Atari has revived Infogrames !

[Lord Mushroom]

2 hours ago, Matt_B said:

Embracer's problem was that their backers pulled out of a $2 billion deal. That's something that would cause an existential crisis at all but a handful of the largest games publishers and even they'd probably have to cull some big projects to make ends meet.

 

That's not going to happen with Atari, because it's pretty much all funded out of Wade Rosen's wallet. 

Atari is reliant on Wade´s money. If he pulls out, Atari will have the same problem.

[roots.genoa]

24 minutes ago, Lord Mushroom said:

Atari is reliant on Wade´s money. If he pulls out, Atari will have the same problem.

Sure, but he said in interview he saw himself doing this until he retires, so unless something goes wrong, I think he's committed.

[Lord Mushroom]

43 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

Sure, but he said in interview he saw himself doing this until he retires, so unless something goes wrong, I think he's committed.

If he can make the company profitable, I am sure he will stay a part of it for a long time. But then it doesn´t matter if he stays or not, the company will be fine either way. It is only when the losses continue, and they really need his money, that he will consider pulling out.

 

No active investors see themselves failing, and leaving with the tail between their legs, but it happens all the time anyway.

[moycon]

19 hours ago, mr_me said:

The movie was made in 1982, and although things were starting to come apart at Atari Inc, at the time they were like Google and Apple today, all rolled in to one. If the movie was made a year or two later, that part might have been different. 

Yeah, Good point. Things might be different if they didn't happen the way they did happen.

[zzip]

9 hours ago, Lord Mushroom said:

I think Atari is making the same mistake as Embracer. Buying buying buying, and losing money until they are broke. The acquisitions are supposed to be a part of a master plan of synergy, but I think that is all bullshit.

During the dot-com bust, my company ended up getting bought by such a company that buying up a bunch of dot-com bust tech companies on the cheap and was going to use the Synergies to integrate them all and make something special!   Didn't work of course.

 

Atari is doing something slightly different.   They've bought a bunch of IPs without employees attached as far as I can tell.   Atari's IP portfolio was kind of weak before Rosen went on the spending spree.   How many more years can they keep selling collections of Asteroids/Centipede/Missile Command?   So I think the IP acquisitions are good as long as they do something with them

 

The other problem they had is the games Atari put out prior to Rosen weren't known for quality.   Even most Roller Coaster Tycoon installments weren't getting great reviews.  Adding studios like Digital Eclipse and Nightdive boosts the quality of their output and boosts Atari's credibility.    As long as these studios aren't bleeding money, and Atari doesn't fuck up what made them work, they're a positive.

 

As far as the other investments,   Moby, Ant Stream, AtariAge,  not sure   

 

But we'll see how this all shakes out in the coming years I guess.

[zzip]

2 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

Sure, but he said in interview he saw himself doing this until he retires, so unless something goes wrong, I think he's committed.

But no CEO is going to tell the media something that gives investors the jitters either.

 

[Lord Mushroom]

24 minutes ago, zzip said:

Atari is doing something slightly different.   They've bought a bunch of IPs without employees attached as far as I can tell.

They have also bought Moby Games, Nightdive Studios, Digital Eclipse and part of other companies, all having employees. That is where the big bucks went.

 

27 minutes ago, zzip said:

Atari's IP portfolio was kind of weak before Rosen went on the spending spree. 

Still is. While they have bought the rights to hundreds of games, the one with the most potential (in my opinion) is Bubsy. A mascot known for being a failure. That says a lot.

 

They already had the IP rights to games with relatively high game recognition, like Adventure and Major Havoc, with which they have done nothing. If they can´t make something out of those, they can´t make anything out of games almost no one has heard of.

 

34 minutes ago, zzip said:

How many more years can they keep selling collections of Asteroids/Centipede/Missile Command? 

Decades. With diminishing returns of course.

 

37 minutes ago, zzip said:

Adding studios like Digital Eclipse and Nightdive boosts the quality of their output and boosts Atari's credibility. 

But those games will first and foremost be known as Digital Eclipse and Nightdive games, so the rub off on Atari will be limited.

[zzip]

13 minutes ago, Lord Mushroom said:

They already had the IP rights to games with relatively high game recognition, like Adventure and Major Havoc, with which they have done nothing. If they can´t make something out of those, they can´t make anything out of games almost no one has heard of.

I don't think Major Havoc is a big name?   At least not where I'm from.     They've got new versions of  Sprint, Food Fight, Yars coming,  they released updates of Lunar Lander and Haunted House.    Yes they are using their existing IPs.    We may see Adventure yet.

 

13 minutes ago, Lord Mushroom said:

But those games will first and foremost be known as Digital Eclipse and Nightdive games, so the rub off on Atari will be limited.

The trailer for The Thing puts the Atari logo front and center.   If they start doing that for all releases from those companies, people will start to make the association.

Edited June 12 by zzip

[Lord Mushroom]

6 minutes ago, zzip said:

I don't think Major Havoc is a big name? 

No, but it is more known than almost all the IP they have bought. 

[zzip]

28 minutes ago, Lord Mushroom said:

1 hour ago, zzip said:

I don't think Major Havoc is a big name? 

No, but it is more known than almost all the IP they have bought. 

I don't know about that.  it never even got home ports until the arcade versions started showing up in Atari compilations in the 2000s.   I don't think I've ever seen it in the arcade either.

 

Berzerk and Frenzy are certainly more popular.   There's quite a few games in the Intellivision, Accolade and Microprose portfolios they acquired that are more well-known.

[PowerDubs]

5 hours ago, Lord Mushroom said:

 It is only when the losses continue, and they really need his money, that he will consider pulling out.

 

That's why he bought controlling interest in the company.  He is not making choices only with other people's money like most businesses do.

 

It's a great show of commitment by having spent many millions of his own money for half the company- he has more to win / lose than anyone else.

 

As we sit currently- Wade, the Nightdive crew, the Digital Eclipse crew... are all underwater on the share price like the rest of us.

 

That sounds bad...but it is actually a really good thing. 

 

They won't leave...and they are motivated to succeed. 

 

And if anyone else wants to get in on the action at this price- they can be pretty confident it's a good bet.

[Giles N]

20 hours ago, TopDrawer said:

have a plan to use the IP (or IPs), my guess is that it wouldn't be that much of an issue. Realistically, these IPs aren't really super valuable compared to other ones. They could probably get them cheap.

Besides putting them on e-stores

immediatly, - if they acquired several IPs that naturally belonged - they could both release an Evercade Cart with originals, and put them out on Antstream.

 

Later they could release Remasters and novel sequels.

[Giles N]

13 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

Regarding Alone in the Dark, you must also realize that its creator Frederick Raynal fought years to get the license back from Infogrames/Atari, and to get acknowledged as its creator actually. So I'm not sure he would be OK with Atari trying to get the IP again. At best they can license it for a game, though.

Thanks; the sort of background info like this, isn’t always easy to dig up, or guess at, and if it’s really a personal-interest aspect to this, which also needs to be considered, good have it out there. Appreciate you put it out here for us.

 

My suggestion would be for Atari (if they bought the IPs to ‘compensate’ by releasing it as   ‘Frederick Raynal’s Alone in The Dark [then number in series and full title], giving him ‘headline credit’.

 

 

Edited June 12 by Giles N

[TopDrawer]

16 hours ago, Lord Mushroom said:

Nightdive Studios and Digital Eclipse don´t need to own the IP to make games, they can just license the rights. Mobygames has a lot of information about video games, so what? Atari doesn´t need to own a piece of Antstream Arcade to have their games on it. Almost all of the very old IP they bought is useless ancient crap that is barely worth putting on Steam. And so on.

That's true, but I think it seems that Rosen's master plan though is to turn Atari into the industry's experts of retro re-releases first and foremost.

And to be fair, Nightdive doesn't seem to specifically go out of their way to acquire IPs. They seem to only do so as a last effort scenario, where the IP is either in some weird legal limbo, the IP holder doesn't care, or both. I think that's what happened with System Shock & SiN, for example. But that aside, most of their work consists in selling their services and know-how to other companies (porting Doom 64 for IdSoftware/Bethesda, the Turok games for Universal, etc). Same goes with Digital Eclipse as well (the recent TMNT and Disney collections, for example).

To give them credit, it seems they actually have a business strategy, whilst Embracer doesn't.

Although I agree, buying out MobyGames seemed kind of an oddball move to be honest.

Edited June 12 by TopDrawer

[+D Train]

49 minutes ago, TopDrawer said:

I think it seems that Rosen's master plan though is to turn Atari into the industry's experts of retro re-releases first and foremost.

I think it's too early to say that, although whatever he is doing is going to have a strong retro inflection.

 

it's more likely that he is looking at filling one or more niches of which retro is one.

 

only time will tell, but it will be interesting to see what a mostly self funded person like him has in store.

[PowerDubs]

53 minutes ago, TopDrawer said:

Although I agree, buying out MobyGames seemed kind of an oddball move to be honest.

 

 

If you intend to be the caretaker of old games... it makes sense to take control of the video game library of info.

 

The big picture smart move of all this is- a new game next month....will become an old game years from now.

 

Atari will never run out of 'retro' with a wide enough net.

 

Mark my words- one day Sony / Nintendo / Microsoft will come to Atari for some sort of help / project.

[Giles N]

6 hours ago, zzip said:

Yes they are using their existing IPs.    We may see Adventure yet.

Yes, I hope they do something with Adventure - something with broad appeal, both easy to pick up and get-into, but also much more to do, see and explore, - progressive build up and feelings of ‘there and back again’, an Arcade like action-rpg as accessible and likeable as Zelda, but going back to its origins and core-elements, just with lots and lots more to see and do.

 

A good place to start for Atari to create a sense of continuation, would be to have the 5200/8-Bit ‘Adventure 2’ featured (along other titles) in a future Atari 50th DLC.

 

And, please, keep it classic Fantasy Medieval in feel, but fun, colorful, vibrant and with original elements put in here and there.

—

 

As for Major Havoc - it looks quite impressive the time of release, but I don’t the title became very famous. I’m not the one to say for sure. Was too young back then, as a no sequels were made, I never heard about it. 
(Is it only me, or does it lack save-state/save-point in the Atari 50th collection?)

If a new version comes around some day, please, please arm our poor Major with some laser-guns in the platform sections, not just a protective shield).

 

—

 

As to the acquired stuff, it needs to be packaged and sold in ways that cater to the target groups/audiences first, but they ought to add festures that make some of it of interest to others groups too.

For example: An Intellivision GameStation or Collection with ReImagined games akin to VCTR SCTR (I mention this one particulary as it does a good job of feeling retro, but is built up to give better game-experience of game-progression and more to do, more to master.)

 

A new Bubsy game game, should take all the parts of the other Bubsy games that got lauded on reception, build on that, and actually use some the bad parts for self-ironic throwback humour… 

 

 

[TopDrawer]

30 minutes ago, PowerDubs said:

Mark my words- one day Sony / Nintendo / Microsoft will come to Atari for some sort of help / project.

I can imagine companies like SEGA & Konami stepping in and contract a company like Nightdive to do proper ports of their classic games, considering they've lost most of their original source codes (Panzer Dragoon, the Silent Hill games, etc).

Edited June 12 by TopDrawer

[Giles N]

7 hours ago, zzip said:

Yes they are using their existing IPs.    We may see Adventure yet.

Part II:

 

Atari should do more with Lego - a better 2600 if that is the big seller - and provide it with more games (even if not strictly limited to 2600-alone), and have the ‘toy world’ for each game much more complete: the protagonist, all enemies, backdrop, buildings, or astronomical objects and all the rest, very neatly lined up as nice toys for kids to ‘play the game-world’ with physical action-figurines and settings to build or rearrange’.

Essentially a Lego Atari 2600+ both as to games’ and toys’ contents.

Edited June 12 by Giles N

[TopDrawer]

12 minutes ago, Giles N said:

A new Bubsy game game, should take all the parts of the other Bubsy games that got lauded on reception, build on that, and actually use some the bad parts for self-ironic throwback humour… 

I'd like to see a genuinely great, sincere, 3D platformer that pushes the genre...That also just so happens to be a Bubsy game.

It could borrow elements from games like Mario Odyssey & Bowser's Fury, and push them forward - same way games like Spyro and Banjo-Kazooie build upon what Mario 64 established.

[Giles N]

17 minutes ago, TopDrawer said:

I'd like to see a genuinely great, sincere, 3D platformer that pushes the genre...That also just so happens to be a Bubsy game.

Absolutely! But I don’t think they want to spend money on a fullyfledged 3D platformer yet.

 

I hope they get the new Food Fight to have several graphics-settings, so the gamers can ramp up level of detail on Steam, PS5, XBox S/X. It could also be just 2 versions: one on low-hardware power systems like the Switch or their own VCS, and one with much higher level of detail for stronger Consoles. On PC you can select between the 2.

 

I think they to get this one to work properly and polish it as much as possible, before going into a 3D Bubsy platformer like the Mario 3D games, Spyro etc.

 

When they get the Food Fight 3D out on more platforms, they should make sure an Atari 50th DLC update with Food Fight for the 7800 (and other titles) is released.

 

(Some may then ask: how then make people interested in the 7800 aspect of the 2600+ console, when the final official Firmware update is announced with links and Ads? I’d say; make sure lot’s of cool old and new 7800 games gets a release which is hard to ignore, showing the 7800 for its ‘cult-classic system that stayed retro - alive and active 30 years after its Market-age. Sell packs of 10 top-quality 7800 games - one common and one exclusive collectors edition etc.)

Edited June 12 by Giles N

[Giles N]

1 hour ago, TopDrawer said:

Although I agree, buying out MobyGames seemed kind of an oddball move to be honest.

They can just sell it off to Amico…

[TopDrawer]

3 hours ago, Giles N said:

Absolutely! But I don’t think they want to spend money on a fullyfledged 3D platformer yet.

They should get the people from Evening Star (the guys behind Sonic Mania) to develop a really great 2D Bubsy game and actually makes redeem the franchise first. Or maybe WayForward?

I think the last 2 games didn't really break new ground quality-wise, in my opinion. They were serviceable at best.

Edited June 13 by TopDrawer

[Lord Mushroom]

17 hours ago, zzip said:

I don't know about that.  it never even got home ports until the arcade versions started showing up in Atari compilations in the 2000s.   I don't think I've ever seen it in the arcade either.

Maybe it is less known than I thought, although I have the impression it is one of those games that has become more known with time.

 

Anyway, Atari´s own projects have been losing money. Why buy IP rights to do more of that? So far the only new thing we have got from their IP purchases (correct me if I am wrong) is Berzerk Recharged, which seems to be a commercial failure. I can´t name a video game company that became successful through buying IP, they all got successful from creating and/or licensing IP.

[Lord Mushroom]

13 hours ago, TopDrawer said:

And to be fair, Nightdive doesn't seem to specifically go out of their way to acquire IPs. They seem to only do so as a last effort scenario, where the IP is either in some weird legal limbo, the IP holder doesn't care, or both. I think that's what happened with System Shock & SiN, for example. But that aside, most of their work consists in selling their services and know-how to other companies (porting Doom 64 for IdSoftware/Bethesda, the Turok games for Universal, etc). Same goes with Digital Eclipse as well (the recent TMNT and Disney collections, for example).

That is my point. People say Nightdive/Digital Eclipse and Atari are a good match because the former are developers without (much) IP, and Atari has IP, but aren´t developers. But neither needs each other, as the former can license IP, and the latter can partner with developers.