Atari Future Acquisition Poll

[Video]

23 hours ago, Lord Mushroom said:

There was a 4-for-1 split in 2022. That means shareholders quadrupled their number of shares, which reduces the stock price with 75% (including historical stock prices).

Cool, didn't know that. But even if that's the case, it would still place the high at $80x4 which would only be $320, still short of its true 2020 high of over $500. 

 

Part of Atari stock problem is there are way to many for current interest. I don't know what is involved, but stock can be contracted as well as split, resulting in half as many worth twice as much. That may only be the realm of healthy companies though.

 

Anyhow, atari is something I bought more for shits and giggles than because I thought it was a great investment. Vcs was just on the horizon and I thought it could do some good, then covid hit and wiped out over a decade of work I'd put into my account. Its recovering slowly, but it could still take years just to recover where I was at in 2020.

[Lord Mushroom]

8 minutes ago, Video said:

Cool, didn't know that. But even if that's the case, it would still place the high at $80x4 which would only be $320, still short of its true 2020 high of over $500. 

The graphs only show what it was at the end of each day (maybe even rarer). Perhaps the highs you are talking about went down to $320 or below again before the day was over. I remember the volatility was crazy in that period.

[GraffitiTavern]

2 hours ago, Giles N said:

Do you think it would be difficult for Atari to work out a deal (or simply acquire it in their catalogue of IPs)  to port it for home-consoles and PC/VCS…?

Honestly not sure, a lot of these more modern arcade games never get home ports or republished. As for Centipede Chaos, the controls translate fine for home, but it is fairly simple gameplay-wise and flashy. That's not a dealbreaker, but it would probably need additional content or be in a compilation to justify a home release. There also might be some kind of arcade exclusivity deal due to home releases cannibalizing plays on location. @Shaggy the Atarian probably knows more on that subject than I do, however.

[PowerDubs]

1 hour ago, Video said:

Part of Atari stock problem is there are way to many for current interest. I don't know what is involved, but stock can be contracted as well as split, resulting in half as many worth twice as much. That may only be the realm of healthy companies though.

 

Atari had a shareholders meeting in Sept- and voted on many things.

 

2 things relevant to the current conversation-

 

One of the questions was approved for a stock buy back- followed by an approval for a burn of the stocks bought back.

 

I voted yes for this.  Although Atari will need to spend to buy back.... now is the time to do so- share price is still artificially down- and shareholders scared.

 

The burn will shrink the pool and raise the share price.   (I'm guessing this will happen sooner, rather than later)

 

The other question approved was for a reverse split.  No terms given.  This would also shrink the pool, raise the price. 

 

With the current size of the pool...I'd expect more than 2-1 (for many reasons)- the price will multiply.  Better to be in the pool then to jump in later.

 

All of this, combined with increased revenue #'s coming...and increased news, acquisitions, projects- will attract new investors.  (note as example- the interview Wade just did with Wharton Business- was not directed at gamers- it was meant to get Atari into other eyes..)

 

Wouldn't surprise me to see all this happen as part of Wade moving to get Atari on a proper Nasdaq listing (which gets rid of the $50 foreign transaction fee many brokers charge currently)

 

This time next year will be quite different....

 

 

[Shaggy the Atarian]

3 hours ago, Giles N said:

Do you think it would be difficult for Atari to work out a deal (or simply acquire it in their catalogue of IPs)  to port it for home-consoles and PC/VCS…?

Like @GraffitiTavern mentioned, Atari licensed it to Play Mechanix (the developer) and ICE (the manufacturer) to produce for arcades. The game does have a non-ticket/amusement mode where you can play it more like a normal game but it's still not something you could charge probably more than $10 for, just due to the thin content. 

 

 

Play Mechanix is owned by Raw Thrills, which is run by Eugene Jarvis - while I occasionally have personal contact with the people at both companies, they rarely talk about things like exclusivity agreements. But on top of that is demand - there's likely not enough demand there to warrant a port for Centipede Chaos. I get the sense that Cruis'n Blast on Switch didn't sell too well and if that can't sell, then there's little financial incentive to port something like this over. There's also the existence of Centipede Recharged - Chaos releasing now would potentially hurt that, although maybe not to a huge degree since it's been out for a while - but some people might also feel like Atari would be milking it too much when they just released that, then they come along with CC, which isn't enormously different.  

 

In most cases, arcade game makers prefer to keep games exclusive for several years, as this helps their own sales of the game and helps arcade locations that buy one. Ports kill both of those so it's not the best move to make from a marketing perspective like it used to be. But, CC has been out since 2018 or so and it's no longer in production. So I would never say never, it's just that due to the factors in the paragraph above, I don't think it is likely.

[Giles N]

2 hours ago, PowerDubs said:

Ummm.... almost everyone I know dislike cats....some even into a 'hate' realm.

 

The % of humanity is well below 99%.  Well below 50% based on a quick google search.

 

Also- the few people I know that like cats...true to the stereotype- are weird.

These^ are like the same people who runs and buys old Bubsy-games…?

 

- - -

 

Of course I just threw out a conceptual, ‘imagined’ catch-my-drift percentage-number. Its not like you won’t ever find s cute cat, dog, rabbit-video on social media… Why are video games and cartoons stuffed with cats, dogs, rabbits… and 1 hedgehog who have nothing hedgehoggy about whatsover?

Coincidence?

 

When a franchise opts for a Bobcat to be the hero, he must of course have some charisma, likeable looks and character-traits. If they cannot pull that of, why not make another type of game? 

[Giles N]

17 minutes ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

But on top of that is demand - there's likely not enough demand there to warrant a port for Centipede Chaos. I get the sense that Cruis'n Blast on Switch didn't sell too well and if that can't sell, then there's little financial incentive to port something like this over. There's also the existence of Centipede Recharged - Chaos releasing now would potentially hurt that, although maybe not to a huge degree since it's been out for a while - but some people might also feel like Atari would be milking it too much when they just released that, then they come along with CC, which isn't enormously different.  

But Atari is actually releasing exactly the same games, I mean console/arcade + title on at lesdt 3 Collections + the Gamestation.

 

This looks quite a lot better than Centipede Recharged, and would fit nicely in on a new Atari Collection which may try to do something else than re-selling 70+ 2600 games, and a handful of 5200 games, 3 7800 games and 10 Arcades… like for the 7th time.

 
It may not be worth more than $10 in an eShop.

  
As one of many other titles, not released before on a Atari Collection for $40-50, together with more Lynx-titles (I believe they have the IP for Warbirds), some Recharged Games, even Bubsy for the Jaguar (it serms to be one of better of the titles), and more new stuff, I think this would fit nicely in.

 

I think that both Collections for Swith were good. They had room for improvement, - yes, just quality assurance and player/playing options etc, but I think 50th Ann. is some of better and more interesting stuff they’ve done.

 

I don’t think Atari Collections need to sell poorly. Neither do I think they need to always be filled with 70% of the same old Arcades and 2600-titles.

 

New collections should have new titles, or if not new, the re-sold titles should be improved and expanded (like Super Mario Secret Levels). 

[Giles N]

1 hour ago, GraffitiTavern said:

additional content or be in a compilation to justify a home release.

Yes!!

 

[Shaggy the Atarian]

14 minutes ago, Giles N said:

But Atari is actually releasing exactly the same games, I mean console/arcade + title on at lesdt 3 Collections + the Gamestation.

 

They are, but that sort of thing has diminishing returns at some point. I only grabbed Centipede Recharged because it was free on the Epic Store; I am not buying Atari compilations anymore because of Centipede but maybe some others are

Quote

This looks quite a lot better than Centipede Recharged, and would fit nicely in on a new Atari Collection which may try to do something else than re-selling 70+ 2600 games, and a handful of 5200 games, 3 7800 games and 10 Arcades… like for the 7th time.

 
It may not be worth more than $10 in an eShop.

  
As one of many other titles, not released before on a Atari Collection for $40-50, together with more Lynx-titles (I believe they have the IP for Warbirds), some Recharged Games, even Bubsy for the Jaguar (it serms to be one of better of the titles), and more new stuff, I think this would fit nicely in.

 

I think that both Collections for Swith were good. They had room for improvement, - yes, just quality assurance and player/playing options etc, but I think 50th Ann. is some of better and more interesting stuff they’ve done.

As a part of a wider collection it could be more palpable to work, sure.  But still don't know if they (Play Mechanix) can contractually do it, or if have any appetite to spend resources on porting it, unless Atari funded all of it. 

 

Quote

I don’t think Atari Collections need to sell poorly. Neither do I think they need to always be filled with 70% of the same old Arcades and 2600-titles.

 

New collections should have new titles, or if not new, the re-sold titles should be improved and expanded (like Super Mario Secret Levels). 

I haven't seen numbers before but do these collections sell poorly?

 

I agree that future collections need more unique stuff. Atari 50th was mostly interesting to me because of the six original games, not because of titles I've already purchased 5 other times over the years

[GraffitiTavern]

1 hour ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

As a part of a wider collection it could be more palpable to work, sure.  But still don't know if they (Play Mechanix) can contractually do it, or if have any appetite to spend resources on porting it, unless Atari funded all of it. 

I don't it will happen, as someone who enjoyed the arcade game. However, if it did, it would almost certainly be in the context of Atari rebuilding its catalog, instead of something Play Mechanix/ICE drives, particularly since you said the Asteroids game didn't do well on test. Now if a port was a bonus in a compilation cart of the Recharged games I would love that.

1 hour ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

I haven't seen numbers before but do these collections sell poorly?

 

I agree that future collections need more unique stuff. Atari 50th was mostly interesting to me because of the six original games, not because of titles I've already purchased 5 other times over the years

I am actually someone who never played the vast majority of the games before, both the Reimagined titles and getting to try the later 'cat' systems(Jag and Lynx) which never get rereleased were what sold the collection for me. As far as I know most post-2020 sales of Atari games have been quite low. I think things have very much been in 'rebuild the brand' mode since Wade Rosen took over. They review well, but most people seem to have no clue these games exist. I don't know how to fix that besides a large and smart marketing relaunch campaign and continuing to make good games.

EDIT: To qualify this a bit, Atari 50 seemed to be at least moderately successful on consoles and particularly on the Switch, but sales as a whole have been low for most of the titles in 2020 and beyond. One reason I would encourage Atari to update Atari 50 with Berzerk or something is it could give an oppurtunity for a fresh round of news articles and eyes on the game. Particularly if they send out more review copies to big streamers.

Edited October 31, 2023 by GraffitiTavern

[Jess Ragan]

I posted this on Mastodon a month and a half ago. I'd be impressed with my psychic abilities, but you don't have to be Nostradamus to have guessed this was going to happen.

[+jeremiahjt]

I cannot say I am surprised by this, but I was not expecting this so soon after the Ronimo games. I really wish they could buy a publisher or developer with some classic games in their catalogue though. I wonder if this could let them get some Karateka ports out there, but I do not know anything about the deal Digital Eclipse had for Karateka.

[TrogdarRobusto]

I was wondering if anyone had picked "buy Digital Eclipse" .... 

[JPF997]

6 minutes ago, TrogdarRobusto said:

I was wondering if anyone had picked "buy Digital Eclipse" .... 

 

[+jeremiahjt]

1 hour ago, TrogdarRobusto said:

I was wondering if anyone had picked "buy Digital Eclipse" .... 

You could have given me a heads-up so I could have added it to my poll. You can just go ahead and PM with any additions the poll needs.

[zzip]

Is the Digital Eclipse purchase a backdoor way of getting Atari Games catalog released under Atari SA?   Previous releases of the Midway compilations that contained those games were created by Digital Eclipse

[KidGameR186496]

4 hours ago, zzip said:

Is the Digital Eclipse purchase a backdoor way of getting Atari Games catalog released under Atari SA?   Previous releases of the Midway compilations that contained those games were created by Digital Eclipse

I think the only way to rescue the Atari Games IPs is buying them from Warner Bros.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

18 hours ago, GraffitiTavern said:

I am actually someone who never played the vast majority of the games before, both the Reimagined titles and getting to try the later 'cat' systems(Jag and Lynx) which never get rereleased were what sold the collection for me. As far as I know most post-2020 sales of Atari games have been quite low. I think things have very much been in 'rebuild the brand' mode since Wade Rosen took over. They review well, but most people seem to have no clue these games exist. I don't know how to fix that besides a large and smart marketing relaunch campaign and continuing to make good games.

 

I think this is the real problem when it comes to the Atari brand. A tiny segment of the human race remembers Yars Revenge or Crystal Castles or Haunted House - not enough to push millions of units sold, let alone hundreds of thousands. Even my 3 kids living under my roof are mostly indifferent if I try to get them to play Atari stuff, as it isn't relevant to the culture they are in, and what their favorite YouTubers are playing.

 

So many of Atari's legendary IPs work best in an arcade, not on a console too. You almost have to start from scratch on some of these properties, although you have to be careful, otherwise you upset the fans who will be your biggest promoters or detractors, depending.

 

I think Digital Eclipse did a fantastic job on doing that with games like Haunted Houses, Vctr Sctr, and Neo Breakout. If anyone can expand on the old IP like it needs, I think they're best equipped for it.

 

24 minutes ago, KidGameR186496 said:

I think the only way to rescue the Atari Games IPs is buying them from Warner Bros.

 

And that will not be cheap

[Video]

22 hours ago, PowerDubs said:

 

Atari had a shareholders meeting in Sept- and voted on many things.

 

2 things relevant to the current conversation-

 

One of the questions was approved for a stock buy back- followed by an approval for a burn of the stocks bought back.

 

I voted yes for this.  Although Atari will need to spend to buy back.... now is the time to do so- share price is still artificially down- and shareholders scared.

 

The burn will shrink the pool and raise the share price.   (I'm guessing this will happen sooner, rather than later)

 

The other question approved was for a reverse split.  No terms given.  This would also shrink the pool, raise the price. 

 

With the current size of the pool...I'd expect more than 2-1 (for many reasons)- the price will multiply.  Better to be in the pool then to jump in later.

 

All of this, combined with increased revenue #'s coming...and increased news, acquisitions, projects- will attract new investors.  (note as example- the interview Wade just did with Wharton Business- was not directed at gamers- it was meant to get Atari into other eyes..)

 

Wouldn't surprise me to see all this happen as part of Wade moving to get Atari on a proper Nasdaq listing (which gets rid of the $50 foreign transaction fee many brokers charge currently)

 

This time next year will be quite different....

 

 

Nice, I really should pay more attention to shareholder meetings, but they don't tend to discuss things interesting (like atari acquiring all the stuff they currently are) and the technical stuff? Uh, maybe I should, but don't mind saying most of it is over my head. Heh, I've got 12k shares though, maybe I should buy another grand worth? Lol.

 

@shaggy totatotally get that. One issue with home games is no proper controls. Proper play of many Atari titles involves weird controllers, rotary, paddle, trackball, buttons only. Heh, to put into perspective, how many would play duck hunt with no light gun?

 

Atari could make their own console, well, DID (with the vcs) but did a poor job getting it out there and gave up. I hope they still own it, mod it a bit (take disc or card media) rerelease it with a selection of alternative controllers. Play our console, have the option yo play our games RIGHT.

Edited October 31, 2023 by Video

[PowerDubs]

1 hour ago, Video said:

Heh, I've got 12k shares though, maybe I should buy another grand worth? Lol.

 

I saw the news this morning- so to celebrate I bought another 15,000 shares.

 

[leech]

On 10/13/2023 at 8:26 PM, Video said:

Battlezone is a personal favorite of mine, and rebellion seems to be doing nothing with it.

They released a game that supports VR a few years ago that is simply amazing.  It was more than anything has done with it since the late 90s when the games published by Activision came out.

(Apparently 'a few years ago' in this case is 2017, pretty sad when my brain translates 6 years into a few!)  Okay, it has definitely been a while since a new Battlezone came out...

[leech]

8 hours ago, PowerDubs said:

 

I saw the news this morning- so to celebrate I bought another 15,000 shares.

 

Haha, I have seriously been thinking of buying shares in Atari.  They certainly seem to be doing all the right moves.

[Clint Thompson]

On 10/14/2023 at 1:34 AM, Sauron said:

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

 

As ideal as it would be, I somehow seriously doubt they would have the coin to pony up for this though.

 

Seems like it would be a huge amount of money to accomplish that and then what?

[leech]

9 hours ago, Video said:

@shaggy totatotally get that. One issue with home games is no proper controls. Proper play of many Atari titles involves weird controllers, rotary, paddle, trackball, buttons only. Heh, to put into perspective, how many would play duck hunt with no light gun?

Wonder what would happen if they bought someone like Sinden and started selling the Atari Light Gun with an updated Barnyard Blaster.  😜

[leech]

3 minutes ago, Clint Thompson said:

As ideal as it would be, I somehow seriously doubt they would have the coin to pony up for this though.

 

Seems like it would be a huge amount of money to accomplish that and then what?

I agree with what zzip said earlier (I usually do), Epyx or Data East would be amazing to revitalize their catalog.

But yes, even if all the acquired from Atari Games was Gauntlet, I would be extremely happy!  The world needs more Gauntlet!