Atari acquires Intellivision brand and large game portofilio

[roadrunner]

Atari is making it easier for Microsoft to buy all these IP's in one transaction instead of a bunch of small transactions. 

 

[Fred_M]

2 hours ago, DavidD said:

I need to go over the corporate structure again -- is there a single Atari entity now, or is it still weirdly spread between the French side and the American side?

 

There are way more 😉

 

 

source: https://atari-investisseurs.fr/en/events/#1637072382299-b2e1bfc8-1c41

specific pdf: https://atari-investisseurs.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Atari-Universal-Registration-Document-FY-2023.pdf

[DavidD]

1 hour ago, Fred_M said:

 

There are way more 😉

 

 

source: https://atari-investisseurs.fr/en/events/#1637072382299-b2e1bfc8-1c41

specific pdf: https://atari-investisseurs.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Atari-Universal-Registration-Document-FY-2023.pdf

..which essentially boils down to "Atari (formerly Infogrames) is still a French company, with an American subsidiary" and "Wade is CEO of the French Atari", right?

 

Sorry -- at some point I got the weird idea that there was some soft of "spin off" of the American division from the French division, or SOME sort of weird licensing deal.  Maybe it was something odd like the American side licensing the name to the French parent company?  I don't know...

[DavidD]

2 hours ago, Giles N said:

Since Atari 50th already is bought by so many, on multiple platforms, its very likely they could sell quite alot of DLC downloads for it, while perhaps even create a tiny bit of additional interest for the few who’ve waited.

 

I assume someone has total sales numbers for Atari 50, right?  I'm just a bit skeptical as to how many copies they might have sold... Atari gaming is getting more and more niche, and I'm assuming that ties into why the game sold for $40.

 

Is the current problem that Atari is acquiring profitable companies (Digital Eclipse), but the profits are outweighed by all sorts of other things?

[jerseystyle]

9 hours ago, swlovinist said:

My picks for the games that Atari needs to offer a recharged version of.  What games should Atari offer a modern version of first?

 

In the video I mention the following

Snafu

Vectron

B-17 Bomber

Cloudy Mountain

Tower of Doom

Utopia

Night Stalker

Thin Ice

Buzz Bombers

Thunder Castle

Hover Force

 

 

Microsurgeon! No joke- I used to stare at that game box back in the day feeling SOOOO curios and jealous (didn’t have an INTV back then). I got fantastic voyage on 2600 because it looked similar (great game by the way)!  I’m still pumped to play it at some point when the stars align, but give me a “recharged” version and I’ll buy a Wade Rosen t-shirt. 

[Atariboy2600]

Even if I been an ATARI nut I also been gaming with Intellivision from day one and still own games and consoles. 

 

   

[MrBeefy]

10 hours ago, Noelio said:

With the new Tron movie "Ares" coming in 2025, I wonder about the Tron IP. A full blown modern 3d or Playstation VR recharge of Deadly Discs in time for the release?

That's what I'd be doing right now. Divert every ounce of talent on tap to do it.

 

Tron Anthology in 3d VR would be unbelievably cool and I'd imagine it would sell very well even to those with no previous exposure. Alongside the Ares release? Good times for Atari if they also have that IP.

 

Atari would need to pay Disney to use Tron or even release the old Intv ones with the Tron name. Atari could probably release the old Intv game under Deadly Discs but that's it.

 

And this probably isn't a popular opinion around here, but I don't think Tron is as good or popular IP as some would like to think it is. 

 

What Atari needs to do is bring revenue in. Buying IPs and studios is good and all if you are making or publishing games. Otherwise you are blowing money for no reason. I hear them purchasing this or that, but don't hear them releasing near the same amount. 🤷‍♂️

 

I will eventually get Atari 50, but I think a $20 DLC for Intv games is about $10-$15 too high for what you would probably get.

[Giles N]

8 hours ago, DavidD said:

I assume someone has total sales numbers for Atari 50, right?  I'm just a bit skeptical as to how many copies they might have sold... Atari gaming is getting more and more niche, and I'm assuming that ties into why the game sold for $40.

Atari themselves must have the download-numbers. Anything else would be highly surprising.

 

Yes, many of the games are getting older, - and a problem is quite simply that Atari themselves weren’t always the ones to make the best games for their own hardware systems. Moreover, much of the famous stuff were sold off to Warner (or others).

 

Still, the reality is: what is Atari’s best shot at making money on digital releases? What is their best opportunity given the realities as they are now? They don’t have a time machine, and must find the best ways to create interest in what they have or may create.

 

Even if Atari 50th still didn’t sell as well as reaching some top-chart number, the question for Atari is what they can do to maintain interest or create interest in the sorts of IPs they have, and keep they production costs reasonably low or at least not excessivly high.

 

If they would make more money on having paid DLC packs for the Atari 50th than by individual releases which may drown in the myriads of titles on e-shops, that then becomes their best shot.

 

Moreover, it may make the more people get the Atari 50th, since ‘there’s more, and more may show up’.

 

As it is now, what I see on e-stores is that most of Ataris releases gets drowned in the overcrowded/over stuffed realities at such places.

 

On YouTube many trailers for their upcoming games haven’t accumulated very high views.

 

It seems Yars Rising did well in a relative way, due to being presented as Indie and featured on as headline stuff among upcoming Indie games.

 

Moreover, Nintendo-type gamers seem to be more invested with ‘another metroidvania’ than with historically significant titles which gameplay styles feels cryptic or dated.

 

I don’t know for sure, but I don’t see a high viewing numbers on these things on YouTube trailers - even over longer times.

 

This means that something like Atari 50th, even if it didn’t become some chart-buster, may still be the best place for Atari to rerelease older IPs - or newer niche-IPs as paid DLC.

 

They could create a Intellivision Museum game-collection, but waiting ‘til 2029 to release it would be risky.

 

Thing I notice is quite simply that Ataris games are generally overpriced on e-stores compared to what you get.

 

Atari 50th isn’t.

 

That’s a good start.

 
Probably a reason it seems the GameStation may have done comparably well, is because the sorts of games that we speak of, are the sorts of games people expect either get by the bucketloads if they’ buy, or they simply lose interest because these games are either too simplistic or unknown to them. 
 

I would also suggest that Atari would make a crossplatform compilation of ‘Atari Presents’-games, where people do get alot for their money. 
It could be a virtual Arcade room, or a flip-through title screen, where you get to play everything from Tumblebugs to these older flightsims or Bubsy games.

 

Atari have sales data, so they can sit down and do the math better than I of most or anyone here, but I often ask myself ‘would I be interested in this or that game’ if didn’t use AA as digital hang-out, or hadn’t made collecting older Atari consoles a hobby…?

 

Unfortunately, the honest answer is very often (not always): probably not.

 

Imagining I knew nothing of developer or who released what or historical fame, I would rather have gone for Yars Rising than almost any of the Recharged games, unless they came as free-to-test or 1-3 bucks IOS download games. That is what they look like: ios/android games where you can pay away the Ads if you want to play undisturbed.

Ok, I’ll add here that many of the Recharged games actually do have high-quality gameplay and actually are quite good, and provides good pick-up-and-play fun.

But browsers don’t automatically know that just by seeing a screenshot on an e-store, and many younger browsers wouldn’t necessarily just buy-because-it’s Atari.

I get interested because I’ve gotten curious where Atari will be heading with all this, and since I remember Atari from the 80ies and 90ies, but one needs to expand the circle of buyers or potential buyers too, from nostalgics to general retrogamer to newer gamers.

 

Many of the most famous IPs are too underdeveloped to feel relevant today: they were designed in a time when progress, build-up and numbers of things to do, where extremely minimalistic.

 

By the time I became interested in games, progress of levels, extra boosters, variation of tasks to master, - and defined gameplay types were more or less becoming standarized (I was clueless, only knowing something was cool, other things felt boring, stiff and frustrating. Star Wars Arcade was tons of fun in every way. Games where you had to control vehicles safely etc, just felt a bore). Moreover by 1985 the japanese game-producers had so perfected classic arcade 2D gameplay, many previous games suddenly felt like their gameplay mechanics ‘tried hard, but fumbled in the dark’.

For ‘outsiders, such stuff are felt very directly, and if they get presented with older games which may be not-so-famous, they need reasons to buy them and reasons to give them time at all, since people these days already drown in free minigames or ios/android games, that are better than much of these olders IPs in almost every way.

 

In many ways, seeing so many obscure titles floating around under Atari for prices of 4-12 bucks each, just isn’t the thing that would make me buy it. It’s too old, too obscure.

If they’d been put in a well-presented compilation, less staked on being a history lesson, and more like ‘lots and lots of games of every type in this little digital game-hall’ - more like what people see and feel when they get a GameStation, would perhaps have made me go ‘sure, why not, - must be something here to have fun with just testing. Perhsps I find forgotten gem somewhere?’

 

Atari isn’t just competing with their past iterations, their past fame, they are competing with a digital world that are actually quite oversaturated.

I think I heard that of 14000 titles being released on Steam (during a year? - I should wish I rememebered the details -, it was quite a high number that got 0 sales. Nothing. Just being there.

 

Atari have what they have of IPs.

 

Much of their classics have seen so many releases, on so many platforms, they’re running out of new places to sell their old stuff.

 

Which things they’ve released so far have given them some foot-in-the-door…?

 

Shouldn’t they start there?

 

If the gamestation is a reasonable if not perfect match, to use as indicator of what people like or expect to get from compilations, why shouldn’t Atari be served by releasing DLC-packs (with well-adjusted price tags) that would bring the entire line-up, up to 200 games? 
 

Then, new customers, ‘finding Atari’ through things like Yars Rising, wouid see they could explore a deep history with a content that would be pretty unmatched.

 

As the Switch 2 gets released, the Atari 50th may get a new platform to be sold on (unless its made backwards compatible with the Switch 1 e-store), and being able to present a supermassive retro-collection may not be a turn off to new gamers, who would  not stop to look, unless they were impressed by sheer quantity. By which I mean: gamers mostly so young, they’d see ‘nothing there for them’ unless for sheer quantity of things to explore.

 

 

Edited May 27 by Giles N

[JPF997]

10 hours ago, Giles N said:

One more thought:

 

If Atari really needs income/net-revenue, I don’t think they can wait with selling some Intellivision stuff until 2029… Even if a Intellivision 50th could be made into some big thing, I feel they need to begin release some of these games through other means much sooner, either individually or in smaller collections.

The extra income and profits from all the recent purchases is going to come sooner or later, system shock remake has just launched on consoles, that right there is a few  million dollars extra  just from porting an already released game on more platforms , easy money, the income from the Llamasoft collection hasn't been counted/reported yet either. Overall I don't think Atari  is as desperate for income and profits as someone people seem to think they are, just wait for the next financial report, it's probably going to surprise a lot of people.

[Giles N]

3 minutes ago, JPF997 said:

Overall I don't think Atari  is as desperate for income and profits as someone people seem to think they are, just wait for the next financial report, it's probably going to surprise a lot of people.

They may have some calculated-risk plan to go with/live with net-zero for a few years, before they can ‘take off’.

 

Writing some thoughts here, - even if we have financial reports, will of course be given to lots of speculation, since we don’t have digital or physical sales numbers.

 

But I don’t see a problem with openly discussing what could be goid for Ataris economy or not: goodness, we - or at least I - may even learn something from it.

 

Switch took away user reviews long ago I think, and making it to the Switch charts - well - it’s wierd, as I’ve seen the strangest games showing up there… 

I don’t check it very often, so I don’t know whether any Atari release ever made it there.

 

So… I check YouTube trailer views and Steam feedback (even though it may not be very accurate as to the console-appeal things).

Rollercoaster Tycoon (I game I just csnnot find myself to have any interest in) is really the big winner here (but it is very PC-type game), and I think Atari 50th got quite a lot of attention and aggregated a high score (92% of feedbackers liked it).

 

Dark Forces Remastered was a hit with tons of interest and high aggregated score. How much money will Atari themselves generate from this? I dunno. If it’s siginficant they should make sure to do what they can to help Nightdive be motivated to seek to get to remaster Dark Forces 2 rather than everything else that may or may not become a reality.

[Lord Mushroom]

14 hours ago, DavidD said:

Is the current problem that Atari is acquiring profitable companies (Digital Eclipse), but the profits are outweighed by all sorts of other things?

More or less. Their big losses come from projects they have financed themselves, write-downs due to overestimates from the Chesnais era, debt and very high "general and administrative expenses". Some of the companies they have bought were losing money, and some were making money, but I think overall they were making money.

 

Nightdive Studios and Digital Eclipse should probably help their profitability. At least in the short run. But if they do well, then Atari has to pay more for them, as that was part of the purchase agreements.

Edited May 27 by Lord Mushroom

[FifthPlayer]

13 hours ago, jerseystyle said:

Microsurgeon! No joke- I used to stare at that game box back in the day feeling SOOOO curios and jealous (didn’t have an INTV back then). I got fantastic voyage on 2600 because it looked similar (great game by the way)!  I’m still pumped to play it at some point when the stars align, but give me a “recharged” version and I’ll buy a Wade Rosen t-shirt. 

Microsurgeon was an Imagic title, and I think Activision now owns all of the Imagic IP.  If you want a modern-day game in the same vein, there's the Trauma Center games on Nintendo platforms.

Edited May 27 by FifthPlayer

[jerseystyle]

43 minutes ago, FifthPlayer said:

Microsurgeon was an Imagic title, and I think Activision now owns all of the Imagic IP.  If you want a modern-day game in the same vein, there's the Trauma Center games on Nintendo platforms.

Yes the trauma center games were good times for sure. I really enjoyed the Wii version.

[PowerDubs]

15 hours ago, DavidD said:

I assume someone has total sales numbers for Atari 50, right?  I'm just a bit skeptical as to how many copies they might have sold..

 

 

https://gamesensor.info/app/1919470

[PowerDubs]

2 hours ago, Lord Mushroom said:

 

Nightdive Studios and Digital Eclipse should probably help their profitability. At least in the short run. But if they do well, then Atari has to pay more for them, as that was part of the purchase agreements.

 

NightDive-

 

Dev- https://gamesensor.info/dev/Nightdive_Studios

 

Pub- https://gamesensor.info/pub/Nightdive_Studios

 

 

Digital Eclipse-

 

Dev- https://gamesensor.info/dev/Digital_Eclipse

 

Pub- https://gamesensor.info/pub/Digital_Eclipse

 

 

*Note- those are Steam estimates only.

 

 

And for fun- tinyBuild-

 

Dev- https://gamesensor.info/dev/tinyBuild

 

Pub- https://gamesensor.info/pub/tinyBuild

[famicommander]

11 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

And this probably isn't a popular opinion around here, but I don't think Tron is as good or popular IP as some would like to think it is. 

This is correct. I love the franchise but it has essentially no name value at this point.

 

The original Tron film was a moderate success at the box office.

Tron Legacy was a bomb. Really cool looking movie with an epic soundtrack, but it bombed.

Tron Uprising (the animated series) was a bomb. Pulled from its original timeslot and sent to die in obscurity before its first season finished, despite being excellent.

Tron Evolution (the last major video game is the series) was a bomb to the point that the developer was closed down because of it.

None of the comics released around the time of the last movie were successful.

 

They're trying a third film but it seems rather unlikely to do well with Jared Leto starring. He hasn't had a hit since 2016's awful Suicide Squad film.

[Giles N]

I think what’s going on is:

 

1) Atari needs 

   a) more IP

   b) money over time

 

«Atari will seek to expand digital and physical distribution of legacy Intellivision games, potentially create new games, and explore brand and licensing opportunities as part of a long-term plan to create value from the Intellivision properties.»

+
«The purchase includes the rights to more than 200 titles from the Intellivision portfolio and the Intellivision trademarks»

 

2) Amico needs money to finish their console

 

Leading to:

   Atari providing Amico money through the acqusition, and hoping 

  a) they can get license money for Intellivision titles over time

  b) getting license money over time for Atari IP made into Amico stuff.

 

“Atari has been a valuable partner and we have every confidence they will be a responsible steward of the storied Intellivision brand,” said Phil Adam, CEO of Intellivision Entertainment. “We look forward to our expanded collaboration and the prospect of bringing

a  broad  array  of  new  titles

to the Amico family gaming platform.”»

—-

Sounds like there may be an Amico plan to port Atari games to Amico.

 

Atari would get license money for those titles, if this is the case.

Edited May 27 by Giles N

[mr_me]

1 hour ago, Giles N said:

I think what’s going on is:

 

1) Atari needs 

   a) more IP

   b) money over time

 

«Atari will seek to expand digital and physical distribution of legacy Intellivision games, potentially create new games, and explore brand and licensing opportunities as part of a long-term plan to create value from the Intellivision properties.»

+
«The purchase includes the rights to more than 200 titles from the Intellivision portfolio and the Intellivision trademarks»

 

2) Amico needs money to finish their console

 

Leading to:

   Atari providing Amico money through the acqusition, and hoping 

  a) they can get license money for Intellivision titles over time

  b) getting license money over time for Atari IP made into Amico stuff.

 

“Atari has been a valuable partner and we have every confidence they will be a responsible steward of the storied Intellivision brand,” said Phil Adam, CEO of Intellivision Entertainment. “We look forward to our expanded collaboration and the prospect of bringing

a  broad  array  of  new  titles

to the Amico family gaming platform.”»

—-

Sounds like there may be an Amico plan to port Atari games to Amico.

 

Atari would get license money for those titles, if this is the case.

IE (Amico) aleady licensed twelve Atari titles back in 2018. That's about when Atari SA published twelve M-network Atari 2600 games owned by IE. It could have been a straight exchange of licenses, no royalties or cash. It's really the best way to do these things because there isn't a whole lot of revenue to split between two companies.

 

I suspect in this recent deal that licenses go back to IE without royalties as part of the negotiated deal. Makes little difference because IE layed off near all, if not all their staff a couple of years ago and are not in a position to release a console.

 

Not sure what's going on at Atari SA. It looks similar to a wealthy owner that funds a professional sports team as a hobby.

 

6 hours ago, FifthPlayer said:

Microsurgeon was an Imagic title, and I think Activision now owns all of the Imagic IP.  If you want a modern-day game in the same vein, there's the Trauma Center games on Nintendo platforms.

Some time ago it was said that one of the Imagic founders, in an interview, rejected the idea that Activision aquired the Imagic IP. Is there any evidence they did?

[Giles N]

12 minutes ago, mr_me said:

Not sure what's going on at Atari SA. It looks similar to a wealthy owner that funds a professional sports team as a hobby.

Yes, - perhaps -, but it leaves many questions unanswered: why wouldn’t that wealthy owner buy something else of even greater significance to the said sports team…?

 

What are the 200 IPs referred to, when there seem to be no list that extends to that number…?

 

—

 

I believe there is at least some deliberate plan from Ataris side here

(if the Amico-talk should just end up being … talk), if ‘nothing else’ than to bring back former AA-store games under official titles with respective licenses.

That may be very good news for both the 2600+ and for the AA-store.

 

As to utterly novel releases it may take up to 6 month before some product arrives.

 

I hope at least we can see a few things coming out of this prior to such a period.

[Lord Mushroom]

4 hours ago, Giles N said:

1) Atari needs 

   a) more IP

   b) money over time

I would say Atari has plenty of IP. It is not the best IP in the world, but they have a lot of it, and some of it is pretty good. They also have a considerable amount of money as long as Wade is interested in investing. What they lack is new ideas. Everything they do is about rehashing old stuff.

[Lord Mushroom]

2 hours ago, Giles N said:

Yes, - perhaps -, but it leaves many questions unanswered: why wouldn’t that wealthy owner buy something else of even greater significance to the said sports team…?

He is not wealthy enough to buy those things.

[PowerDubs]

46 minutes ago, Lord Mushroom said:

He is not wealthy enough to buy those things.

I have a feeling you may be underestimating how deep his pockets are....

 

Whether or not he chooses to spend is a different story.. 

[number6]

@thread

 

Having read the entire thread I note a number of comments re:BBG Entertainment

 

Longer list of their international registrations - enjoy

 

Also there seems to be some confusion once again about "rights" vs "trademarks". Anyone can slap "tm" on anything.

Registration is a different topic. In the United States you are most often filing under "intent to use". It is a long process which begins with a very low level look at conflict. Once you pass, you are assigned an examiner. This can take months of wait time. If you pass this phase, then you move on to publishing. Publishing in the official gazette allows for an objection period. Objections can be filed by other parties for a variety of reasons, usually a conflict perceived by the objector. Once passing the objection phase you then receive your "statement of allowance". This gives you your 1st 6 month period to show (prove) use in commerce of your trademark. By the end of that 6 month period you must either show that proof -or- apply for an extension. You are allowed 5 of these. If after the 5th extension you have still not sent proof to uspto (U.S. trademark office), then your application will be abandoned. You can reapply for the same mark in which case you will receive a different serial number.

 

Re:IE

After the transfer of the original (old) Intellivision registered trademarks to Atari, IE will have none, since Intellivision Entertainment has failed to register any trademarks since inception. Why? As mentioned above, failure to show use in commerce. 

 

Why mention the above?

Honestly piecing together all the spread out IP and putting together an accurate document for the public about rights, trademarks, and status of intent vs current reality might take some time. 

 

#6

 

[FifthPlayer]

4 hours ago, mr_me said:

 

Some time ago it was said that one of the Imagic founders, in an interview, rejected the idea that Activision aquired the Imagic IP. Is there any evidence they did?

Here's the AA Thread discussing the topic.  If Activision doesn't own the Imagic IP, they are certainly acting as if they do. Who wants to challenge Activison's legal department?

 

 

[Lord Mushroom]

1 hour ago, PowerDubs said:

I have a feeling you may be underestimating how deep his pockets are....

I know the Rosen family is very rich (probably his dad mostly), but it is unsure how much of that Wade controls.