Atari Future Acquisition Poll

[+jeremiahjt]

Since Atari has been making news lately for acquisitions, I thought we could do a poll for what acquisition people would like to see next.  Fortunately, it has been confirmed that Atari got the rights to Math Gran Prix back in the Accolado/GT Interactive/Microprose deal.  I think we can all agree that getting Math Gran Prix back would have run away with this pole.

 

I think we can also safely say that whatever wins will become the top priority for Wade Rosen and Atari.  Right @TrogdarRobusto and @davpa?

[Wildstar]

First, I would do both options. Do both concurrently. Battlezone might take a little longer or the other might but it would build their portfolio. Additionally, having complete rights to Atari name and all associated trademarks from both the arcade and consumer division so they can return to a consolidated rights to the brand. In turn, with acquiring the Atari Games catalog as the IP owner, they could license a number of those titles to Warner Bros. game studios. Develop a working relationship with Warner as they have resources to make good games but they could also pick up some Bally Midway stuff from the era as well.

[+jeremiahjt]

Just now, Wildstar said:

First, I would do both options. Do both concurrently. Battlezone might take a little longer or the other might but it would build their portfolio. Additionally, having complete rights to Atari name and all associated trademarks from both the arcade and consumer division so they can return to a consolidated rights to the brand. In turn, with acquiring the Atari Games catalog as the IP owner, they could license a number of those titles to Warner Bros. game studios. Develop a working relationship with Warner as they have resources to make good games but they could also pick up some Bally Midway stuff from the era as well.

There are more than two.  I somehow hit the enter button while creating the poll and it created the topic before I was ready.

[Wildstar]

Just now, jeremiahjt said:

There are more than two.  I somehow hit the enter button while creating the poll and it created the topic before I was ready.

Right but in any case, all the above in some manner. They could even go for some of the titles associated with the era from 70s to 90s era that were associated with other consoles and computers. Even Atari made/published games for Atari but some of the other non-Atari stuff. Even remarketing those brands and their trademarks.

 

[GraffitiTavern]

Definitely my preference would be the Atari Games catalog, I know a lot of people want the Activision 2600 titles, but I like how a lot of the Atari Games titles can show their evolution in the 21st century, Gauntlet Dark Legacy was a full-fledged action RPG with multiple classes in arcades. Some of those games still have a cult following(like Area 51 or SF Rush).

[Wildstar]

7 minutes ago, GraffitiTavern said:

Definitely my preference would be the Atari Games catalog, I know a lot of people want the Activision 2600 titles, but I like how a lot of the Atari Games titles can show their evolution in the 21st century, Gauntlet Dark Legacy was a full-fledged action RPG with multiple classes in arcades. Some of those games still have a cult following(like Area 51 or SF Rush).

I prefer they get the Atari Games catalog, and numerous other games associated with the coin op and Atari consoles/computers as well as potential catalog of games that were popular on Apple, Commodore, Amiga, SEGA and other consoles, MSX, and several other systems associated with the era. 

In addition, there should also be arrangements with homebrew and new games.

 

[Flojomojo]

It would be nice for the Intellivision IP to be in more competent hands. Atari acquired the M Network titles earlier this year, maybe they can finish the job in 2024. 
 

I voted for Activision/Imagic/etc but it seems more likely that Microsoft could just gobble up Atari itself. 

 

As for reuniting the Atari Games catalog, I see that’s the poll winner and I agree that would be nice. The fact that it hasn’t happened in nearly 40 years makes it seem unlikely though. 

[zzip]

Where's the Chuck E Cheese option?

[Nall3k]

I'd love to see the Atari arcade division assets back in the fold with the rest of Atari.

[zzip]

What 2600-era catalogs worth owning outside of Activision, Imagic and M-Network?

 

The first one that comes to mind is Parker Bros, but their game are almost entirely third-party licenses, so it's useless.   Same with Coleco.

 

CBS?   Xonox?

[Lord Mushroom]

5 minutes ago, zzip said:

What 2600-era catalogs worth owning outside of Activision, Imagic and M-Network?

Nintendo

[zzip]

There might be other arcade opportunities similar in size to the Stern deal..     Exidy?  Data East?  Who owns Moon Patrol?  Vanguard?

 

There was also a whole bunch of developers / publishers that popped up in the early home computer days that might be available.   Here's some that don't seem to have been swallowed by big players

Epyx

Big Five ( I think Atari may own this already,  Miner 2049er and Bounty Bob strikes back showed up on the last IP list Atari published)

First Star (Boulderdash and a few others)

Datasoft 

Sirius Software

 

[JPF997]

2 hours ago, Lord Mushroom said:

Nintendo

I know you said this in a joking matter but if Atari ever actually tried to go after something like Donkey Kong Nintendo would (at the very least) ask for a 100 time's more money than what Atari itself could earn/generate in 10 year's ( going by modern Atari's current annual revenues ), this would never even be worth considering by any of the parties involved.

[zzip]

3 minutes ago, JPF997 said:

I know you said this in a joking matter but if Atari ever actually tried to go after something like Donkey Kong Nintendo would (at the very least) ask for a 100 time's more money than what Atari itself could earn/generate in 10 year's ( going by modern Atari's current annual revenues ), this would never even be worth considering by any of the parties involved.

Not worth it anyway.   Nobody really wants 2600 Donkey Kong,   DKjr even less.   Popeye is probably third-party licensed so that leaves just Mario Bros?

[Lord Mushroom]

12 minutes ago, zzip said:

last IP list Atari published

Do you have a link to that?

[zzip]

2 minutes ago, Lord Mushroom said:

Do you have a link to that?

Doesn't seem like it's still online, but I have a copy of the Jan 2022 version:

 

 

Atari-IP-Catalog-Jan21-2022.pdf

[jhd]

2 hours ago, zzip said:

Not worth it anyway.   Nobody really wants 2600 Donkey Kong,   DKjr even less.   Popeye is probably third-party licensed so that leaves just Mario Bros?

 

No love for Sky Skipper? 🤣

 

Seriously, though, most of the really desirable/high-profile licenses/rights would be financially out of reach for Atari -- if available in the marketplace at all. 

 

[Zonie]

I voted for #2, but don't also forget Kee Games...

[+jeremiahjt]

2 hours ago, Zonie said:

I voted for #2, but don't also forget Kee Games...

Doesn't Atari already own everything from Kee Games?

[Dutchman2000]

The Imagic rights are not part of the Activision deal as they never acquired them in the first place.  Imagic is suspended and has been since 1986. 

[Video]

Totally getting the two Atari companies back together would be great. Atari released a lot of stuff post 2600 era that you never see due to the separate division owning titles. Don't get me wrong, some titles will never show up due to third party ownership, like tetris, but there's lots of good teengen games, klax, I preferred the RBI series to other baseballs of the time. And there's a load of other titles I think would be desirable as Atari collections, or even as "recharged" titles.

 

I don't know how many games that would add to the collection, but its probably 50-100% additional titles to the 150 or so we get from other collections.

 

Battlezone is a personal favorite of mine, and rebellion seems to be doing nothing with it. I'd love to see its return to Atari, but as a single game (across various platforms) it makes little sense to put a lot into trying to acquire it. Then it made little sense to sell it to start with either, being one of the games Atari specifically is known for. I've put many hours into the 2600, ad later dmg versions of this game.

 

Outside the poll, how about basically abandoned stuff? I'd love to see Atari pick up rights to things like intellivision, coleco, and/or vectrex. Lot of great titles that see little to no love this day in age.

 

I voted Atari games btw.

[+jeremiahjt]

13 minutes ago, Dutchman2000 said:

The Imagic rights are not part of the Activision deal as they never acquired them in the first place.  Imagic is suspended and has been since 1986. 

I always thought Activision acquired the Imagic rights since they released a few Imagic games in the late 1980s.

[Dutchman2000]

Nope, Imagic being suspended meant they could not protect their copyrights and trademarks.  Basically they could not defend themselves. I believe Activision just took advantage of the situation. 

[+Defender_2600]

Getting from Warner Bros. the rights to:

• Defender (Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Atari 7800 Homebrew, Atari Jaguar)
• Stargate (Arcade, Atari 2600)
• Robotron: 2084 (Arcade, Atari 2600 Homebrew, Atari 8-bit, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari ST, Lynx)
• Joust (Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Atari 7800, Atari ST, Atari Lynx)

That would be awesome.

[+Sauron]

First order of business is getting the Atari Games catalog back, everything else is secondary.