New ports of spiritual successor TxK ‘will now never see the light of day’
Atari thought it was “absolutely rubbish,” the Jaguar designer told developer Jeff Minter in 1993. The man felt compelled to pull Minter aside at the console’s launch party and let him know how little Atari thought of Minter’s latest creation,Tempest 2000, a remake of the1981 arcade classic.
Minter still finished the game, which went on to enjoy a good bit of success, so much so that the developer has continued to tinker with the formula for over two decades. Just last year, Minter’s studio Llamasoft released a spiritual successor calledTxKon PlayStation Vita. It garnered a fair amount of critical acclaim, but sales were modest — something Minter hoped to improve upon by casting a wider net onPlayStation 4, PC, Android, and various VR platforms.
It’s unlikely to ever happen, though. Mintersaysthe other versions ofTxKwill “never see the light of day,” thanks to Atari (or at least the wolf in sheep’s clothing now parading around as the once-beloved company). Threats of legal action have the multiplatform release dead in the water.
Shortly afterTxK‘s launch last year, Atari began to browbeat Minter and Llamasoft over the game.
In aletterdated July 14, 2025, the company’s legal representation arguedTxKinfringed on Atari’s intellectual property, calling the game a “blatant copy of theTempestgames” utterly devoid of any semblance of originality. Atari demandedTxKbe removed from the market, and requested any copies be destroyed, deleted, or delivered to Atari along with the title’s source code.
Nearly a year later, Minter decided to let the world know, allowing months upon months of frustrations boil over via Twitter. “I am beyond disgusted,” he wrote. ” I could never have imagined one day being savaged by [Atari’s] undead corpse, my own seminal work turned against me.”
Minter was also taken aback by the tone of the letter, which asserts Minter merely updated the original game, downplaying his involvement with the revival. “No amount of legal mumbo jumbo can erase the fact that I designed and codedTempest 2000,”heretorted. “The fact that they are willing to pay someone to wilfully [sic] distort the truth in that fashion says it all about them really.”
It isn’t the first time Minter’s former employer distorted something to his detriment.
Over on his website, Minter rebuffed Atari’s arguments regardingTxK‘s originality, or lack thereof. He recalled there is actually precedent regarding how distinct games must be to be considered different under the law, which, funnily enough, involves bothTempest 2000and Atari.
Do you remember there was a PlayStation port ofTempest 2000called “Tempest X“? I always wondered why the name was changed, and other little aspects of the gameplay were altered. years later I managed to chat online with the guy who did the port, and he told me that the changes were made “to reduce the royalty burden.”
How so? Well, my original arrangement with Atari was that I was to receive a royalty on any ports of Tempest 2000. “Tempest X” was made exactly enough different that it would be legally considered a different game, cutting me out of any royalties.
Minter notesTempest 2000andTempest Xshare the same source code, soundtrack, and power-up progression.Tempest 2000was even included inXas a hidden unlockable. “Yet now,” Minter writes, “Atari claim thatTxKis in fact closer legally toTempest 2000thanTempest Xwas.”
Destructoid reached out to Atari for comment and received the following in response:
Atarivalues and protects its intellectual property and expects others to respect its copyrights and trademarks. When Llamasoft launchedTxKin early 2014,Atariwas surprised and dismayed by the very close similarities betweenTxKand theTempestfranchise.Atariwas not alone in noticing the incredible likeness between the titles. Several major gaming outlets also remarked at the similarity of features and overall appearance ofTxKtoTempest; one stated ofTxK, “This is essentiallyTempest.” There is no lawsuit.Atarihas been in continuous contact with the developer since the game launched in hopes that the matter would be resolved.
Atari also quoted a trio of reviews fromIGN,GameSpot, andGaming Nexusto support its point.
However, while the company claims says its doing this to protect its marks, Minterpoints outthere are manyTempestclones floating around the mobile space “unmolested.”
The man now seems to want the company to just leave him alone. Mintersayshe is working on a new project that is “literally another world away from anything ‘Atari.'”
I await with eager anticipation the awesome version of Tempest that “Atari” must have shortly forthcoming to have got so twattish about TxK.
— Jeff Minter (@llamasoft_ox)July 21, 2025
