Atari acquires Intellivision brand and large game portofilio

[Albert]

9 minutes ago, duzkiss said:

I don't know IF there is a topic on this and tried the search option - if Atari now owns all Intellivision Trade Marks, name, software Ideas and Patents minus the A on life support, will this forum now include Intellivision software and hardware links, upgrades and products?  They are now part of Atari and even though most people will never think so and keep them separated, I believe they belong in the family fold and the listing and sub listings should include them.

I have no intention of moving the Intellivision forums.

 

 ..Al

[duzkiss]

On 5/24/2024 at 4:52 AM, Giles N said:

 

 

«the rights to more than 200 games from its portfolio.»

«Atari will use the Intellivision brand and game rights to expand its digital and physical distrubution of classic games and potentially create new ones.»

 

—

At least, it seems they got hold of quite a lot of game IPs… more than 200.

 

I know very little about Intellivision and its history, but could be interesting to hear speculations from those familiar with all of this, which titles we speak of here, and which ones would have the greatest significance or potential for high ‘comeback value’.

We all know Intellivision system had less than 200 games in its portfolio.  Moby (Atari) claims 20 produced and another 20 distributed.  Wikipedia is stating:

Between 1979 and 1989, a total of 132 titles were released:

• 118 cartridges plus one compilation cartridge for the Master Component
• 6 cartridges for the ECS Computer Adapter
• 7 cassettes and 1 cartridge for the Keyboard Component

And we already know that many were already sold to Atari (M Networks) and BBG purchased 2 games.  My question is...how is there over 200 games?  Do they count a game per platform as a separate game?  Are there games Intellision acquired from extinct companies like DataEast that we don't know of.  The reason is titles like Burger time which has way too many owners over the years and is Atari allowed to remake that title or just release the older versions and will this create lawsuits none of us care to see or hear of because that could cripple Atari's rise.  We have all wanted a comeback and a stable one.  If any company in history besides Kodak and ToysRUs deserves this...it's Atari!  They were cheated out over the years by greedy companies or people that had a vision and and clouded in money.  The ST is a perfect example as it should have surpassed Mac and even Amiga, yet was made to buy time.  The XL is another example.  It was superior to C64 at the time.  Jaguar too was more advanced than Super Nintendo and Sega even with the 32X.  Great ideas and no follow through.  I am hoping that Atari releases at least a list of the 200.  As a minut shareholder (less than 2000 shares) transparency is great especially when you are spending money and are not in the black yet.  We don't want another Infograms or Hasbro or even Warner Brothers or Trammell era.  And we don't need lawsuits!!!

[+Atari_Warlord]

It would be nice to see a list of what IP's Atari owns now.  Not sure why it needs to be kept secret.  Current programmers may want to approach Atari with ideas if they knew what was available without additional licensing. 

[+Intellivision Master]

1 hour ago, duzkiss said:

My question is...how is there over 200 games?  Do they count a game per platform as a separate game?  Are there games Intellision acquired from extinct companies like DataEast that we don't know of.

I was wondering the same thing.  Where do they get that amount?  Are they counting homebrews?  It would make sense if they're adding in homebrews.  Also, it could be games that were unreleased as well.

[mr_me]

1 hour ago, duzkiss said:

We all know Intellivision system had less than 200 games in its portfolio.  Moby (Atari) claims 20 produced and another 20 distributed.  Wikipedia is stating:

Between 1979 and 1989, a total of 132 titles were released:

• 118 cartridges plus one compilation cartridge for the Master Component
• 6 cartridges for the ECS Computer Adapter
• 7 cassettes and 1 cartridge for the Keyboard Component

And we already know that many were already sold to Atari (M Networks) and BBG purchased 2 games.  My question is...how is there over 200 games?  Do they count a game per platform as a separate game?  Are there games Intellision acquired from extinct companies like DataEast that we don't know of.  The reason is titles like Burger time which has way too many owners over the years and is Atari allowed to remake that title or just release the older versions and will this create lawsuits none of us care to see or hear of because that could cripple Atari's rise.  We have all wanted a comeback and a stable one.  If any company in history besides Kodak and ToysRUs deserves this...it's Atari!  They were cheated out over the years by greedy companies or people that had a vision and and clouded in money.  The ST is a perfect example as it should have surpassed Mac and even Amiga, yet was made to buy time.  The XL is another example.  It was superior to C64 at the time.  Jaguar too was more advanced than Super Nintendo and Sega even with the 32X.  Great ideas and no follow through.  I am hoping that Atari releases at least a list of the 200.  As a minut shareholder (less than 2000 shares) transparency is great especially when you are spending money and are not in the black yet.  We don't want another Infograms or Hasbro or even Warner Brothers or Trammell era.  And we don't need lawsuits!!!

Last year Atari SA aquired about a dozen Mnetwork Atari 2600 games. There are several more plus some unreleased Atari 2600 games that can be part of this deal. 

 

That can include Atari 2600 Burgertime. A company called G-mode owns the original game and graphics and sounds but the Atari 2600 game code copyrights is a separate IP. There's also Intellivision Burgertime, IBM PC Burgertime, and Apple II Burgertime, each software code being a separate IP. They were all developed at Mattel Electronics and can be part of this deal. Atari SA would need a license from G-mode to publish any of them.

 

29 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

I was wondering the same thing.  Where do they get that amount?  Are they counting homebrews?  It would make sense if they're adding in homebrews.

They can't sell them homebrews anymore than they can sell them Activision games. Only games that they have rights to. There are dozens of unreleased, unfinished, prototypes, demos across several platforms developped at Mattel Electronics that can be part of it. Still, seems there should be something else to get to 200.

 

Edited May 25 by mr_me

[+Intellivision Master]

2 minutes ago, mr_me said:

They can't sell them homebrews anymore than they can sell them Activision games. Only games that they have rights to. There are dozens of unreleased, unfinished, prototypes, demos across several platforms developped at Mattel Electronics that can be part of it. Still, there has to be something else to get to 200.

Alright, so, it's not homebrews then.  I did add to my post about unreleased games.  As you said, there are dozens of unreleased, unfinished, prototypes and demos.

[UnRedeemed]

While this is exciting news, I just hope Atari is not overextending financially as I am reminded frequently about how small and low-budget they are.  🤞    

[Giles N]

2 hours ago, UnRedeemed said:

I just hope Atari is not overextending financially as I am reminded frequently about how small and low-budget they are.

I think it helps to have something to sell…

[Velvis]

16 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

Astrosmash and Shark! Shark! Those are owned by BBG.

I'm not a huge follower of Intellivision, but isn't Astrosmash like their biggest game?

[Lord Mushroom]

3 hours ago, UnRedeemed said:

While this is exciting news, I just hope Atari is not overextending financially as I am reminded frequently about how small and low-budget they are.  🤞    

They were already overextended. They are basically afloat at the mercy of Wade Rosen´s personal piggy bank.

[mr_me]

1 hour ago, Velvis said:

I'm not a huge follower of Intellivision, but isn't Astrosmash like their biggest game?

Major League Baseball was their biggest seller. Astrosmash cartridges were given away with the system one year so a lot of people had it, and they had an Astrosmash high score tournament as well. All the space cartridges sold well.

[MrBeefy]

1 hour ago, Velvis said:

I'm not a huge follower of Intellivision, but isn't Astrosmash like their biggest game?

It is, but Atari also has Astroblast which IMO is better and is functionally the exact same game.

[roots.genoa]

35 minutes ago, mr_me said:

they had an Astrosmash high score tournament as well

omg that's such a bad game for a high score tournament. The game is so easy it's just a matter of who will have the courage to play the longest time.

[mr_me]

35 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

omg that's such a bad game for a high score tournament. The game is so easy it's just a matter of who will have the courage to play the longest time.

My understanding is that as the difficulty increases, if you do worse your score decreases and the game gets easier. So while you might be able to play for an extended period your score doesn’t necessarily advance unless you play better.

 

edit: Actually they did use a timed version of the cartridge in competition.

 

52 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

It is, but Atari also has Astroblast which IMO is better and is functionally the exact same game.

If you're putting together an Intellivision compilation for emulation, Astroblast isn't a substitute. Astrosmash wouldn't be the only popular Intellivision game missing.

Edited May 25 by mr_me

[+jeremiahjt]

9 hours ago, Albert said:

I have no intention of moving the Intellivision forums.

 

 ..Al

Folks, let Albert be a guide for us all. This is how you prosecute a console war. Four decades later, and Albert still will not take his foot off of Intellivision's throat. That is dedication.

[Giles N]

2 hours ago, Lord Mushroom said:

They were already overextended. They are basically afloat at the mercy of Wade Rosen´s personal piggy bank.

How do you knoe these things?

I don’t put it out there on some note of high skepticism, but just whether you’re a real insider or have Analyst-background, or subscribe to Atari Daily Financial or some stuff like that.

 

Or is this just the only way the calculation can add up…?

 

—

I’ll freely admit the financial and jurisdictional aspects of game-productions/releases are neither my strong side or my primary interest (game and system-quality/having fun).

 

So, could be nice to know how you derive your comclusion; I’m sure I can learn from it.

[boog]

 

9 hours ago, duzkiss said:

We all know Intellivision system had less than 200 games in its portfolio.  Moby (Atari) claims 20 produced and another 20 distributed.  Wikipedia is stating:

Between 1979 and 1989, a total of 132 titles were released:

• 118 cartridges plus one compilation cartridge for the Master Component
• 6 cartridges for the ECS Computer Adapter
• 7 cassettes and 1 cartridge for the Keyboard Component

And we already know that many were already sold to Atari (M Networks) and BBG purchased 2 games.  My question is...how is there over 200 games?

 

The Intellivision Lives compilation included 18 'unreleased' playable games... those would fill in some of the titles beyond the official releases.

[Fred_M]

1 hour ago, Giles N said:

How do you knoe these things?

 

 

You can read their latest financial report here: https://atari-investisseurs.fr/en/regulated-information-2/

[Lord Mushroom]

6 minutes ago, Fred_M said:

 

You can read their latest financial report here: https://atari-investisseurs.fr/en/regulated-information-2/

Yes, the last thing I read about their financial situation said:

"The Company currently benefits from the continued support of its principal shareholder Irata LLC until the shareholders meeting approving the financial statements as of March 31, 2024."

 

Irata is owned by Wade Rosen, and Atari would probably have difficulties getting a loan from anyone else. At this point they might even have difficulties raising money without Wade´s help.

[Lord Mushroom]

2 hours ago, Giles N said:

How do you knoe these things?

I don’t put it out there on some note of high skepticism, but just whether you’re a real insider or have Analyst-background, or subscribe to Atari Daily Financial or some stuff like that.

I am just an interested idiot who reads their public financial statements.

[CPUWIZ]

12 hours ago, Albert said:

I have no intention of moving the Intellivision forums.

 

 ..Al

 

Rats, no AtariVisionAge.com either then?

[Giles N]

33 minutes ago, Fred_M said:

 

You can read their latest financial report here: https://atari-investisseurs.fr/en/regulated-information-2/

Thanks.

Not everything here is to me (as of yet?) a straightforward read:

 

 

 

 

A revenue of €6.4M contra €4.3M (for same period) is at least an increase.

 

I believe I’ve heard speculations it’s not lasting ‘cos its mostly due to Nightdive, but the entire point of acquiring it was to get more money, and speculating in future success/failure is that: speculation.

 

That it’s mostly Rosen who now buys himself into the major parts of ownership of Atari is old news, and unless he suddenly heads for something completely different, it’s just another way of buying oneself into a market-position.

 

Microsoft chose to sell the first XBox with losses in order to get into a new market.

 

Just saying a certain strategy, because its very much staked at the interests of a key person, counts for little as to the Brand, would only apply if there were clear better paths to be sought. 
 

I don’t see many suggestions.

 

Most of them are: ‘Atari; get back to gaming, not low-quality this or that or merch of the stupid kind’, but as of now it seems that is what Rosen tries to do.

 

Edited May 26 by Giles N

[Giles N]

18 minutes ago, Lord Mushroom said:

I am just an interested idiot who reads their public financial statements.

Ok, - perhaps my mind is circulating around another related topic:

 

What would be the alternative…?

 

It seems story so far is:

 

Atari’s going down.

 

Some gamer-guy with a personal big piggy bank gets interested in trying to make something out of it, at his own financial risk.

 

Well?

 

It’s like: what would be a really, solid plan-C for Atari (the Brand) to save it all…?

What should they do?

 

Just watch it all go down… again…?

 

Isn’t it then much better to get the backing of someone who even seems personally motivated to go for trying to stitch it all together…?

 

And they must have something to sell - physically or digitally…

 

It’s more like: should Rosens  investements end up getting Battlezone or something else…?

 

They need something to sell…

Edited May 26 by Giles N

[UnRedeemed]

In a video put on youtube by The Atari Network a couple hours ago, entitled "Atari Buys Intellivision! But What's it All Mean?!," he addresses something many of us have probably been wondering about -- will Atari put out an Intellivision+ that plays carts?  I hope so, as the output of my vintage console is terrible and I do not want to bother modding it.  His guess is no and that it is more likely they would release another flashback-style preloaded mini. 

 

But how about something like the 400 Mini that side loads?  Might be neat, although my concern would be for the controller(s) -- please Atari, go with 9-pin connectors and original style stuff like with the 2600+ and not some usb Frankenthing!

[famicommander]

This is cool to see. I'm often critical of the physical products modern Atari puts out but I've been pretty happy on the software side (I love me some Atari 50 and all of the Recharged games except Berzerk), so hopefully something positive comes of this in that vein on the Intellivision side. Certainly, Atari is a better steward of the Intellivision brand than the clowns who've been soiling the name in recent years. 

Edited May 26 by famicommander