Jump to content
IGNORED

What if Atari and Sony teamed up after the Nintendo deal collapsed.


AtariORdead

Recommended Posts

After Nintendo parted ways, I wonder how things would have turned out if instead of going Solo, Sony turned to another videogame company such as Atari and co-developed CD tech with them instead.

 

I realise its an hypothetical question, and time frames may have made it impossible, but I just find it interesting. Especially as the Nintendo / Philips partnership was a complete bust.

 

Would having Sony on board have helped with R&D and development costs leaving atari with a little more funds to use elsewhere, and would Sony have brought any games to the table.

 

Would Sony have pushed to have the Jag as a CD system from the start.

 

Its weird because I am not that huge a fan of the jag, but I find the console, and the story around it utterly fascinating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The last realistic timing for a blockbuster partnership for Atari would have been the Nintendo deal. After that, Atari really wasn't worth partnering with because they had very little to bring to the table in terms of resources and cache.

 

Tell that to Midway who was gung-ho for Atari [Corp] to market their Lazer Tag competitor for them. Or Sega who approached Atari [Corp] to market the Mega Drive for them in the US. At least Sega acquired Michael Katz for their troubles after that deal fell through.

 

Mind you, both deals were with Tramiel's Atari [Corp, or "Corpse" as one ex-Atari Inc'er likes to refer to it] and not the almighty Atari Inc back in its heyday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The real reason that Sony partnered with Sega is because Sega had a CD-ROM drive coming ourt and Sony had the content that would have been on the canceled Super CD. (This is one of the subplots in Console Wars).

 

If anyone's interested in alternative history stories about Atari, I wrote one up where Steve Jobs stayed with the company instead of founding Apple and we now have iPads with Fuji logos on the back. :D

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The real reason that Sony partnered with Sega is because Sega had a CD-ROM drive coming ourt and Sony had the content that would have been on the canceled Super CD. (This is one of the subplots in Console Wars).

 

If anyone's interested in alternative history stories about Atari, I wrote one up where Steve Jobs stayed with the company instead of founding Apple and we now have iPads with Fuji logos on the back. :D

 

 

Interesting but I think Jobs ultimately couldn't work for anyone else. At some point, he would've been terminated, especially had Atari recruited Woz outright. They tolerated Jobs because they knew they were receiving essentially free labor from Woz in the process.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well it's possible that Atari could have ported Tempest 2000 to the PSX.. oh wait!

 

That was Ted Hoff's doing with his goal of transitioning Atari Corp into "Atari Interactive" which would've strictly been a publisher.

 

Ok, I know the deal between Atari & Sega to cross-publish games and Tempest 2000 ended up on the Saturn. So how did Interplay get the publishing rights to T2K on the Saturn & PSX while Atari Interactive did the PC verison? Did the non-Jag console versions come out after the JTS merger?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

Ok, I know the deal between Atari & Sega to cross-publish games and Tempest 2000 ended up on the Saturn. So how did Interplay get the publishing rights to T2K on the Saturn & PSX while Atari Interactive did the PC verison? Did the non-Jag console versions come out after the JTS merger?

 

I think only the PC version actually came out in Atari Interactive packaging. And yes, I think you are correct that it had to do with the JTS merger. Hoff left right before that went down. And then Corp became like a 2 person operation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...