Tradewest
 |
|
| Industry | video game industry |
|---|---|
| Fate | Merged into Williams and later Midway |
| Successor |
Williams Entertainment (1994–1996) Midway Home Entertainment (1996–2009) Tradewest Games Holding (2009–2013) |
| Founded | 1985 |
| Defunct | 1994 |
| Headquarters | Corsicana, TX, USA |
|
Key people
|
Leland Cook, founder Byron Cook, co-founder |
| Products | video games |
| Subsidiaries | Leland Corporation |
| Website | www |
Tradewest was an American video game company based in Corsicana, Texas that produced numerous games in the 1980s and early 1990s. The company was the publisher of the Battletoads and Double Dragon series in North America and the PAL region.
The name was revived in August 2009 by Midway Games's former European subsidiaries which rebranded themselves as Tradewest. They inherited the name from the American parent company which had owned the Tradewest trademark since 1996.
Tradewest was founded in 1985 by Leland Cook (Texas banker and rancher) and his son Byron Cook. Tradewest started out by manufacturing SNK's Alpha Mission arcade game in the United States, followed by Ikari Warriors and Victory Road before shifting away from the coin-op arcade game business to concentrate on the home console market.
In 1987, Tradewest purchased Cinematronics (video game developer and manufacturer) of El Cajon, California whose previous games included Dragon's Lair and Space Ace and renamed it The Leland Corporation. John Rowe was chosen to run the El Cajon office as he already had a successful history in video games as executive vice-president of SNK's U.S division.
Tradewest was acquired by WMS Industries (the owner of the Williams and Midway brands) in April 1994, and a new company called Williams Entertainment, Inc. was formed with Rowe and the two Cooks as its heads, thus signaling the end of Tradewest. Williams Entertainment became WMS's official division and entrance to the video game console market.
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Wikipedia