Williams

Founded in 1973 closed in 2016
Status: name changed
Country: USA

2.6

per year

aka(s): Williams Electronics,Williams Entertainment,WMS

WMS Industries, Inc. was an American electronic gaming and amusement manufacturer in Enterprise, Nevada. It was merged into Scientific Games in 2016. WMS's predecessor was the Williams Manufacturing Company, founded in 1943 by Harry E. Williams. However, the company that became WMS Industries was formally founded in 1974 as Williams Electronics, Inc.

Williams initially was a manufacturer of pinball machines. In 1964, Williams was acquired by jukebox manufacturer Seeburg Corp. and reorganized as Williams Electronics Manufacturing Division. In 1973, the company branched out into the coin-operated arcade video game market with its Pong clone Paddle Ball, eventually creating a number of video game classics, including Defender and Robotron: 2084. In 1974, Williams Electronics, Inc. was incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Seeburg, which changed its name to Xcor International in 1977. Williams Electronics was spun out as an independent company in 1981.

In 1987, the company went public as WMS Industries, Inc. using a shortened version of its name which it also selected for its stock ticker symbol. In 1988, it acquired Bally/Midway, the amusement games division of Bally Manufacturing, which had decided to focus on its casino operating and manufacturing businesses. The video game operations were consolidated under the Midway name, while pinball machines continued to use the Williams and Bally names. After a string of arcade successes by Midway, WMS acquired Tradewest in 1994 to allow the company to publish its own home ports of arcade games directly, instead of licensing them to other publishers. Midway Games was taken public in 1996, and fully spun-off in 1998.

WMS created a subsidiary, WMS Gaming, for manufacturing gambling equipment in 1991. Beginning with video lottery terminals, the division introduced its first slot machines in 1994 and became a major player in the business.

It closed its pinball division on October 25, 1999 after high losses with the Pinball 2000 concept that integrated a PC screen into the pinball game via a semi-reflective glass.[1]

In 2013, WMS became a wholly owned subsidiary of Scientific Games.[2][3] In 2016, WMS was merged into Scientific Games, which renamed itself Light & Wonder in 2022.

It is known for Arcade's Greatest Hits, Defender, Doom, Double Dragon, Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, Pac-Man, Robotron

Releases per year

1973	2

1980	1
1981	2
1982	7
1983	5
1984	4
1985	2
1986	2

1988	1
1989	2
1990	4
1991	3
1992	3

1994	3
1995	8
1996	14

63 video games with valid date were considered (98.4%)

Overall rankings

	3
	13
	11
	2
	0

Common gametypes

Top platforms

Arcade		41
SNES		5
Mega Drive		3
PS		3
Saturn		3
Mac OS Classic		2
Jaguar		2
Atari 400/800		1
Windows		1
GB		1
N64		1
MS-DOS		1

Williams best rated games

NBA Hang Time	1996	arcd
Final Doom	1996	ps1
Doom	1995	ps1
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3	1996	sat
Smash T.V.	1990	arcd
Defender	1980	arcd
Crush Roller	1981	arcd
Robotron: 2084	1982	arcd
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3	1996	snes
Mortal Kombat 3	1994	gen

Williams worst games

Ms. Pac-Man	1996	snes
Joust	1982	arcd
Traverse USA	1983	arcd
Mortal Kombat 3	1995	gb
Mortal Kombat 3	1995	arcd