System Halted?

is The A1200 in trouble?

Volume 1 – Issue 5 – November, 2025

The following is a web-formatted version of the System Halted? article from Volume 1, Issue 5 of COMPUTE!’s Gazette

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Cologne, Germany: August 2025. Amid the cacophony of the Gamescom retro hall, a familiar shape drew the reverent gaze of onlookers. There, at the Retro Games, Ltd. (RGL) booth, sat the dream of a generation of Amiga fans: a sleek, full-sized prototype of “THE A1200”. This was the long-awaited successor to the wildly popular A500 Mini, complete with the tactile, working keyboard that enthusiasts had craved.

Another surprise inclusion that sent ripples of excitement through the community was a port of the legendary city-builder The Settlers II: Gold Edition, a game that had skipped the Amiga platform for nearly three decades. For a moment, the promise was tangible; a beloved icon of 1990s computing was poised for a triumphant return.

Yet, this machine was a ghost. While attendees marveled at the prototype, the manufacturing lines that should have been humming in preparation for a Q1 2025 release remained silent. The reason, according to a stark announcement from RGL in March 2025, was an external force entirely beyond their control: the project was indefinitely postponed due to “ongoing legal disputes between Hyperion Entertainment and the Amiga parties”. The very machine being played on the show floor was a product trapped in a legal purgatory it had no direct part in, a casualty of a war it did not start.

The delay of THE A1200 is not a simple manufacturing hiccup; it is the latest and most visible casualty in a bitter, decades-long war for control of the Amiga’s soul. This investigation will dissect the conflicting corporate narratives and the pivotal June 2025 court ruling that, rather than providing clarity, has only deepened the stalemate, leaving RGL and its passionate fanbase caught in the crossfire.

Part I: The Machine on Hold

To understand the weight of this delay, one must first understand the credibility of the company behind the machine. Retro Games, Ltd. is a respected veteran in the retro hardware space, not a fly-by-night startup. With a proven track record that includes the successful THEC64, THEVIC20, and THEA500 Mini, RGL has earned a reputation for delivering quality products that honor the legacy of the machines they replicate. This history lends significant weight to their claims of being an unwilling victim of circumstance.

The foundational document for the current crisis is RGL’s public statement from March 20, 2025. In it, the company laid the situation bare: “Unfortunately, the ongoing legal disputes between Hyperion Entertainment and the Amiga parties are preventing us from proceeding with manufacturing”. The statement did not mince words, explicitly siding with its long-term partners and pointing a finger directly at Hyperion. “Our friends at Amiga and Cloanto, who have supported us throughout the development of THEC64, THEVIC20, and THE A500 mini, have been working tirelessly to resolve the issue,” the post read, before reminding the community of Hyperion’s past legal actions, including an unsuccessful attempt to challenge the release of the A500 Mini.

The critical takeaway from RGL’s narrative is that the decision to halt production was not solely their own. The statement reveals a crucial detail: “our manufacturing and retail partners have chosen to postpone the release of our full-sized machine until the legal situation is fully resolved”. This is not merely a licensing squabble; it is a matter of fundamental business risk.

Image: March 20, 2025 Tweet from RGL explaining delays

FULL SIZED AMIGA RELEASE UPDATE

As everyone knows, it has long been our intention to release a full-size sequel to THE A500 mini in Q1 of 2025. Despite the best efforts of our team and partners, this will sadly not be possible within that timeline.

Unfortunately, the ongoing legal disputes between Hyperion Entertainment and the Amiga parties are preventing us from proceeding with manufacturing. Many of you in ‘The Amiga scene’ will recall that Hyperion initiated legal action against the Amiga parties in 2018, and in 2019 they even tried, unsuccessfully, to challenge the release of THE A500 Mini, despite such interference being a “Hyperion Prohibited Action” under their 2009 Settlement Agreement.

Our friends at Amiga and Cloanto, who have supported us throughout the development of THEC64, THEVIC20, and THE A500 mini, have been working tirelessly to resolve the issue as swiftly as possible. However, our manufacturing and retail partners have chosen to postpone the release of our full-sized machine until the legal situation is fully resolved.

We appreciate the disappointment and frustration that these delays cause, but unfortunately the situation is completely beyond our control. In the near future, we will share more details about the machine itself, including images, features and software line-up, including one brand new game that will make its debut on the machine. We will also issue a revised release date which will be as soon as is practically possible.

Thank you for your continued patience and support. We do understand that you are as frustrated as we are. Whilst these legal issues do not directly involve us, they do of course have an effect on what we do. Everyone is working hard to resolve these issues as quickly as possible, and we believe that a resolution is in sight.

In the light of the ongoing delays, we think it’s only fair to share with you that the machine is to be called….

‘THE A1200’

The team at RGL.

Large-scale manufacturing and global distribution, managed by major players like PLAION (an Embracer Group company), involve immense financial investment. For these partners, a product whose core intellectual property—in this case, the AmigaOS and Kickstart ROMs—is the subject of an active and unpredictable legal battle represents an unacceptable liability. The threat of a court-ordered injunction, a product recall, or further lawsuits creates a toxic level of uncertainty. Even if RGL is confident in the licenses obtained from Cloanto, their corporate partners will not commit millions of dollars to a product that could be torpedoed by a legal challenge from Hyperion. The legal ambiguity itself has become a poison pill for the entire project.

Since their March statement, RGL has maintained a public silence on the matter, declining to respond to inquiries for this article, reinforcing the perception that they are in a holding pattern, unable to move until the legal storm passes.

Part II: A Legacy Divided: The War for Amiga’s Soul

To grasp the current stalemate, one must look back at the chaotic aftermath of Commodore’s 1994 bankruptcy. The Amiga intellectual property (IP) embarked on a convoluted journey, passing through the hands of German PC maker Escom and then the American company Gateway before eventually landing with a new entity, Amiga, Inc., in 1999. This fragmentation created a tangled web of ownership and licensing rights that has been the source of legal conflict ever since.

Today, two main belligerents lay claim to the Amiga’s legacy.

On one side is Hyperion Entertainment, a Belgian software company founded in 1999. Initially focused on porting PC games to the Amiga, its destiny became inextricably linked with the platform’s operating system when it was contracted by Amiga, Inc. to develop the modern, PowerPC-based AmigaOS 4. Over the years, particularly under the leadership of its former director Ben Hermans, a litigation lawyer, the company became defined as much by its courtroom battles as its software development. These legal endeavors were often financially supported by British investor Trevor Dickinson of A-EON, a maker of AmigaOne hardware.

On the other side are Cloanto and the “Amiga Parties”. Cloanto, an Italian company, has been developing for the Amiga since 1986 and is best known for its “Amiga Forever” emulation package, a product line dedicated to the preservation and legal use of classic Amiga software. They are aligned with the “Amiga Parties,” a collective term for the IP-holding entities that inherited the rights from the original Amiga, Inc., namely Itec, LLC, and Amino Development Corporation. Together, they represent the custodians of the “classic” Amiga legacy: the 68k-based systems like the A500 and A1200 that RGL’s products celebrate.

The original sin of this conflict is the 2009 Settlement Agreement. Born from a previous lawsuit between Hyperion and the Amiga Parties, this agreement was meant to bring peace. It granted Hyperion an exclusive license to continue developing and marketing AmigaOS 4. However, the language surrounding the rights to earlier versions of the operating system and related trademarks like Kickstart and Workbench remained ambiguous, creating the legal fissures that would crack open into a full-blown war years later.

This is more than a simple contract dispute; it’s a philosophical impasse over the Amiga’s very identity. Hyperion’s focus has always been on a forward-looking, “next generation” PowerPC-based operating system, an effort to evolve the platform, even if it met with limited commercial success. In contrast, Cloanto’s entire business model is built on the curated preservation and legal emulation of the classic 68k Amiga experience. RGL’S THE A1200, an emulation-based device designed to replicate that classic 1990s experience, aligns squarely with Cloanto’s mission.

When Hyperion began developing and selling its own new versions of the classic 68k operating system, such as AmigaOS 3.2, it was seen as a direct incursion into Cloanto’s territory and a challenge to their custodianship of that legacy. The ensuing legal battle is a proxy war over the Amiga’s future: is it a preserved classic to be cherished and emulated, or a living platform to be actively developed? By its very nature, THE A1200 must license the classic OS, forcing it directly onto this battlefield.

Part III: The Verdict That Solved Nothing

The most recent and pivotal event in this saga was the June 12, 2025, memorandum from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case of Cloanto v. Hyperion. Hopes were high in some corners of the community that this ruling would finally bring the clarity needed to unlock projects like THE A1200. Instead, it delivered a split decision that satisfied no one and resolved nothing for third parties like RGL.

The court’s ruling can be broken down into two crucial parts.

Breach of Contract Claim: The court sided with Hyperion, affirming a lower court’s decision to dismiss this claim. The reasoning was a fine point of contract law: Cloanto was not a signatory to the original 2009 agreement. A later “Successor/Acquirer” form it signed only bound it to the obligations of the agreement, not its privileges—including the right to sue for breach. This was a significant legal victory for Hyperion, shielding it from that specific line of attack from Cloanto.
Copyright Infringement Claim: On this critical issue, the court handed a major victory to Cloanto. The lower court had dismissed this claim, reasoning that a “non-aggression” clause in the 2009 settlement prevented such a suit. The appellate court flatly reversed this. It ruled that because Cloanto is the undisputed legal owner of the copyrights for classic Amiga components like the Kickstart ROMs, the U.S. Copyright Act itself provides them with the standing to sue for infringement. Hyperion can attempt to use the 2009 contract as a defense in such a lawsuit, but the contract cannot be used to prevent Cloanto from filing the suit in the first place.

Given this information, you may be asking how this prevents RGL and the “Amiga Parties” from moving forward with The A1200 since Cloanto now has the legal right to sue Hyperion? It’s because the June 2025 ruling isn’t seen as an event that started the aggression, but rather as a legal clarification of a conflict that Hyperion is widely perceived to have initiated years earlier. The court’s decision that Cloanto has the standing to sue for copyright infringement essentially validated that there is a legitimate dispute over the classic OS: a dispute that many believe was triggered by Hyperion’s expansion beyond its original focus on AmigaOS 4.

For the business world, this nuanced legal outcome translated into one simple thing: continued, unresolved risk. The court did not rule on the merits of the copyright infringement claim; it merely confirmed that the fight could proceed and sent the case back to the lower court. For RGL’s manufacturing and retail partners, this was the worst possible result. The legal cloud over the Amiga OS was not lifted; it simply changed shape. The fundamental risk—that a multi-million-dollar product could be targeted by a copyright lawsuit from either side of the dispute—remains as potent as ever.

The project, therefore, remains on hold.

Potential implications for the future of the A1200 based on the Court’s June, 2025 ruling

Claim	Court’s Decision	Implication for THE A1200
Breach of Contract	Dismissed. Cloanto lacks standing to sue based on the 2009 Settlement Agreement.	Hyperion is shielded from this specific type of lawsuit from Cloanto, strengthening its contractual position.
Copyright Infringement	Reversed. Cloanto does have standing to sue for copyright infringement.	This is the core risk. Hyperion’s use/licensing of classic AmigaOS components can still be directly challenged by Cloanto in court, creating legal jeopardy for any third party (like RGL) using those components.
Motion to Amend	Denied. Cloanto’s attempt to add a new entity to the case was rejected as “potential gamesmanship.”	A procedural loss for Cloanto, but does not affect the core copyright issue.

Part IV: The Communication Breakdown

In the wake of the court ruling and against the backdrop of RGL’s public blame-casting, a surprising counter-narrative emerged directly from Hyperion Entertainment. In an email to this publication dated October 11, 2025, Hyperion’s new director, Benny Damsgaard, presented a starkly different picture of the situation:

“We, the new owners of Hyperion Entertainment, have not been contacted by Retro Games in any way, shape, or form about the A1200 project. Therefore, we do not know what they want from us, or whether they believe there are legal issues preventing their project. Retro Games, like anyone else, are always welcome to contact us if they have an idea or a project they would like to discuss”.

This statement is a direct contradiction of the narrative RGL has presented since March. It portrays a new Hyperion—under new management since a January 2025 general assembly following the bankruptcy of the previous largest shareholder—as a reasonable party, open to discussion and perplexed as to why it is being held responsible for the delay.

The timeline is critical: RGL’s statement blaming Hyperion was issued months after this new, supposedly more approachable, management team was in place. It is highly improbable that this is a simple case of two professional companies failing to email each other. The lack of communication appears to be a deliberate, strategic stalemate.

RGL has publicly and financially aligned itself with Cloanto and the Amiga Parties, whom they call their “friends” that have supported them throughout the development of all their previous products. For RGL to enter into direct licensing negotiations with Hyperion would not only undermine their relationship with their key partner, Cloanto, but could also expose them to legal action from Cloanto if they were to license IP that Cloanto claims exclusive ownership of.

From this perspective, Hyperion’s public statement of openness is a shrewd public relations move. It costs them nothing, positions them as the reasonable party, and deftly shifts the perceived blame for the ongoing delay onto RGL’s shoulders. They have extended an invitation they likely know cannot be accepted. The “communication breakdown” is therefore not a misunderstanding; it is a symptom of the legal trap RGL finds itself in. They cannot talk to Hyperion until the underlying three-way IP dispute is resolved. For Retro Games, Ltd., Hyperion’s “open door” is effectively locked.

Part V: The Frustrated Faithful

Caught in the middle of this corporate war is the Amiga community, a global network of dedicated fans whose passion has kept the platform alive for decades. Their reaction to the delay of THE A1200, expressed across forums and user groups, is a potent mix of frustration, exhaustion, and enduring hope.

A significant portion of the community harbors a deep-seated distrust of Hyperion, often stemming from the actions of its previous management. More pervasive, however, is a general weariness with the endless legal battles that have defined the Amiga’s post-Commodore era. This exhaustion is compounded by confusion, as fans try to parse the complex legal arguments and conflicting corporate statements.

Yet, despite the cynicism and frustration, the passion for the product itself remains undimmed. The excitement generated by the Gamescom prototype is a testament to the community’s desire to see this project succeed.

Conclusion: A Path to Reboot?

THE A1200 Maxi is not in peril due to a single technical snag or a simple business disagreement. It is a hostage, caught in a multi-decade legal and philosophical war over a treasured legacy. Retro Games, Ltd., a proven and capable hardware manufacturer, finds itself paralyzed, not by its own failings, but by the unwillingness of its global manufacturing and retail partners to assume the immense financial risk created by the unresolved copyright dispute between Hyperion Entertainment and the Cloanto-aligned Amiga Parties.

The June 2025 appellate court ruling, far from being a resolution, was a catalyst for continued uncertainty. By affirming Cloanto’s right to sue for copyright infringement while denying their claim for breach of contract, the court failed to provide the legal clarity required to de-risk the project. It simply confirmed that the war could continue, albeit on a different front. The subsequent “communication breakdown” between RGL and Hyperion is not a simple oversight but very likely a direct strategic consequence of this legal reality, a stalemate from which RGL cannot easily extricate itself without alienating its key allies.

What, then, could break this deadlock? There appear to be three potential paths forward.

A definitive court victory, where one side wins the copyright infringement case so decisively that the other has no grounds for further claims. This, however, is a path measured in years, not months.
A new global settlement. Hyperion’s new management, potentially free from the baggage of its predecessor, could negotiate a new, unambiguous agreement with the Amiga Parties and Cloanto that clearly delineates the rights to all classic OS versions, finally bringing peace. This is complicated by years of acrimony but remains the most direct route to a resolution.
An open-source alternative. The final path would involve RGL abandoning the official OS altogether and pursuing an open-source alternative like AROS. While this would solve the licensing nightmare, it would fundamentally alter the product, potentially alienating purists and introducing new compatibility challenges.

Ultimately, the situation is steeped in a profound irony. The Amiga, a platform celebrated for its groundbreaking creativity, its vibrant community, and its playful “Boing Ball” spirit, has had its modern legacy defined by a corporate quagmire. The system is halted, not by a familiar “Guru Meditation” error on a flickering screen, but by the cold, hard text of lawsuits and licensing agreements, leaving its most dedicated fans waiting indefinitely for a reboot that may never come.