Atari Appears To Be Getting More Serious About Returning To the Retro Scene — And It’s a Sight To See
For a while there, Atari was becoming its own punchline in the industry. Thanks to its flooding on the market back in 1983, it eventually caused a video game crash that would take a couple of years to recover. It ended up burying tons of game cartridges in the desert, which were later recovered by Microsoft as part of a huge archival project. And, of course, there’s the Jaguar, which had its moments but just didn’t have enough oomph to stick around.
But now? Neat little turnaround. It’s about to release a new model of its Atari 2600 for many to enjoy; it’s picked up a number of classic franchises that it’s looking to re-release, including Berzerk and Frenzy; its Atari 50 collection from Digital Eclipse is an amazing release; and it’s getting serious on its investments. It picked up MobyGames some time ago; it’s put some investment dollars into Antstream and Playmaji; and it now owns Nightdive Studios, one of the biggest names in retro revivals right now. (And if you don’t believe me, go check out its awesome work on Powerslave: Exhumed and Quake II Remastered.
Now, though, it really wants to bring the community into the fold. So it has acquired AtariAge, a group that has been all about the appreciation of old-school games. How much, you ask? It actually made a number of its own releases, for the sake of people enjoying Atari 2600 and 5200 games all over again. Combat II and Elevator Action on the Atari 2600? That was these guys.
The site’s founder, Albert Yarusso, will continue to run the site with his volunteer moderators, continuing to celebrate all things old-school with Atari’s help. Which, honestly, is pretty great to see. And now there’s greater appreciation for the company’s wide selection of catalog scans and other old-school goodies, for all purveyors of classic games to enjoy.
“For 25 years the AtariAge community has documented Atari games and provided a valuable forum for a large and passionate community of retro game fans, collectors, and homebrew developers,” said Atari CEO Wade Rosen. “By bringing AtariAge into the Atari family, we can ensure this important resource gets the support it needs to continue to fulfill its mission for years to come.”
Some people may think that a corporate entity investing in a community is a bad thing. And, sure, they’ve got their reasons for thinking that — just look at anyone Activision Blizzard picked up over the past few years. That said, however, I believe Atari could help AtariAge flourish, especially with indie releases getting a second chance at life on the market. Plus, with its archival tools, Atari could continue to tell more stories from the old-school — with the help of the people that know it best.
It’s a big step for Yarusso and company, so I say “cheers!” to that. If Atari keeps going the way they’re going, I see big things coming for them. And that’s something I’ve been waiting to say for a while.
Now, then, um, Red Baron Remastered? Please?
Have a good weekend everyone!
