What just happened? Atari's future may very well be as a purveyor of classic PC and console games. Less than a month after agreeing to purchase retro gaming specialist Nightdive Studios, the legendary gaming brand announced it has acquired the rights to more than 100 PC and console games from the 1980s and 1990s including titles from the Bubsy, Hardball and Demolition Racer series.
Atari CEO Wade Rosen described the haul as a deep catalog that includes award-winning games from Accolade, MicroProse and Infogrames. Many are part of Atari's history, Rosen noted, adding that the company also picked up the trademark to the Accolade and GTI brands.
Atari aims to re-release several of its newly acquired classics in digital and physical formats, create new games based on their rich IP, and perhaps even explore merchandising opportunities. Some games might even get the modern console port treatment, Rosen teased.
The acquisition, like the one before it, is part of a multi-year effort to transform Atari into a modern industry player. The company is already reportedly working on reimagined versions of Asteroids and Missile Command and has even dipped its toes into cryptocurrency.
The software-focused turnaround is already showing signs of success. Rosen told Axios that Atari's 50th anniversary bundle was the company's best selling release last year. The collection features over 90 classic games spanning more than half a dozen platforms including Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Atari 8-bit computers, Lynx, Jaguar, and arcade. It is also a pretty solid value at under $30 on your choice of platform.
Its latest console, however, failed to meet expectations. Rosen told the publication there was not enough unique and special about the Atari VCS, but teased new hardware due out later this year – either as an add-on or functioning independently – that could help matters.
If you are dead set on owning a VCS, Atari still has them in stock starting at $199.99 for the base model.