AtariAge + Atari Q&A

[Albert]

Please ask any questions related to the sale of AtariAge to Atari here, and we (myself and Atari) will do our best to answer them for you. 

 

Here are a few questions and answers to get things going.  As more are asked and answered in this thread, I will also add them to this post.

 

Will Albert Yarusso continue to be involved in AtariAge?

 

Albert Yarusso will continue to oversee AtariAge on a day-to-day basis and manage the forums, supported by volunteer global and individual forum moderators. In addition, Al will become Atari’s new internal historian, and will continue to work with homebrew developers seeking to bring new titles to market.

 

Is Atari planning any significant changes to the AtariAge site, forums or mission?

Atari has no plans to change the AtariAge site or its mission. The only near-term change that users will experience is the roll-out of a new ecommerce infrastructure, an effort initiated by Albert Yarusso that precedes Atari’s involvement.

 

How does Atari view the AtariAge forums and the community it supports?

Atari views AtariAge as an invaluable resource to the community of fans and developers who have supported the brand for 50 years, and to Atari as a brand and a company.  The AtariAge community has contributed to the long-term resilience of Atari, the documentation of the company’s games, and sustained interest in Atari’s legacy hardware and software platforms.

 

Will Atari censor speech within the forums, including criticism of Atari?

 

The content of the forums is ruled by the posted rules of conduct, and enforced by the site’s moderators. Atari has no intention of censoring speech or restricting topics of conversation.

 

Also, please read my public announcement, in case you haven't done so:

 

 

[+5-11under]

Congratulations, Albert! It sounds like this is a positive move for you. I also see potential for Atari, too... you will be an important asset, bridging and honoring the past, while moving into the future.

 

I'm curious if you had a non-AtariAge full-time job before, and if you'll have a non-Atari full-time job after, but you don't have to answer that... just curious.

 

[Albert]

1 minute ago, 5-11under said:

I'm curious if you had a non-AtariAge full-time job before, and if you'll have a non-Atari full-time job after, but you don't have to answer that... just curious.

No, I was not working a full-time non-AtariAge job before I took this position at Atari.  AtariAge was effectively my full-time job leading up to this. 

 

 ..Al

[+cvga]

I can't think of anyone better than Al as a historian and consultant for new projects. After all, his name starts with "Yar"!

[Albert]

Just now, cvga said:

I can't think of anyone better than Al as a historian and consultant for new projects. After all, his name starts with "Yar"!

Alright, that's funny, and I never really thought about that before. And Yars' Revenge is one of my favorite 2600 games!

 

 ..Al

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Is there a way out of this if Atari should be taken over by the wrong people again?

[+x=usr(1536)]

 This is an interesting development   I had a feeling that things might be going this way, but that was really nothing more than a suspicion on my behalf.

 

Regarding one of the above points:

 

18 hours ago, Albert said:

Will Atari censor speech within the forums, including criticism of Atari?

 

The content of the forums is ruled by the posted rules of conduct, and enforced by the site’s moderators. Atari has no intention of censoring speech or restricting topics of conversation.

And, in relation to that, from the announcement thread:

Quote

What does this mean?  Short-term, nothing is going to change.  I will continue running the entire AtariAge website, including the forums and the store.  Nothing is going to be neutered in the forums, and Atari will not have access to personal conversations, private forums and clubs, and so forth.  No content is going to be removed from the forum, and those posting content will be liable for anything they post (which was already the case).

This is something that I truly hope is able to be maintained into the future.  Keeping the status quo after a major shift such as this one can be difficult.

 

One concern I do have is borne out from my experiences in attempting to communicate directly with Atari: none of it was what could be described as pleasant, or even neutral.  If anything, Atari's replies to my points were dismissive and condescending, and failed to address questions which I had raised.  Note that this took place after they had hired someone to act as a community liaison of sorts, and he had invited commentary regarding the frustrations many of us have had with the company.  The impression that I received was that a great deal of lip service was being paid to being interested in what the community thought, but that in practice the expectation was that if you weren't 100% in lock step with the 'everything Atari is awesome' mentality, your invited opinion had no merit.

 

The reason why I bring this up is concern for the longer term.  I realise that in the short term nothing will change, but influence ends to creep in over time.  What in the way of safeguards will be in place to ensure that Atari doesn't censor content (or members) who may be critical of them as a company?  I'm all for people loving their VCS, 2600+, etc., but there's also legitimate criticism that needs to have a place to be aired without fear of reprisal or being sent down the memory hole.

[pseudografx]

Congratulations on the deal! And above all, let's hope this will be good for the community!

[+Sauron]

This news is mind-blowing. Really, I heard the rumors, but didn't expect it to be true. It does not come without its share of concerns, though, and I think the primary question on my mind is, what will happen to the AtariAge site should this iteration of Atari fold? 

[Flyindrew]

Congrats and certainly wishing the best.

 

My question-Will Atari be working toward securing prior software that was available on the AtariAge store for physical and or digital release. To be direct and to the point, Id love to purchase 7800 Popeye either in physical or digital form one day and just using that as an example.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

2 minutes ago, Sauron said:

what will happen to the AtariAge site should this iteration of Atari fold? 

Which is very likely to happen eventually. No iteration of Atari has lasted even close to the 20 years of AtariAge.

[Albert]

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

This is something that I truly hope is able to be maintained into the future.  Keeping the status quo after a major shift such as this one can be difficult.

It is very important to me that the forum continue as it is, and I will be running the forum as I have been throughout the years, that is not going to change.  The store will see some big improvements early next year, and that's something I had already planned on.  And I now expect to be able to make significant improvements to the AtariAge games database with Atari's full support and resources.

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

One concern I do have is borne out from my experiences in attempting to communicate directly with Atari: none of it was what could be described as pleasant, or even neutral.

One of my roles will be to act as a bridge between the retro gaming community and AtariAge.

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

The reason why I bring this up is concern for the longer term.  I realise that in the short term nothing will change, but influence ends to creep in over time.  What in the way of safeguards will be in place to ensure that Atari doesn't censor content (or members) who may be critical of them as a company?  I'm all for people loving their VCS, 2600+, etc., but there's also legitimate criticism that needs to have a place to be aired without fear of reprisal or being sent down the memory hole.

Criticism of Atari is not going to be censored.

 

 ..Al

[r_chase]

Honestly, some of us suspected this for a long time, but now since it's actually reality...I called it.

Anyway, I don't have much else to say, but congratulations anyway. I'm taking this with a bit of cautious hype.

[+x=usr(1536)]

There is also one additional point that I feel needs to be mentioned, and it's a sensitive one.  None of this should be construed as antagonism; it's concern.

 

Many of us have been AtariAge subscribers because we want to contribute financially towards the upkeep of the site.  People (not necessarily subscribers) also purchase items from the store in part because it's a way to support further hardware and software development.

 

On a purely personal (but related) note, I do not wish to give my money to Atari, SA at this time.  Will there be a separation of revenue streams between Atari, SA and AtariAge?

 

If Atari, SA will be contributing towards the financial upkeep of the site, how does this reshape the traditional subscriber benefits?

 

Again, not asking this to be antagonistic, and I realise that the details of financial agreements may not be 100% open to inspection.  That's clearly understood.  But addressing how subscribers and customers may be affected would be appreciated.

[+Sauron]

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

There is also one additional point that I feel needs to be mentioned, and it's a sensitive one.  None of this should be construed as antagonism; it's concern.

 

Many of us have been subscribers because we want to contribute financially towards the upkeep of the site.  People also purchase items from the store in part because it's a way to support further hardware and software development.

 

On a purely personal (but related) note, I do not wish to give my money to Atari, SA at this time.  Will there be a separation of revenue streams between Atari, SA and AtariAge?

 

If Atari, SA will be contributing towards the financial upkeep of the site, how does this reshape the traditional subscriber benefits?

 

Again, not asking this to be antagonistic, and I realise that the details of financial agreements may not be 100% open to inspection.  That's clearly understood.  But addressing how subscribers and customers may be affected would be appreciated.

I would imagine subscriptions would contribute towards the operation of the site, as before. This site has never been free to run.

 

[Lord Thag]

While I share the concerns others have stated around ‘what happens to Atariage if Atari folds’, I see this as a potential win. I’ve dealt with the new Atari quite a bit in the last year (was gifted a VCS for Christmas) and while that was a bit of a bumpy road, I’ve been impressed with their honesty, support and community interest and involvement. I’ve also got a friend who has worked with them extensively on his channel and he’s had a good experience as well with Dave and co. 
 

The really interesting thing here is what this might mean for homebrew authors. This merger could allow them to reach a much larger audience, and actually make writing homebrews a pretty profitable thing for them. 
 

So what does that look like now? If they publish through Atariage/Atari do they retain ownership of their games? I assume they have the potential to be marketed digitally now as well, potentially advertised through Atari. Atari could also actually contract through talented developers as well. I’m sure you can’t get into financials or specifics yet, and that’s fine, but I am curious if you can address this topic in a general fashion? This could be big stuff. 

Edited September 7, 2023 by Lord Thag

[Thomas Jentzsch]

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

Will there be a separation of revenue streams between Atari, SA and AtariAge?

I wonder who owes us developers our royalties (etc.) now? 

[TrogdarRobusto]

12 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Which is very likely to happen eventually. No iteration of Atari has lasted even close to the 20 years of AtariAge.

Hey there, Trogdar from Atari. It is a fair question, we all know that Atari has had its ups and downs and that some chapters in the company's history have been less than ideal.

What I can say is that team at Atari today is committed to ensuring Atari remains a relevant brand in gaming and pop culture 50 years from now, long after we have all moved on. We understand that we are caretakers to something very special. And we recognize that the fan base and homebrew community has played an outsized role in the sustained popularity of the Atari brand and our legacy software and hardware platforms. 

In teaming up Atari and AtariAge our intent is to provide that same kind of long-term stability for the site and the community. 

 

[Albert]

5 minutes ago, Sauron said:

I would imagine subscriptions would contribute towards the operation of the site, as before. This site has never been free to run.

I'm not sure what we will do with subscriptions going forward.  But the site will continue to remain free of commercial advertising (obviously things like the banner for the Portland Retro Gaming Expo on the front page I will continue to do).

 

 ..Al

[ubersaurus]

I'm curious - with this arrangement, are there any plans for long-term preservation of the forums? Cuz there's a *ton* of vital knowledge and community (and Atari!) history on here. Knowing how capricious new ownership can be - looking at the Nintendoage site - I'd sleep better knowing that there is something in the works to make sure that everything posted here over the past 20 odd years doesn't get lost deliberately or accidentally.

[CapitanClassic]

Since the ROMs have been removed from the AtariAge database, I wonder how long the Harmony Cart page will be hosted by AtariAge.

 

The Atari 2600+ release makes sense now. Atari needs new hardware if they want the ability to sell new software. I don’t personally understand the homebrew market myself though, since my understanding is that selling 400+ copies of a game is a blockbuster hit. With those numbers, I don’t see how a company can make much money. And for the older original titles, your rereleases are competing with 120 Million loose used cartridges.

 

Here’s hoping Atari keeps preservation of the history of their games and company alive. Congrats Al, enjoy the sale of your site. Hope you got close to $1.5 million.  

 

 

[TrogdarRobusto]

5 minutes ago, Lord Thag said:

If they (homebrew developers) publish through Atariage/Atari do they retain ownership of their games? I assume they have the potential to be marketed digitally now as well, potentially advertised through Atari. Atari could also actually contract through talented developers as well. I’m sure you can’t get into financials or specifics yet, and that’s fine, but I am curious if you can address this topic in a general fashion? This could be big stuff. 

At a high-level, the relationship with homebrew developers shouldn't change, except as you note that hopefully this opens up more opportunities. For example, Al will certainly recommend titles that he thinks Atari should publish in our new cartridge program. And of course, homebrew developers own their games unless they decide to sell them to a publisher, be it Atari or anyone else. That is up to the developer. But it is certainly not a requirement to sell games on AtariAge ... I don't want to speak too much for Al here ... he is the driving force behind the store.

[+xucaen]

Great news Al!

Is Atari going to put a stop to the sale of SD cartridges?

 

Will Atariage become a point of sale for official Atari products?

[TrogdarRobusto]

9 minutes ago, CapitanClassic said:

Here’s hoping Atari keeps preservation of the history of their games and company alive.

For Atari, an important component of preservation is access. If a game is in a vault, safe and secure, sure, that is a good thing. But we think people should be able to play games from every era of gaming. And they should be able to play them where they want to, so for some it will be a cartridge or disc, for others it might be a port to PC or console, and for others it might be playing a game in a collection like Atari 50. 

You can expect us to remain very active in the retro space in the years to come ... 

[Albert]

2 minutes ago, xucaen said:

Is Atari going to put a stop to the sale of SD cartridges?

No.

2 minutes ago, xucaen said:

Will Atariage become a point of sale for official Atari products?

It's possible, where it might make sense to do so.  The opposite is also true.

 

 ..Al