ABSTRACT
In fall 1980, Atari, Inc. dispatched the president of its coin-operated games division, Joe Robbins, to Japan to meet with Masaya Nakamura of Namco. Ever since Nakamura made the decision to manufacture Breakout on his own in contravention of his licensing agreement with Atari, relations had been strained between the two firms. 1 Robbins, who conducted extensive international business during his time with Empire Distributing and had a solid rapport with Nakamura, was dispatched to smooth things over.
