During a recent Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell opened up about his personal life and professional career. If there's one takeaway from the informal Q&A session, it's that hindsight is 20/20.
Bushnell admitted that selling Atari to Warner Communications in 1976 was a huge mistake that destroyed the company's culture within two years of the sale. He also believes that Atari would still be relevant today if the sale hadn't taken place.
One Redditor asked if he was sad about turning down an opportunity to own a one-third stake in Apple, referencing when Steve Jobs approached Bushnell in 1976 for $50,000 in exchange for partial ownership. His answer was, of course, yes.
The former Atari boss also fielded a question regarding whether or not he had seen the New Mexico landfill where Atari dumped hoards of unsold E.T. games. Bushnell said he hadn't seen it yet in person but helped the people who did the movie, watched it and wished he had been there.
Looking to the future, Bushnell said he thinks robots and entertainment will be very important. He's also interested in businesses that will come about as a result of autonomous vehicles and last but not least, Bushnell believes the intersection between computers and biology will be important.
Feel free to check out the entire AMA session for more on Bushnell's time at Atari as well his founding of Chuck E. Cheese.