It’s been a very long time since the name Atari has carried any real weight. Yes, a company called Atari was once the the king of the home console market in America, but that was a very long time ago, and the actual company that existed at the time has long since ceased to exist. No, for the past 20+ years, the brand has been bought and sold by a number of companys and used to push everything from mid-level games, to crypto tokens. That’s apparently all in the past now, however as the current Atari’s actions and comments from its CEO in a recent interview seem to indicate.

In an interview with VideogamesChronicle, CEO of the modern iteration of Atari, Wade Rosen, laid out the company’s goals and strategies moving forward. The interview itself is a pretty interesting read, so definitely make sure to check it out, but I want to focus more on what the company is trying to become under Mr. Rosen. In short, Atari is trying to become a premier retro game company, and has been taking a lot of steps towards that goal.

The company cut ties with the group it was going to work with to launch that Atari crypto token in 2022 (ICICB Group), and those crypto plans appear to be on ice if not abandoned entirely. The Atari hotels plan doesn’t seem to be dead yet, but it appears that it’s at least not going to be the company’s focus anymore. Instead, Atari has done things like acquire the likes of Nightdive Studios and Digital Eclipse, both developers that are well known for their remakes, remasters, collections of older games and even new games for old IP like Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.

Atari has also been buying the rights to lots of old games and IP from the catalogs of Infogrames, Accolade, Microprose, and GT Interactive. One result of this is the newly revealed Bubsy 4D, a new Bubsy game (hopefully it’s better than Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back). Other stuff like Cold Fear has also been acquired with the intention of remastering or remaking it (which would honestly be really cool). The point is, Atari, or at least this iteration of it, appears to actually be serious about classic gaming, both in terms of preservation and bringing old IP forward into the modern age.

It definitely lookes like Atari is making all the right moves, so here’s hoping it pays off in the form of games that us gamers actually want to play. Since it already has Nightdive Studios and Digital Eclipse in its corner, I’m feeling cautiously optimistic, but the real tell will be if its new products, like Bubsy 4D actually turn out all right. Remakes and remasters of older games nobody wanted anything to do with before are great, but getting new cache for Atari is only going to come from good new stuff. Well, that’s all I’ve got, what do you all think?

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What’s your impression of the current Atari? Do you think it can still carve out a good niche for itself?

Image from the Atari website