Atari, the once king of video games, has been in the news a lot recently. Unfortunately, as has been the case every time they’ve been in the news for the last two decades, it’s all bad news. Terrible games made by indie developers, crowdfunding campaigns, crypto-currencies, a lawsuit over selling an IP they might not have even owned, and even a new microconsole. They’ve got all the bases covered.
Indie Games & Crowdfunding
Atari as it’s called today underwent Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013. Since then, they’ve launched numerous comeback strategies. One such strategy saw the company promising to make more inclusive games. This resulted in little more than a microtransaction-laden mobile game called Pridefest, which was quickly sold to another company. Another produced AtariFit, an app that lets you play classic Atari games while you workout.
Most interesting is their reliance on indie developers. Atari at this point is strictly a publisher, licensing out their games for studios to develop for them. They’ve decided to embrace indie gaming, hiring nothing but indie studios to make their games for nearly the last decade. On paper, this is a great idea. You grab a bunch of unique, up-and-coming small developers to transform classic gaming franchises and see– oh, no, all these games are terrible.
Hey, microconsoles were really popular! Let’s make one five years later!
In the video above, I go over all the games Atari pumped out since 2010, detailing the indie developers they hired to make them. But that’s only part of it, I also talk about their allegedly upcoming microconsole, the Ataribox, and their equity crowdfunding campaign for RollerCoaster Tycoon Switch. Strap in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
