In its examination of early video game history, Netflix docuseries High Score chronicles how former MIT students Doug Macrae and Steve Golson altered the Atari arcade game Missile Command to make it more challenging -- and therefore, more lucrative for operators.
The team sold at least 1 thousand enhancement kits to arcade owners, which quickly drew Atari's attention. In 1981, the video game company sued Macrae, Golson and their new partner Mike Horowitz to the tune of $15 million.
Atari claimed copyright infringement, trademark dilution and misrepresentation of origin. The basic idea behind the lawsuit was that, by modifying Missile Command to make it harder, the MIT dropouts had stolen Atari's idea.
"We have the biggest consumer electronics company on the planet coming after us? Awesome. Bring it on, dude," Golson says in High Score, Episode 1, "Boom & Bust." When he and Macrae broke the news to Horowitz, the latter described them as "giddy." Although Atari likely didn't intend for this to be the reaction, its lawsuit seemed to make Golson and Macrae feel legitimized.
Macrae recalls the lawsuit making the broad tape on Wall Street; his dad saw he'd been sued for $5 million (1/3 of the $15 million) and asked two questions: Was Macrae going to win this suit? If not, did he have $5 million? Macrae assured his father they would win -- and they sort of did.
After Atari filed its suit, Macrae and Golson pulled several all-nighters to change everything in their code for Super Missile Command -- the name they gave their improved game -- with which Atari took issue. However, there was a bigger issue at play: If Atari lost the suit, it would set a legal precedent to allow even more people to alter their games, which could potentially put them out of business altogether.
Therefore, Atari settled on two conditions: Macrae, Golson and Horowitz had to go to work for Atari, making games. They also couldn't sell any game enhancement kits in the future without manufacturer permission, whether they were for games owned by Atari or not.
This posed a problem, as Horowitz had just finished a kit for Pac-Man -- but the team was able to use Atari's settlement to their advantage, since all the industry knew was that the suit had been dropped. They bluffed their way into a deal with Midway Manufacturing and their enhancement kit was released as Ms. Pac-Man in 1982.
High Score is now streaming on Netflix.