Let's Pool Our Resources and Buy Atari - How Much Will You Contribute?

[Noelio]

On thinking about this some more and looking at the financials I believe the bidding will easily hit 22 million. Sounds crazy right now but let's see.

 

-The IP alone can be easily exploited by a slim, efficient developer of mobile & online console store titles. Using an IP name could drive said titles to the "most popular" area overnight.

 

-The Company name is another story. At this point it might not at all be interesting to anyone interested in going public.

-However, a Chinese or Russian developer would probably cream themselves at the opportunity to sound more "mainstream" branded.

 

I'm as much an Atari freak as any here and would love a piece of the genuine article (name intact & as a preferred shareholder), but I just don't see that happening if this is open to bidders worldwide / or even only WTO countries. Some might even drive this puppy well beyond 50 million just to have the trophy(ies). If we could do an all or nothing, properly accounted for (refundable if unsuccessful, escrowed) bid, yep count me in on the upper tier. Not fussy on dumping heavy money in a black hole / unaccountable / as is where is fund.

 

If I had 100 million life savings right now, I'd be more than willing to spend half of it for the name & ip and try to Phoenix this mofo out of the ashes. If I was a Russian or Chinese billionaire I'd buy it to sell toilets, cigarettes and cheap panty hose, or maybe just roll up something numbing in the bill of sale and smoke it on a couch full of hookers. Thats what I think is going to happen, a stranger in a strange land swallowing it whole and abusing the shit out of the name. So f'n sad. Though you might see Nintendo sniffing around!

 

So if we want to do a group bid, I'd think about the security of said fund first(unbelievably important), equity stake second, business plan third. Soon as the ip is acquired then there's going to be an urgent push to raise capital from somewhat nothing. Maybe license / option out a couple titles for a console/mobile generation and go from there for starters.

 

Just my .02, not meaning to sound negative though I sure do!

Viva La Atari!

Edited January 23, 2013 by Noelio

[Benighted]

I think Curt brings out some good points about how the classic games of Atari should have evolved. Like in the lines of Nintendoes franchises. Imagine the Super Mario Galaxy team having a go at Moon Patrol :-)

 

I would love to see the Atari brand being taken over by the community, but I would like to see some more plans for the future of Atari and what will be the return of the investment before doing a considerable donation. So can I have the role of CEO - Atari Nordics? :-)

[bennybingo]

Just my .02, not meaning to sound negative though I sure do!

Viva La Atari!

 

Doesn't sound negative to me...

 

...not unless being grounded in reality and highly cautious about investing in a defunct, debt ridden retro-gaming company = being negative. Your assessment of the situation seems relatively spot-on, all things considered.

[Noelio]

Good points.

 

And yes, you as CEO would be a heck of a lot more visible than any CEO since the Tramiels!

 

I'm hoping that if the bids get up out of our reach (if we "do this") that Nintendo takes it. Who knows, Nolan Bushnell & a pile of radicals from his biz networking group or Dubai contacts could smarten up & step up.

 

Any of the above is better than a manufacturer taking it to sell bathroom products!

[roland p]

I'm in!

 

6 Million? So you only need one filthy rich atari freak

[Schizophretard]

i was kind of thinking the same thing but wasn't quite sure how that could work. However a kickstarter could be successful if the contributors were offered tangible products in exchange for their investments. For instance, if the brand is used to release officially-licensed products that otherwise could not be, the contributors could get the first of those products.

I would rather them use the profits of the new products to help fund things we already hope for like the Harmony Cart 2, for an example. I wouldn't want to profit by receiving a new product directly but just gaining the opportunity to purchase products that I hope for. Atari can make new products for the new generation and use the profits to back products for the past generation. That would basically turn it into a kickstarter for everything homebrew. Also, printing my stock certificate on a cart label and making it CIB would be nice too. "What is that cart?" "Atari." "I know that but what game?" "It's not a game. Atari is a part of my collection."

[+batari]

I would rather them use the profits of the new products to help fund things we already hope for like the Harmony Cart 2, for an example. I wouldn't want to profit by receiving a new product directly but just gaining the opportunity to purchase products that I hope for. Atari can make new products for the new generation and use the profits to back products for the past generation. That would basically turn it into a kickstarter for everything homebrew. Also, printing my stock certificate on a cart label and making it CIB would be nice too. "What is that cart?" "Atari." "I know that but what game?" "It's not a game. Atari is a part of my collection."

I would also like it if we could see things like the Flashback portable or those other things that Curt & co tried to pitch to Atari. I think the other post was saying that Kickstarter is set up for tangible goods and not things like a promise to produce nostalgic products at some later date. But I don't know that much about it.

 

And since you were obviously digging about Harmony 2 I'm not considering a crowd-funded solution whether through preorders or Kickstarter. Instead I plan to hand-build a small run and release at a show, then use those funds to pay for a bigger run.

[Schizophretard]

I would also like it if we could see things like the Flashback portable or those other things that Curt & co tried to pitch to Atari. I think the other post was saying that Kickstarter is set up for tangible goods and not things like a promise to produce nostalgic products at some later date. But I don't know that much about it.

 

And since you were obviously digging about Harmony 2 I'm not considering a crowd-funded solution whether through preorders or Kickstarter. Instead I plan to hand-build a small run and release at a show, then use those funds to pay for a bigger run.

 

It wouldn't be crowd-funded. It would be Atari hiring you to make them and they would be official Atari carts. But it would obviously be your choice and you could still do it your way. I just think it would be nice if homebrewers got more funding for games and hardware. If someone has a good idea but can't afford it and the share-holders want it then I think Atari should fund it. It would get projects that won't ever be started of finished completed.

 

You said,"release at a show." That could be one of the things they fund. They could set up and fund Atari expos.

 

I'm just saying that a lot of people may be donating as little as a few bucks. It would be more profitable for those people to get the opportunity to buy things they want than to get an Atari bumper sticker or something. I think most people on here don't just want to save Atari for future Atari products but want them to support their past systems again also.

[Mirage]

It wouldn't be crowd-funded. It would be Atari hiring you to make them and they would be official Atari carts. But it would obviously be your choice and you could still do it your way. I just think it would be nice if homebrewers got more funding for games and hardware. If someone has a good idea but can't afford it and the share-holders want it then I think Atari should fund it. It would get projects that won't ever be started of finished completed.

 

You said,"release at a show." That could be one of the things they fund. They could set up and fund Atari expos.

 

I'm just saying that a lot of people may be donating as little as a few bucks. It would be more profitable for those people to get the opportunity to buy things they want than to get an Atari bumper sticker or something. I think most people on here don't just want to save Atari for future Atari products but want them to support their past systems again also.

 

Does the market for homebrews somehow get bigger than it is now? More profitable of an enterprise? If not, then this additional funding becomes a loss.

[Schizophretard]

Does the market for homebrews somehow get bigger than it is now? More profitable of an enterprise? If not, then this additional funding becomes a loss.

 

No. The homebrews will be the profits themselves and not a means to profit.

[Mirage]

No. The homebrews will be the profits themselves and not a means to profit.

 

Right, but you were talking about funding this and that. Unless you mean make profits elsewhere and use them for this, that would work if the company can stand to have a loss dept.

[Ransom]

If this does come to reality, I'd like to be part of the art and design department.

 

Okay, but first you have to pass a test. Imagine a game where people guess the names of US States and their capitals based on a drawing of the outline of the State. Now imagine what sort of artwork you might want on the package to express the idea of what this game is, and to get people to buy the game.

 

What did you come up with? Did it look anything like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, if you're into dropping huge amounts of acid, then you probably qualify to work in Atari's art department. Apply soon!

[SpaceDice2010]

The hedge fund that I work for will be making a bid for some or all of Atari assets. This will be fun.

[bojay1997]

i was kind of thinking the same thing but wasn't quite sure how that could work. However a kickstarter could be successful if the contributors were offered tangible products in exchange for their investments. For instance, if the brand is used to release officially-licensed products that otherwise could not be, the contributors could get the first of those products.

 

Sure, you could offer contributors future products, but the problem is that people posting in this thread seem to want to be actual shareholders of some type. That just can't happen with Kickstarter and can't happen period in the short timespan this whole thing would go down in.

[Reaperman]

Sure, you could offer contributors future products, but the problem is that people posting in this thread seem to want to be actual shareholders of some type. That just can't happen with Kickstarter and can't happen period in the short timespan this whole thing would go down in.

Personally, I don't need a 'share.' However I do have my own desires, like seeing people have the freedom to use the older atari logos freely in (for example) non-commercial demos, or perhaps even in limited commercial use, such as cart/accessory releases. Maybe thrown into fansite branding. Pretty much all the ways we already use their stuff, but legit and never having to worry about the mood of a legal department.

 

It's all dreams though. "Atari" is going to get bought up by another tee shirt vendor or crapware slinger and they'll probably hire a nice legal team to defend their new IP by legal-bombing the Atari community.

 

Oddly I don't want to buy those tee shirts from a megacorp (even a failing one) or holding company, but if it were somewhat community owned, I'd be very interested.

Edited January 23, 2013 by Reaperman

[sqoon]

Imagine the Super Mario Galaxy team having a go at Moon Patrol

 

I think Moon Patrol was a Williams IP, not Atari.

[Dan Iacovelli]

Personally, I don't need a 'share.' However I do have my own desires, like seeing people have the freedom to use the older atari logos freely in (for example) non-commercial demos, or perhaps even in limited commercial use, such as cart/accessory releases. Maybe thrown into fansite branding. Pretty much all the ways we already use their stuff, but legit and never having to worry about the mood of a legal department.

 

It's all dreams though. "Atari" is going to get bought up by another tee shirt vendor or crapware slinger and they'll probably hire a nice legal team to defend their new IP by legal-bombing the Atari community.

 

Oddly I don't want to buy those tee shirts from a megacorp (even a failing one) or holding company, but if it were somewhat community owned, I'd be very interested.

 

I agree that who ever gets atari brand should let the fanbase use the old logos for cart boxes and such instead of what infrograms has done with it and have nobody use it

[The Usotsuki]

I think Moon Patrol was a Williams IP, not Atari.

 

There were some Williams titles which Atari released on home computers. You're prolly right.

[Schizophretard]

Right, but you were talking about funding this and that. Unless you mean make profits elsewhere and use them for this, that would work if the company can stand to have a loss dept.

 

I'm saying that if Atari was bought by a hand full of millionaires and the retro video game community, the millionaires would actually make a worth while economic profit selling flashbacks, remakes, or whatever they think the masses will buy. Most of us in the retro video game community won't be buying millions of dollars worth of stock. We would be buying hundreds of dollars worth or less each. Unless Atari becomes the next Microsoft, I doubt I'll be quitting my pizza delivery job and getting my own mansion, Batmobile, and Alfred. My profit would be small but all those small individual profits from all the retro gamers as a whole could be quite a lot. Instead of getting my small profit, I rather it go into one big fund with all the other small profits from the rest of the retro video game community. That money could be used to create a division of Atari that caters to our small market. So, the millionaires will profit by making more money. We would profit by getting our old school Atari back.

[Mirage]

Yeah, I get it. It completely depends on the focus of whoever the new owner(s) is/are. We'll see. I hope it falls into hands that have a totally different focus than the "current" Atari.

[Schizophretard]

Yeah, I get it. It completely depends on the focus of whoever the new owner(s) is/are. We'll see. I hope it falls into hands that have a totally different focus than the "current" Atari.

 

Yep, but if it is going to be the same old Atari then I rather it just die than invest in keeping it alive.

[+frankodragon]

Okay, but first you have to pass a test. Imagine a game where people guess the names of US States and their capitals based on a drawing of the outline of the State. Now imagine what sort of artwork you might want on the package to express the idea of what this game is, and to get people to buy the game.

 

What did you come up with? Did it look anything like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, if you're into dropping huge amounts of acid, then you probably qualify to work in Atari's art department. Apply soon!

All I gotta do is act and think like Salvador Dali then.

[BillyHW]

How can the Atari Age community run Atari when we can't agree on anything on here? However, I agree that the idea of Atari Age owning Atari sounds really cool.

 

And how about the idea of buying the name and IP and then releasing it into the public domain? That should be given some thought too.

[BillyHW]

Seriously though, I think it's in Microsoft or Sony's best interests to buy Atari.

[Emehr]

I would be happy to contribute what I could to get the Atari trademark and IP in the hands of this community. I would love to see a focus on simplified and creative gameplay and I think iOS/Android and possibly Nintendo's portable gaming devices would be a profitable market if done right. Not just "modernized" versions of the older IPs with flashy explosions and beatbox soundtracks, but evolved ideas with expanded gameplay and multiple playfields. Like Curt said, these IPs need to evolve, not just make appearances in "modernized" versions of their old games. Also, I would love to see a modern art style for the products that is consistent across the board, which keeps with the tradition of the early 2600 games.

 

Appealing to the retro community while reaching younger and modern gamers should be the goal of Atari. If the brand is going to die again, it should at least die trying to do what everybody has been expecting it to do all along.