atari provides boost for
record Warne r earnings
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of Pac -Man in cartridge form (seiling
for about $37) . Atari's license is not -
able in that it comes directly from
Namco, where Midway got its
license for the coin -op model. " Every
other licensed product must be dealt
with through us," the Times quoted
Jarocki.
The third major entry into the Poe-
Man home market is the M ilton
Bradley Company which will pro-
duce a board version of the game.
Jarocki indicated that Midway and
N amco shared profits on the arcade
pieces at about 50-50 split and that
the same shares will be apportioned
for the sublicensing revenues .
Atari's parent company, Warner
Communications, Inc. has reported
a fifty percent increase in 1981 earn -
ings per share. In addition , WCI rev·
enues and net income for 1981 set
records by substantial margins .
Fourth quarter 1981 was the best
quarter in WCI history.
A ccording to WCI Chairman
Steven J. Ross , "The dramatic surge
in Atari 's business caused an out -
standing performance for the WCI
Consumer Electronics Division, in
which revenues more than doubled
to $1.2 billion , while operating
income more than quadrupled to
$287 million .
Atari 's pretax operating income
for the fourth quarter was $136.5
million, accounting for 90% of WCI's
total operating income during the
period .
" All segments of Atari's business
registered strong growth for the
year," Ross sai d . "Substantial
increases in production ca pacity ,
combined with extremely strong
orders for At ari's consumer game
products and home computers, as
well as record results in coin -oper-
ated video games, resulted in 1981's
record -breaking year ."
The WCI
Board of Directors
recently raised the cash dividend 47
percent to an indicated annual rate
of $1.00 per common share .
PLAY METER, April1, 1982