Atari Fans Spent $1000 On 50th XP Collection Only To Find Two Of Its Games Are Broken

[MrBeefy]

This is inexcusable. Atari can't even make their own games correctly? Unless you expect them to be atuerish hacks. Then it's totally to be expected. 

 

https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/05/atari-fans-spent-usd1000-on-50th-xp-collection-only-to-find-two-of-its-games-are-broken

 

Maybe they should send them a speaker hat and coupon for a free taco from Taco Bell.

[CapitanClassic]

Lol, you are getting a little too overexcited about this. Manufacturing errors happen. The expected failure rate of PS2 systems from Sony was around 2%. That means on launch when they couldn’t even make half of their preorders, so of the 500k sent to the USA, they expected about 10 thousand to de defective.

 

Do you know what percentage of Strider 2 discs were correctly manufactured in the NA region? 0%
Sony screwed up and put the Strider Arcade label on the Strider 2 and visa versa. They didn’t even recall them all and create a second printing.

[MrBeefy]

49 minutes ago, CapitanClassic said:

Lol, you are getting a little too overexcited about this. Manufacturing errors happen. The expected failure rate of PS2 systems from Sony was around 2%. That means on launch when they couldn’t even make half of their preorders, so of the 500k sent to the USA, they expected about 10 thousand to de defective.

 

Do you know what percentage of Strider 2 discs were correctly manufactured in the NA region? 0%
Sony screwed up and put the Strider Arcade label on the Strider 2 and visa versa. They didn’t even recall them all and create a second printing.

And that's also crap by Sony and inexcusable. Doesn't change anything.

[Mockduck]

I haven't seen other reports than this one of an issue with Haunted House, mine plays just fine, but yes, of the very few people who have actually opened their sets (including me), I have yet to see someone have a fully working Crystal Castles. I got a replacement from Atari that didn't work in a different way.

 

My theory is the cool little LED lights in each cart makes them prone to issues, I'll leave it to the experts to tell me why that'd be. Although I also suspect maybe the Crystal Castles issue is a bad ROM dump. 

 

The set is still cool, still love the look of it, and the packaging was overall nice. Atari got about 80% of the way to a fantastic release then fumbled the final 20%. 

 

 

[Razzie.P]

Ugh... yeah, based on your title I figured you were overreacting bc crap sometimes gets broken during shipment.  But after reading the article and what MockDuck mentioned about Crystal Castles, this is pretty crappy.  Pretty boxes with non working carts puts this set on the same level as Amico's "virtually empty box" shenanigan, but with a huge price difference.  

 

 

[Mockduck]

5 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

Ugh... yeah, based on your title I figured you were overreacting bc crap sometimes gets broken during shipment.  But after reading the article and what MockDuck mentioned about Crystal Castles, this is pretty crappy.  Pretty boxes with non working carts puts this set on the same level as Amico's "virtually empty box" shenanigan, but with a huge price difference.  

 

 

To be fair, though, I bet I can count on one hand how many people opened the sets. I'll take the thumb, GenXGrownUp can take a finger, same w/Sabertooth. Who else? Bet its just us people who like to make videos, and even then not many.

[MrBeefy]

6 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

Ugh... yeah, based on your title I figured you were overreacting bc crap sometimes gets broken during shipment.  But after reading the article and what MockDuck mentioned about Crystal Castles, this is pretty crappy.  Pretty boxes with non working carts puts this set on the same level as Amico's "virtually empty box" shenanigan, but with a huge price difference.  

 

 

I do like my hyperbolic reactions.

49 minutes ago, Mockduck said:

To be fair, though, I bet I can count on one hand how many people opened the sets. I'll take the thumb, GenXGrownUp can take a finger, same w/Sabertooth. Who else? Bet its just us people who like to make videos, and even then not many.

What were the numbers on their total sale of those? It's just so stupidly laughable how they can't get something like that figured out.

 

When you think about how Al has been a one man machine for so long and doing it and doing it right, it just shows that Atari was more interested in milking the cow, because "Hey they will buy anything even if it doesn't work. So don't worry about the effort."

[Mockduck]

11 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

I do like my hyperbolic reactions.

What were the numbers on their total sale of those? It's just so stupidly laughable how they can't get something like that figured out.

 

When you think about how Al has been a one man machine for so long and doing it and doing it right, it just shows that Atari was more interested in milking the cow, because "Hey they will buy anything even if it doesn't work. So don't worry about the effort."

Total numbers are not known, but they sold 100 of the complete set, so it'd be that plus however many were ordered individually during their initial pre-sale windows, which we know were low enough that they were able to release 100 of the complete set.  

[+Stephen]

29 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

When you think about how Al has been a one man machine for so long and doing it and doing it right, it just shows that Atari was more interested in milking the cow, because "Hey they will buy anything even if it doesn't work. So don't worry about the effort."

God forbid any of us say that (i.e., speak the truth) though, because we are labelled as haters.  If they fail, it will then be our fault.

[MrBeefy]

2 hours ago, Stephen said:

God forbid any of us say that (i.e., speak the truth) though, because we are labelled as haters.  If they fail, it will then be our fault.

That's why I chuckle when people get so mad if someone mentions tacos. Tacos and taco threads had nothing to do with things like the VCS not being a success. It wasn't a great product idea or execution.

 

Their individual carts had some installed backwards iirc. I remember seeing the mock up design of a cart reader and they had the carts in the wrong way.

 

I mean I know it has been awhile since the original 2600 came out. But you would think they'd put in a little more effort into knowing their past stuff. It really does seem like their main focus is making sure it has an Atari logo on it first. Then everything else second.

 

And let them call me a hater. The last person that did that lost his job, wife, and has been exposed for being a hack. I have standards and expectations. If you don't have those standards, the company(s) you like have ZERO incentive to do better. Just accepting mediocre means they know they don't have to try and will keep shoveling out crap because they know you will buy it because it has their symbol.

 

I like some of the steps the recent regime has taken, and hope the get the ship back on track. Only time will tell though.

 

And remember if me, a random forum user (or similar users), with zero pull in the gaming industry can ruin something because I'm a hater.... the product is trash. 

[Razzie.P]

4 hours ago, Mockduck said:

To be fair, though, I bet I can count on one hand how many people opened the sets. I'll take the thumb, GenXGrownUp can take a finger, same w/Sabertooth. Who else? Bet its just us people who like to make videos, and even then not many.

I'm not really sure that makes it feel any better, in my mind at least.  I'd imagine even people keeping them sealed would like to have confidence that the product is in tact and working properly.  I can't imagine these would have been quite the same caliber of collectible if they were advertised up front as "carts are non-working and for display only," whether the non-working carts were 1, 2, or the complete set.

 

I dunno... I hope most of the fans who purchased are happy with them regardless, but it really saddens me a bit to see Atari consistently come so close to doing something great, but always dropping the ball at some point along the way each time.

[+GoldLeader]

 

Oh,  these sets were only $1,000?   I would have ordered 50 of 'em had I known that.

[BONEMAN]

What's the deal with Crystal Castles? It's buggy?

[+swlovinist]

Sad news to hear this.   Hopefully Atari can make it right like they did the other issues with their carts.   

[+KaeruYojimbo]

I wonder what the actual failure rate is for Haunted House. If it's high enough, a proven working copy might be more valuable. Unfortunately, the only way to prove it works is to open it, making it less valuable to collectors. Hmmm, maybe someone could write a book about that...

[Mockduck]

I took out and played all ten of my carts, Crystal Castles was the only 100% nonworking one. My Super Breakout is slightly flaky in that it plays fine in some 2600s and not in others. I've played a complete game of Haunted House without issue, so I know at least one HH is working.

[l12n]

This whole episode makes Atari look *really* bad:
- It took them a year to create 2600 carts
- A couple of them are malfunctioning

- Atari apparently won't bother fixing the malfunctioning games???

 

If that's how Atari treats people willing to pay $1000 for 10 games which are older than dirt, that doesn't bode well for the rest of us.

[CapitanClassic]

22 minutes ago, l12n said:

If that's how Atari treats people willing to pay $1000 for 10 games which are older than dirt, that doesn't bode well for the rest of us.

Not really. Think about it this way. Which bad press is worse for your company…

 

1. You sell 1000 luxury items, that most people won’t know are defective, because the just plan on putting on a shelf. They are 100% defective (if you open them), but only 10% of your customers will open them, and only 10% of those will complain on the internet.
2. You sell 1,000,000 high priced items, that people use on a daily basis, that don’t work if you are holding the product the way it was intended. Everybody will complain (to themselves), but only 1% will complain on the internet.

 

In the first situation, you might get 10 tweets saying your company sucks. In the second, you might get 10,000. Then news stories do whatever is trending, and write lots of articles about how your product sucks and is defective.

 

Apple is still making phones, Atari will still be making games. It makes more sense for them to focus on the low cost $30-$50 games than the premium ones.

[MrBeefy]

13 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

I'm not really sure that makes it feel any better, in my mind at least.  I'd imagine even people keeping them sealed would like to have confidence that the product is in tact and working properly.  I can't imagine these would have been quite the same caliber of collectible if they were advertised up front as "carts are non-working and for display only," whether the non-working carts were 1, 2, or the complete set.

 

I dunno... I hope most of the fans who purchased are happy with them regardless, but it really saddens me a bit to see Atari consistently come so close to doing something great, but always dropping the ball at some point along the way each time.

I always love buying deluxe hardcover unabridged versions of books to sit on my shelf that have nothing but blank pages in them.

23 minutes ago, CapitanClassic said:

Not really. Think about it this way. Which bad press is worse for your company…

 

1. You sell 1000 luxury items, that most people won’t know are defective, because the just plan on putting on a shelf. They are 100% defective (if you open them), but only 10% of your customers will open them, and only 10% of those will complain on the internet.
2. You sell 1,000,000 high priced items, that people use on a daily basis, that don’t work if you are holding the product the way it was intended. Everybody will complain (to themselves), but only 1% will complain on the internet.

 

In the first situation, you might get 10 tweets saying your company sucks. In the second, you might get 10,000. Then news stories do whatever is trending, and write lots of articles about how your product sucks and is defective.

 

Apple is still making phones, Atari will still be making games. It makes more sense for them to focus on the low cost $30-$50 games than the premium ones.

Or they could go with the third option amd get good press because they showed they were capable of making a competent product that worked as intended.

 

Unless its part of Atari's charm to making poor decisions through the decades, and everyone loves them for it and supports those bad decisions. Is the "real Atari" one doing something boneheaded?

 

I've been thinking about Atari all wrong. I think my eyes have been open and my view on Atari has changed. They need to sell the sets again at twice the price and have a 90% failure rate! My bookshelf won't be able to warm itself without such a product! 🤪 

 

[jonreddick]

I gleefully opened and tested each of my Atari XP carts on GenXGrownUp. Far from perfect (some questionable art choices and errors in attribution, etc.) but I didn't encounter any unplayable games. My Haunted House was correctly oriented, and while I'm not all that familiar with the VCS version of Crystal Castles, I was able to play it as expected.

 

I do not doubt the woes of the OP on Twitter, but I would like to know what about CC made it unplayable for them. Didn't boot? Crashed? Errored? Or was it just an accurate reprint of a janky port? 😜

 

At any rate, Atari not making good on defects like this - particularly in light of the delays to ship in the first place - is inexcusable. Anyone willing to invest in your nostalgia marketing in order to support your direction should warrant some special consideration when inevitable errors occur.

[l12n]

51 minutes ago, CapitanClassic said:

Not really. Think about it this way. Which bad press is worse for your company…

This is not about Apple but about Atari. And I don't care that most people will never play the games. When you buy a product you expect it to work as described, whether you use it or not. Atari could ship empty plastic carts, but in this case say so. The fact they're not trying to fix the problem for the few customers complaining says a lot about how Atari values its biggest customers.

[l12n]

22 minutes ago, jonreddick said:

Anyone willing to invest in your nostalgia marketing in order to support your direction should warrant some special consideration when inevitable errors occur.

I wholeheartedly agree. Anyone shelling $1000 for games which are 40+ years old should get top treatment from Atari. They say "jump", Atari should say "how high?"

[Mockduck]

To be clear, I would have preferred the sets shipped all working with accurate text information on them, and a second take done on some of the covers that turned out too dark in my opinion on the black glossy box. It's the most expensive fluff item I've ever purchased in my Atari habit, although let's be real about how easy it is to spend a grand on some busted up label torn rare loose cart these days. 

 

I thought of it as ten games, $100/box, each box being the unique LED-internal-lit artsy cart with a nice collector's box, pin, and patch, with the pins and patches being pretty darn sweet. That price is expensive, sure, but doesn't sound unreasonable for a collector's edition of a video game in 2023 (then). And to just drop it all at once and get the complete set, to become the centerpiece of my 2600 display, seemed all right. That plus the theoretical resell value seemed likely to at least keep pace with the cost, even with these issues I bet I could get a grand for the complete set both now and in the future, but we'll see of course, and by that I mean you'll maybe see as I'll be dead before it leaves my collection.

 

So, given that, guess I can't complain too much, even if I can also totally complain about how the end result was almost but not actually great.

 

If I got a working Crystal Castles cart I'd be fully satisfied with a few nitpicks. Not that I actually want to play Crystal Castles 2600. I get the angst about it theoretically working versus unclear and sealed.

 

 

 

 

[Gabe]

For a company trying to build public trust and appeal to not only old Atari customers, but new ones, I find it unfathomable that they aren't dealing with this in a direct manner. Openly admitting to a mistake, then showing a genuine effort to do everything it can to make things right is how a company builds or rebuilds trust in its name. Doing nothing is the worst thing it can do.

 

Don't get me wrong, I know this is only known to a relatively small group of people and actually affects an even smaller one, but they need to head this off at the pass before the negative, even if by word of mouth on social media, gets bigger.

[Agent X]

8 hours ago, CapitanClassic said:

Not really. Think about it this way. Which bad press is worse for your company…

 

How about doing the right thing for your customers and therefore avoiding bad press altogether?

 

Atari's customers threw down some serious coin to secure these items for their collections. The lack of QC on such high-priced "premium" products is bad enough. The fact that the company is aware of the flaws and refuses to fix or replace the affected items is nothing short of disgusting.

 

3 hours ago, Gabe said:

Openly admitting to a mistake, then showing a genuine effort to do everything it can to make things right is how a company builds or rebuilds trust in its name. Doing nothing is the worst thing it can do.

 

Well said.