John Stamos Mullet Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 (edited) Enough with the “swag”. Your target audience aren’t teenagers who shop at Supreme and other mall clothing stores trying to impress kids at school. Nobody buying Atari 2600+ consoles is paying $40 for a t-shirt with an Atari logo on it. games. Just make games. You’re not a rock band. We don’t want your merch table junk. /rant Edited March 6 by John Stamos Mullet 3 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicodemusLegend Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 "Nobody buying Atari 2600+ consoles is paying $40 for a t-shirt with an Atari logo on it." I am 100% certain that this statement is not true. 9 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 I draw the line at sneakers. 2 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+littaum Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Official Atari T-shirts are only $20-something? The people creating the merch swag are not the same people making Atari consoles or Atari games. I also bought an official Atari T-shirt at PRGE 2023, so there are some of us who want this "merch table junk". 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 I don't mind merch. But be reasonable. That hat is damn cool, and I'd get one if 1) it didn't have the speaker (practical application?) And 2) if it was more the $20 range ball caps tend to go for. Shirts are ok though. Shoes? That's just weird. Still, what i, and I assume most us old geezers want is still the games! Come on Atari, can't sell the stuff if its not available. As far as I'm concerned, the games are the driver, not shirts and other stuff. They need to find why production on games and hardware is so abysmal and bump it up, possibly by a lot, so people interested in Atari can get the #$%& games. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorkbot Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 (edited) 31 minutes ago, LS650 said: I draw the line at sneakers. The Atari logo is cool. The Atari logo on a sneaker would be cool. But not a messed up schematic of the logo, like that. Just slap that plain bold original logo on there, don't get so fussy with the design. I'd maybe buy sneakers with the original logo, depending on price, but not that version. Edited March 6 by Glorkbot 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plumbob Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 I’m fine if Atari wants to try to sell a few shoes just to keep us occupied while they ramp up production on new game carts….But do please keep the focus on pumping out new games for the 2600 plus! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Stamos Mullet Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 39 minutes ago, littaum said: Official Atari T-shirts are only $20-something? The people creating the merch swag are not the same people making Atari consoles or Atari games. I also bought an official Atari T-shirt at PRGE 2023, so there are some of us who want this "merch table junk". The people creating the merch swag are the same people incessantly emailing me about their “new merch just dropped” every day. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Stamos Mullet Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 22 minutes ago, Video said: I don't mind merch. But be reasonable. That hat is damn cool, and I'd get one if 1) it didn't have the speaker (practical application?) And 2) if it was more the $20 range ball caps tend to go for. Shirts are ok though. Shoes? That's just weird. Still, what i, and I assume most us old geezers want is still the games! Come on Atari, can't sell the stuff if it’s not available. As far as I'm concerned, the games are the driver, not shirts and other stuff. They need to find why production on games and hardware is so abysmal and bump it up, possibly by a lot, so people interested in Atari can get the #$%& games. FYE stores in the mall have Atari ball caps for $5. Literally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamma Ray Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 At this point, I'd be happy with properly working paddle controls on the 2600+. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Making t-shirts, hats, and other such merchandise is not mutually exclusive to the business of making hardware and games. The same people are not working on these different products, so production of merchandise is not slowing down design and production of games, accessories, and consoles. Also, there are many companies out there producing merchandise with Atari IP that don't have a license to do so, and there's obviously a demand for such merchandise. So why shouldn't Atari take advantage of this and make their own merchandise sold directly on Atari.com? It's not a requirement to buy merchandise before you can purchase other items Atari is selling. ..Al 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForceInfinity Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 If it makes Atari money and keeps them afloat, then let them have at it 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeM_ Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 I’d love to see more new games as well, but I have to wonder what the development cycle is for a new title. It’s probably a year to develop a game from scratch at a minimum, plus I would assume that there is a short list of devs with the skill, let alone the time to devote to a new project with actual deadlines to meet, and the desire of those devs to work on a commercial project. I mean Audacity has still only put out one game since inception so there is your model to watch. The only other options I can see is -Atari licensing existing homebrew titles that don’t have any IP concerns (which is kinda what happened with Mr. Run and Jump) -Atari licensing homebrew titles and fixing any IP issues (legal minefield IMO) I suppose I’m being a patient realist here. I’d love to see more, but I realize it won’t be too soon. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Stamos Mullet Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 18 minutes ago, Albert said: Making t-shirts, hats, and other such merchandise is not mutually exclusive to the business of making hardware and games. The same people are not working on these different products, so production of merchandise is not slowing down design and production of games, accessories, and consoles. Also, there are many companies out there producing merchandise with Atari IP that don't have a license to do so, and there's obviously a demand for such merchandise. So why shouldn't Atari take advantage of this and make their own merchandise sold directly on Atari.com? It's not a requirement to buy merchandise before you can purchase other items Atari is selling. ..Al I’m not saying they shouldn’t make or sell it. If it’s profitable, fine. but when I purchased the 2600+ and other games from them, I wasn’t expecting my email inbox to be bombarded with daily emails about clothing items that are obviously aimed at teenaged mallrats. Maybe they could make separste email lists for Atari game enthusiasts like the people here who want occasional updates on new games and hardware, and another mailing list for the people interested in the clothing email blasts? point being, I don’t want to miss out on important (and usually time sensitive) game or presale announcements, because I decided to unsubscribe when the clothing/merch emails got to be too many/annoying. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 30 minutes ago, John Stamos Mullet said: I’m not saying they shouldn’t make or sell it. If it’s profitable, fine. but when I purchased the 2600+ and other games from them, I wasn’t expecting my email inbox to be bombarded with daily emails about clothing items that are obviously aimed at teenaged mallrats. Maybe they could make separste email lists for Atari game enthusiasts like the people here who want occasional updates on new games and hardware, and another mailing list for the people interested in the clothing email blasts? point being, I don’t want to miss out on important (and usually time sensitive) game or presale announcements, because I decided to unsubscribe when the clothing/merch emails got to be too many/annoying. Sure, I can appreciate that, and I agree that adding some granularity to the mailing list so people can focus on the areas they are interested in would be better. I know there were a lot of emails during the holidays, but they've slowed down a fair bit since then (I am subscribed on two separate email accounts, so I see them all). ..Al 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeatari1 Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 46 minutes ago, John Stamos Mullet said: I’m not saying they shouldn’t make or sell it. If it’s profitable, fine. but when I purchased the 2600+ and other games from them, I wasn’t expecting my email inbox to be bombarded with daily emails about clothing items that are obviously aimed at teenaged mallrats. Maybe they could make separste email lists for Atari game enthusiasts like the people here who want occasional updates on new games and hardware, and another mailing list for the people interested in the clothing email blasts? point being, I don’t want to miss out on important (and usually time sensitive) game or presale announcements, because I decided to unsubscribe when the clothing/merch emails got to be too many/annoying. Unsubscribe? I personally like seeing the new merch in an email. I don't always go onto the Atari.com site so if something catches my eye, maybe I'll buy it. I wear a fair amount of gaming related t-shirts, and yes, I do also have a speaker hat (why, I'm not sure) so seeing the new stuff interests me. If you don't want to be notified, just unsubscribe, it's right there at the bottom of the email. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Stamos Mullet Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 24 minutes ago, joeatari1 said: Unsubscribe? I personally like seeing the new merch in an email. I don't always go onto the Atari.com site so if something catches my eye, maybe I'll buy it. I wear a fair amount of gaming related t-shirts, and yes, I do also have a speaker hat (why, I'm not sure) so seeing the new stuff interests me. If you don't want to be notified, just unsubscribe, it's right there at the bottom of the email. You didn’t actually read my comments, did you? if I unsubscribe then I won’t get the new game/hardware/presale announcements. I DO want those. I just don’t want all the merch spam. The way it is now, if you want the game announcements, you have to endure the merch spam. That’s not a great marketing move when your target audience is Gen-X and Boomer guys. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeM_ Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 This is part of why I don’t subscribe to marketing emails. 90% of the time, I’ll see something here or on Facebook long before I’d read it in an email. Email is just noise now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodney Hester Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 4 hours ago, LS650 said: I draw the line at sneakers. That's unfortunate. I have the first-gen off-white sneaker with the original fuji logo in red and ATARI in blue on the side, and they are quite striking and I like them very much. I am also their target market, a 52-year-old Gen X who played the *crap* out of their Atari in the late 70s and through the mid-to-late 80s and make no apologies whatsoever. I don't wear the sneakers (or the multiple t-shirts) to boost company revenue or show off my "mall-rat" swag. I paid good money for them because I _like_ and _enjoy_ them. Everybody: Don't make assumptions about who buys what. I agree there may be a little bit of heavy-handedness with the marketing e-mails, and I'm not going berzerk buying their clothing, but I do appreciate some of it enough to own it. If it helps to further the business of making games, so much the better. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Stamos Mullet Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 (edited) 18 minutes ago, Rodney Hester said: That's unfortunate. I have the first-gen off-white sneaker with the original fuji logo in red and ATARI in blue on the side, and they are quite striking and I like them very much. I am also their target market, a 52-year-old Gen X who played the *crap* out of their Atari in the late 70s and through the mid-to-late 80s and make no apologies whatsoever. I don't wear the sneakers (or the multiple t-shirts) to boost company revenue or show off my "mall-rat" swag. I paid good money for them because I _like_ and _enjoy_ them. Everybody: Don't make assumptions about who buys what. I agree there may be a little bit of heavy-handedness with the marketing e-mails, and I'm not going berzerk buying their clothing, but I do appreciate some of it enough to own it. If it helps to further the business of making games, so much the better. I wasn't making assumptions of who buys what. I was commenting on their advertising emails which literally feature pictures of teens and young adults wearing Atari gear and their partnerships with clothing brands. I had the same icky feeling when Arcade1up started partnering with SUPREME and Pizza Hut and Doritos and those logos started showing up on their cabinets. You don't have to agree with me, and that's fine. But to me, it feels tacky. Cash-grabby. Shameless exploitation of retro style, rather than labor of love like the 2600+. I don't begrudge them how they make their money. The popular logo/brand partnerships with retro brands is apparently an unavoidable phenomena now. I was kind of hoping Atari could avoid that. I just don't want it in my email. To me it comes off like: Edited March 7 by John Stamos Mullet 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrChickenz Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 (edited) So this is where everyone went! I’m over on the other thread waiting, watching, and hoping for a new dumper file! I’m thinking about getting a Colecovison shirt! If I can find one! Sorry Atari! Do they have these in a wide! Edited March 7 by MrChickenz 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeM_ Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 (edited) 47 minutes ago, MrChickenz said: So this is where everyone went! I’m over on the other thread waiting, watching, and hoping for a new dumper file! I’m thinking about getting a Colecovison shirt! If I can find one! Sorry Atari! Do they have these in a wide! So I had to do a quick search for Colecovision swag after reading that and the first thing I found was definitely not aimed at 20 somethings. Ha ha Edited March 7 by MikeM_ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Stamos Mullet Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 16 minutes ago, MikeM_ said: So I had to do a quick search for Colecovision swag after reading that and the first thing I found was definitely not aimed at 20 somethings. Ha ha LOL ”ColecoVision, the brand of choice for retired professional wrestlers and ex-cons.” 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Havoc 2049 Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Hey man, I like my Star Raiders t-shirt! Honestly, I think Atari is killing it as far as new physical games, digital games and hardware goes. They have supported the VCS way more than I thought they would, the Recharged series on modern hardware, the XP and Atari 50 2600 games, the 2600+, new 2600 games and now new 7800 re-releases and hardware. They are one of the more active video game companies out there over the last several years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrChickenz Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 7 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said: ”ColecoVision, the brand of choice for retired professional wrestlers and ex-cons.” Now you’re playing with POWER! Lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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