Atari Acquires Accolade Brand and IP to Over 100 Games

[GraffitiTavern]

Atari SA has acquired the accolade brand and a bunch of old Infogrames, Accolade, and Microprose titles. It also mentions GTI, although doesn't elaborate which company that was(GT Interactive, didn't they already own them?). This includes Bubsy games as well as a number of simulation+strategy titles. Only Atari-relevant title which comes to mind is Bubsy in Fractured Furry Tales for the Jaguar. Also unclear if they have the entire Bubsy IP or just some of the older titles.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/04/19/2650476/0/en/Atari-Announces-Acquisition-of-More-than-100-PC-and-Console-Titles-from-the-80s-and-90s.html

[GraffitiTavern]

Honestly I'm not as sure behind the reasoning with this one. Microprose was respected but they made old simulator games, maybe Atari reasons since Roller Coaster Tycoon is their most profitable IP at the moment that simulator games will do well. This is the 3rd major acquisition this year, seems they are trying to move towards a full retro publisher, not just limited to actual Atari games. Even Accolade was not that great, and Bubsy has not aged particularly well. With Night Dive they acquired a good developer which specializes in something very useful to them, with this I'm not sure, but I need more information than the press release provides. Shouldn't they be focusing on acquiring more Atari-related IP?

 

EDIT: After looking a bit more into it, I will partially retract. It seems this is mainly a reacquisition of IP they sold to Tommo in the 2013 bankruptcy. This could mean that Math Gran Prix is back in the Atari stable, although it does not mention in the press release. I do wish they would have mentioned those in the press release, but this acquisition makes more sense now, Bubsy notwithstanding.

https://www.mcvuk.com/development-news/wargaming-and-rebellion-claim-atari-ips/

Edited April 19, 2023 by GraffitiTavern

[Sanriostar]

Buying Infogrames titles... ironic.

[Video]

 I wasn't aware they sold infogrames lol. Would that include driver? I played quite a fit of that in the early 2k era.

 

If they make use of these old companies /ip's I'm all for it. I just not interested in acquisition to sit on it.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

14 minutes ago, Video said:

 I wasn't aware they sold infogrames lol. Would that include driver? I played quite a fit of that in the early 2k era.

 

If they make use of these old companies /ip's I'm all for it. I just not interested in acquisition to sit on it.

I also thought it was weird although in doing a little research (and remembering old news), they sold pieces of the company off here and there over the years - Accolade at one point was called Infogrames North America.

 

Driver they sold off to Ubisoft back in 2006, per this old forum post. Kind of irritating that they don't include the full games list with these PRs.

 

Looking over the Accolade game's list though, there are quite a few Atari ST and some Atari XE/XL games on there (Fight Night, Mean 18). I'm wondering if they could be planning on adding some of these Atari versions to the Atari 50th collection at some point, either via update or DLC (that would please those wanting some Atari ST games on the compilation)

[MrMaddog]

I'm glad Atari is buying back the IP's they sold off when they were trying to get funds to make the VCS...because now they have more content for the VCS that they should have kept in the first place.

 

 

[+jgkspsx]

I just hope they have the SingleTrac games from after Sony ditched them. They were great!

[+jeremiahjt]

It would be nice if they got Math Gran Prix back. Not that that game is all that great, but I would like to see them own all the games they used to. Come on Rebellion, sell Battlezone back to Atari.

[Lord Mushroom]

It seems like Atari is trying to grow as a retro gaming company instead of becoming a modern gaming company. I think that is a safer bet, but with less potential. It is an interesting strategy that I didn´t see coming.

[+jeremiahjt]

After reading the article, I do have some questions. Did they buy Accolade, and Accolade owned all this? Or did they just buy these games and companies from another company? They can use Accolade and GTI names, who owns the MicroProse and Infogrammes names?

[Lord Mushroom]

18 minutes ago, jeremiahjt said:

who owns the MicroProse and Infogrammes names?

I am almost certain Atari already owned the Infogrames brand, if that is what you are asking.

[+x=usr(1536)]

5 hours ago, GraffitiTavern said:

It seems this is mainly a reacquisition of IP they sold to Tommo in the 2013 bankruptcy.

And in relation to that:

3 hours ago, MrMaddog said:

I'm glad Atari is buying back the IP's they sold off when they were trying to get funds to make the VCS...because now they have more content for the VCS that they should have kept in the first place.

I will give Atari SA one minuscule pass on this one.  While selling off the IP arguably devalued the company and ultimately led to having to spend money to get most of it back, given the situation they were in at the time it did stave off total liquidation.  Whether that was for better or worse is debatable, but the company does continue to exist today in what's recognisably the post-bankruptcy form it's had since 2013.

 

That doesn't excuse other mistakes made between then and now, but I do believe that at the time, given all of the possible bad decisions that could have been made, it was probably not the worst.

1 hour ago, Lord Mushroom said:

It seems like Atari is trying to grow as a retro gaming company instead of becoming a modern gaming company. I think that is a safer bet, but with less potential. It is an interesting strategy that I didn´t see coming.

I agree with you re: the limited potential of putting the majority of eggs into the retrogaming basket, but it's not entirely clear at this time if this is a strategy beyond IP holding and licensing.

 

To be honest, it's a bit difficult to tell what direction(s) the company is looking to move in at this time.  While I wouldn't expect them to abandon their retro IP, acquiring Accolade is puzzling: the name hasn't had any meaning in the marketplace in almost a quarter of a century.

 

Assuming that the following quote from the press release is accurate, however:

Quote

Atari is undertaking a multi-year effort to transform the company behind one of the world's most iconic brands. An important part of that effort involves expanding Atari’s video game business, leveraging the company’s large catalog of IP to release classic games and bring new, high-quality games to market. Atari's vast library of IP is the vault from which new and exciting game development ideas are pulled – reinventing old classics, reimagining storylines, and developing entirely new narratives inspired by the games that set the course for an entire industry.

It sounds as though we can expect much of the same as we've already seen while they figure it out.

[GraffitiTavern]

For a bit of clarification from what I could research, Infogrames bought Accolade right before they bought Atari from Hasbro Interactive, they just killed off the Accolade brand afterwards unlike Atari. So they sold off the majority of non-Atari IP in the 2013 bankruptcy auction, I don't think calling it a fundraiser for the VCS is accurate considering it was a bankruptcy preceding years before. The GTI brand got sold off with the Accolade brand to Tommo, along with a lot of the old non-Atari titles, and inexplicably Math Gran Prix(I have no idea why). A lot of the Infogrames titles, but not the Infogrames brand itself, was part of the catalog which went to Tommo. So Atari SA has kept the Infogrames brand, but lost most of the actual Infogrames games, until now. I think.

 

Honestly Atari's ownership and IP history is about as convoluted as a double-knotted Rube Goldberg machine, so I'm never entirely sure.

[+x=usr(1536)]

I'd need to go back and dig up the document again, but there was an Atari SA release - it may have only been meant for shareholders - at some point in the VCS' development that detailed the Atari IP that they actually owned.  It wasn't exactly extensive, at least not in comparison to the number of both first- and third-party titles that had been released in the 2600's lifetime.

19 minutes ago, GraffitiTavern said:

The GTI brand got sold off with the Accolade brand to Tommo, along with a lot of the old non-Atari titles, and inexplicably Math Gran Prix(I have no idea why).

IIRC, Math Gran Prix was somebody's gag purchase - the buyer got the rights to the game for something like $5.  That's what I've always heard, at least; corrections gladly accepted.

 

There is one notable absence from Atari SA's IP catalogue, however, and that's BattleZone.  Rebellion bought the rights to it in that particular fire sale and, AFAIK, continues to own them a decade on.

22 minutes ago, GraffitiTavern said:

Honestly Atari's ownership and IP history is about as convoluted as a double-knotted Rube Goldberg machine, so I'm never entirely sure.

Yup.  It's the proverbial Gordian Knot, just nowhere near as easy to figure out.

[+jeremiahjt]

41 minutes ago, GraffitiTavern said:

Math Gran Prix(I have no idea why)

I think Atari had moved it to another part of the company, one focusing on education games I believe. I think they then sold everything in that part of the company together.

[Nall3k]

3 hours ago, Lord Mushroom said:

It seems like Atari is trying to grow as a retro gaming company instead of becoming a modern gaming company. I think that is a safer bet, but with less potential. It is an interesting strategy that I didn´t see coming.

It's better than what the previous management was doing. If you can't compete in a crowded modern market, and people associate your brand with old games, it makes sense to corner the retro market.

[GraffitiTavern]

1 hour ago, x=usr(1536) said:

detailed the Atari IP that they actually owned

There were a few PDFs of their catalog, most recent I have is from 2021 I believe.

 

1 hour ago, x=usr(1536) said:

There is one notable absence from Atari SA's IP catalogue, however, and that's BattleZone

Yeah the big actual Atari IPs owned by other companies are BattleZone, owned by Rebellion, and the Atari Games titles, owned by WarnerDiscovery. Then there's all the Atari-adjacent stuff, like Berzerk(now back in the family) and Pitfall. I'm curious if Atari might try and buy back BattleZone, since Rebellion hasn't doesn't anything with the IP since the 2016 VR game. I doubt Atari will be able to get the arcade titles back outside of WarnerDiscovery going bankrupt, but I'd be happy to be wrong about that.

 

54 minutes ago, Nall3k said:

It's better than what the previous management was doing. If you can't compete in a crowded modern market, and people associate your brand with old games, it makes sense to corner the retro market.

That is true, but also doing nothing would've been better management than what Chesnais offered. Now I like that they are beginning to make some more long-term investments, I just hope they do some original and modern games too. And arcade games. I will bring this into every thread if I have to. With the Night Dive acq I am hopeful that we will see more development, because I like the games they have come out with recently.

[+x=usr(1536)]

3 minutes ago, GraffitiTavern said:

Then there's all the Atari-adjacent stuff, like Berzerk(now back in the family) and Pitfall.

Yep, and anything that Atari developed (such as Berzerk) that was under licence from a third party (in this case, Stern) may be in a limbo state; as an example, it's possible that they may own the IP that Atari, Inc. originally developed, but not the rights to the name.  Pitfall is a rough one as well, since Activision still owns the rights to it.

 

Don't want to get too far out into the what-if weeds on this, but both of these games demonstrate how rights to particular titles may not be completely clear-cut.

3 minutes ago, GraffitiTavern said:

I'm curious if Atari might try and buy back BattleZone, since Rebellion hasn't doesn't anything with the IP since the 2016 VR game.

True, but something tells me that Rebellion likes owning it.  My gut feeling is that Atari hasn't waved a big enough offer at them yet because Atari isn't in a financial position to risk the buyback without guarantee of a return on it - or other income streams to cover the purchase.

3 minutes ago, GraffitiTavern said:

I doubt Atari will be able to get the arcade titles back outside of WarnerDiscovery going bankrupt, but I'd be happy to be wrong about that.

Atari SA should have rights to the arcade games developed through 1984.  Once the company split into Atari Corp. and Atari Games in 1985, however, arcade games developed after that point are generally not Atari SA's IP.  Even that's not a totally cut-and-dried situation, though.

[Lord Mushroom]

20 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Atari SA should have rights to the arcade games developed through 1984.  Once the company split into Atari Corp. and Atari Games in 1985, however, arcade games developed after that point are generally not Atari SA's IP.  Even that's not a totally cut-and-dried situation, though.

I think he meant that he wanted all things Atari to be under one roof.

[GraffitiTavern]

8 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Atari SA should have rights to the arcade games developed through 1984.  Once the company split into Atari Corp. and Atari Games in 1985, however, arcade games developed after that point are generally not Atari SA's IP.  Even that's not a totally cut-and-dried situation, though.

Well I did specify Atari Games earlier in that post

 

8 hours ago, Lord Mushroom said:

I think he meant that he wanted all things Atari to be under one roof.

Bingo

[zzip]

18 hours ago, GraffitiTavern said:

Microprose was respected but they made old simulator games, maybe Atari reasons since Roller Coaster Tycoon is their most profitable IP at the moment that simulator games will do well. This is the 3rd major acquisition this year, seems they are trying to move towards a full retro publisher, not just limited to actual Atari games

Microprose had a lot of amazing games.   And many Accolade games were groundbreaking for their time-  Hardball!, Test Drive.

 

So in terms of IP acquisition, I think this is more exciting than the Stern deal

 

But both mostly focused on the Home Computer/PC space, meaning KB/Mouse driven, rather than the retro-console games Atari has been focused on reissuing.   So I'm not sure what they plan to do with them.

[+swlovinist]

Looking at the games Accolade published, does this acquisition include the Star Control series?  

[Mockduck]

Someone in the VCS Discord mentioned that they think the titles were acquired from Billionsoft, which seems to fit the press release: https://www.billionsoftware.com/

[+jgkspsx]

These were the games Tommo bought out of the Atari bankruptcy:

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

58 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:

These were the games Tommo bought out of the Atari bankruptcy:

Thanks for that - it actually helps to clear up one of the 'why' questions raised by the acquisition.  It's not a full answer, but it does make certain things a bit less murky.

 

Elite is one of the games listed under the de minimis assets.  This was originally published by Firebird (then-owned by British Telecom), who were bought out by Microprose.  Having the Microprose name under the same roof essentially brings several licences full-circle and removes some uncertainty as to their ownership.  It also opens up the question of how many of Firebird's titles are now Atari titles, but that's a tangent for another time.

 

Without any real depth of insight as to what else may be going on behind the curtain, Elite is an interesting one.  The commented source was released a couple of years ago, and there are suggestions that overall ownership of the IP (not necessarily the code) belongs to David Braben and/or Ian Bell, the original authors.  For our purposes, I'm ignoring Elite: Dangerous, released in 2021, as that was done by Frontier Developments and is likely its own quasi-related-at-best licensing quagmire.

 

This is speculation, obviously, but I think there is some credence to it.