Atari
Encyclopedia
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA
(ASA). The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell
and Ted Dabney
. It was a pioneer in arcade game
s, home video game console
s, and home computer
s. The company's products, such as Pong
and the Atari 2600
, helped define the computer entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid 1980s.
In 1984, the original Atari Inc. was split, and the arcade division was turned into Atari Games Inc
. Atari Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text "Games" on arcade games, as well as rights to the original 1972 - 1984 arcade hardware properties. The Atari Consumer Electronics Division properties were in turn sold to Jack Tramiel's
Tramel Technology Ltd., which then renamed itself to Atari Corporation
. In 1996, Atari Corporation reverse merged with disk drive manufacturer JT Storage
(JTS), becoming a division within the company.
In 1998, Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari Corporation related properties from JTS., creating a new subsidiary, Atari Interactive. IESA bought Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and renamed it to Infogrames Interactive. IESA changed the company name entirely to Atari Interactive in 2003.
The company that currently bears the name Atari Inc. was founded in 1993 under the name GT Interactive
. IESA acquired a 62% controlling interest in GT Interactive in 1999, and renamed it Infogrames, Inc. Following IESA's acquisition of Hasbro Interactive, Infogrames, Inc. intermittently published Atari branded titles for Infogrames Interactive. In 2003, Infogrames Inc. licensed the Atari name and logo from Atari Interactive and changed its name to Atari Inc. On October 11, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary.
for Nutting Associates. On June 27, 1972 Atari, Inc. was incorporated and soon hired Al Alcorn
as their first design engineer. Bushnell decided to have Alcorn produce as a test of his abilities, an arcade version of the Magnavox Odyssey
's Tennis game, which would be named Pong
. While Bushnell incorporated Atari in June 1972, Syzygy Company was never formally incorporated. Before Atari's official incorporation, Bushnell wrote down several words from the game Go
, eventually choosing atari, a term which in the context of the game means a state where a stone or group of stones is imminently in danger of being taken by one's opponent. In Japanese, atari is the nominalized form of ataru (verb), meaning "to hit the target" or "to receive something fortuitously". The word 'atari' is used in Japanese when a prediction comes true or when someone wins a lottery. The choice of Atari as a brand name was arguably better than Syzygy for most markets in terms of spelling, pronunciation and potential name recognition. Atari was incorporated in the state of California on June 27, 1972.
In 1973, Atari secretly spawned a "competitor" called Kee Games
, headed by Nolan's next door neighbor Joe Keenan, to circumvent pinball
distributors' insistence on exclusive distribution deals; both Atari and Kee could market (virtually) the same game to different distributors, with each getting an "exclusive" deal. Though Kee's relationship to Atari was discovered in 1974, Joe Keenan did such a good job managing the subsidiary that he was promoted to president of Atari that same year.
In 1976, Bushnell, through a Grass Valley, CA. engineering firm - Cyan Engineering, started an effort to produce a flexible video game console that was capable of playing all four of Atari's then-current games. The result was the Atari Video Computer System
, or "VCS" (Later renamed the Atari 2600 when the Atari 5200 was released). Bushnell knew he had another potential hit on his hands, but bringing the machine to market would be extremely expensive. Looking for outside investors, in 1976 Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications for an estimated $28 – $32 million, using part of the money to buy the Folgers
Mansion. Nolan continued to have disagreements with Warner Management over the direction of the company, the discontinuing of the Pinball division and most importantly, he felt that the Atari 2600 should be discontinued. In 1978, the Kee Games brand was dropped. In December of that year during a heated argument between Nolan Bushnell and Manny Gerard, Bushnell was fired.
A project to design a successor to the 2600 started as soon as the system shipped. The original development team estimated the 2600 had a lifespan of about three years, and decided to build the most powerful machine they could, given that time frame. Midway into the effort's time-frame, the home computer
revolution was taking off, so the new machines were adapted, with the addition of a keyboard and various inputs, to produce the Atari 800
, and its smaller cousin, the 400. Although a variety of issues made them less attractive than the Apple II
for some users, the new machines had some success when they finally became available in quantity in 1980. In 1982, the Atari 5200
was released, based heavily on the 400 and 800 models, but without a keyboard.
Under Warner, Atari Inc. achieved its greatest success, selling millions of 2600s and computers. At its peak, Atari accounted for a third of Warner's annual income and was the fastest-growing company in the history of the United States at the time. However, Atari Inc. ran into problems in the early 1980s. Its home computer
, video game console
, and arcade
divisions operated independently of one another and rarely cooperated. Faced with fierce competition and price wars in the game console and home computer markets, Atari was never able to duplicate the success of the 2600.
These problems were followed by the infamous video game crash of 1983
, with losses that totaled more than $500 million. Warner's stock price slid from $60 to $20, and the company began searching for a buyer for its troubled division.
In 1983, Ray Kassar
was forced to leave Atari over an insider stock trading sale, and executives involved in the Famicom
lost track of the negotiations, and the deal eventually died. With Atari's further financial problems and the Famicom's runaway success in Japan after its July 16, 1983 release date, Nintendo
decided to go it alone.
Financial problems continued to mount and Ray's successor, James J. Morgan
, had less than a year in which to tackle his predecessor's problems, he began a massive restructuring of the company and worked with Warner Communications in May 1984 to create "NATCO" which stood for New Atari Company which would further lean the company facilities, personnel and spending and make the company profit. Unknown to James Morgan and the senior management of Atari, Warner had been in talks with Tramel Technology to buy Atari's Consumer electronics and Home Computer divisions. Negotiating up until close to midnight of July 1, 1984 Jack Tramiel purchased Atari. Warner sold the home computing and game console divisions of Atari to Jack Tramiel
for $50 cash and $240 million in promisary notes and stocks, giving Warner a 20% stake in Atari Corporation who then used it to create a new company under the name Atari Corporation. Warner retained the arcade division, continuing it under the name Atari Games
, but sold it to Namco
in 1985. Warner also sold the fledgling Ataritel to Mitsubishi
.
Under Tramiel's ownership, Atari Corp. used the remaining stock of game console inventory to keep the company afloat while they finished development on a 16/32-bit computer system, the Atari ST
. ("ST" stands for "sixteen/thirty-two", referring to the machines' 16-bit bus and 32-bit processor core.) In April 1985, they released the first update to the 8-bit computer line - the Atari 65XE, the Atari XE series. June 1985 saw the release of the Atari 130XE, Atari User Groups received early sneak-preview samples of the new Atari 520ST's, and major retailer shipments hit store shelves in September 1985 of Atari's new 32-bit Atari ST
computers. In 1986, Atari launched two consoles designed under Warner - the Atari 2600jr and the Atari 7800
console (which saw limited release in 1984). Atari rebounded, earning a $25 million profit that year.
In 1989, Atari released the Atari Lynx, a handheld console with color graphics, to much fanfare. A shortage of parts kept the system from being released nationwide for the 1989 Christmas season, and the Lynx lost market share to Nintendo's Game Boy
which, despite only having a black and white display, was cheaper, had better battery life and had much higher availability. Tramiel emphasized computers over game consoles but Atari's proprietary computer architecture and operating system fell victim to the success of the Wintel
platform while the game market revived. In 1989, Atari Corp. sued Nintendo for $250 million, alleging it had an illegal monopoly. Atari eventually lost the case when it was rejected by a US district court
in 1992.
In 1993, Atari positioned its Jaguar
as the only 64-bit interactive media entertainment system available but it sold poorly.
By 1996, a series of successful lawsuits had left Atari with millions of dollars in the bank, but the failure of the Lynx and Jaguar left Atari without a product to sell. Tramiel and his family also wanted out of the business. The result was a rapid succession of changes in ownership. In July 1996, Atari merged with JTS Inc.
, a short-lived maker of hard disk drives, to form JTS Corp. Atari's role in the new company largely became that of holder for the Atari properties and minor support, and consequently the name largely disappeared from the market.
took over Hasbro Interactive
.
(now Atari, SA) announced that it was "reinventing" the Atari brand with the launch of two new games featuring a prominent Atari branding on their boxarts : Splashdown
and MX Rider. On May 7, 2003, Infogrames
had its majority-owned, but discrete US subsidiary Infogrames NA officially renamed Atari, Inc., renamed its European operations to Atari Europe but kept the original name of the main company Infogrames Entertainment. The original Atari holdings division purchased from Hasbro, Atari Interactive
, was also made a separate corporate entity.
In November 2006, Krome Studios had acquired Melbourne House from Atari and that the studio would be renamed to Krome Studios Melbourne.
On November 13, 2007, The US division announces to exit the game development business to concentrate solely on publishing and distribution.
On March 6, 2008, Infogrames made an offer to Atari Inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value of $1.68 per share, or $11 million total. The offer would make Infogrames sole owner of Atari Inc., thus making it a privately held company. On April 30, 2008, Atari Inc. announced its intentions to accept Infogrames' buyout offer and to merge with Infogrames. On October 11, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary.
On December 9, 2008, Atari announced that it had acquired Cryptic Studios
, an MMORPG
developer.
Namco Bandai has purchased a 34% stake in Atari Europe on May 14, 2009, paving the way for its acquisition from Infogrames.
Atari has had significant financial issues for several years now, posting losses in the tens of millions since 2005.
In April 2010, Atari board member, and former CEO David Gardner resigned. His replacement is Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell.
Atari, SA
Atari SA is an international French holding company headquartered in Paris, France. It was originally called Infogrames Entertainment, SA . Its subsidiaries include Atari London Studio, Eden Games, Atari Interactive, Inc...
(ASA). The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell
Nolan Bushnell
Nolan K. Bushnell is an American engineer and entrepreneur who founded both Atari, Inc and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theaters chain...
and Ted Dabney
Ted Dabney
Ted Dabney is the often uncredited co-founder of Syzygy and Atari. While working at Ampex Ted met Nolan Bushnell and the two jointly created Syzygy with their first product being Computer Space which was manufactured and sold by Nutting Associates...
. It was a pioneer in arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
s, home video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s, and home computer
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
s. The company's products, such as Pong
Pong
Pong is one of the earliest arcade video games, and is a tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics. While other arcade video games such as Computer Space came before it, Pong was one of the first video games to reach mainstream popularity...
and the Atari 2600
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
, helped define the computer entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid 1980s.
In 1984, the original Atari Inc. was split, and the arcade division was turned into Atari Games Inc
Atari Games
Atari Games Corporation was an American producer of arcade games, and originally part of Atari, Inc..-History:When, in 1984, Warner Communications sold the Atari Consumer division of Atari Inc...
. Atari Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text "Games" on arcade games, as well as rights to the original 1972 - 1984 arcade hardware properties. The Atari Consumer Electronics Division properties were in turn sold to Jack Tramiel's
Jack Tramiel
Jack Tramiel is an American businessman, best known for founding Commodore International - manufacturer of the Commodore PET, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Commodore Amiga, and other Commodore models of home computers.-Biography:...
Tramel Technology Ltd., which then renamed itself to Atari Corporation
Atari Corporation
Atari Corporation was a manufacturer of computers and video game consoles from 1984 to 1996. Atari Corp. was founded in July of 1984 when Warner Communications sold the home computing and game console divisions of Atari to Jack Tramiel. Its chief products were the Atari ST, Atari XE, Atari 7800,...
. In 1996, Atari Corporation reverse merged with disk drive manufacturer JT Storage
JT Storage
JT Storage was a maker of inexpensive IDE hard drives for personal computers based in San Jose, California...
(JTS), becoming a division within the company.
In 1998, Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari Corporation related properties from JTS., creating a new subsidiary, Atari Interactive. IESA bought Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and renamed it to Infogrames Interactive. IESA changed the company name entirely to Atari Interactive in 2003.
The company that currently bears the name Atari Inc. was founded in 1993 under the name GT Interactive
GT Interactive Software
GT Interactive Software Corporation was an American video game publisher and distributor, which later developed both video games and PC games....
. IESA acquired a 62% controlling interest in GT Interactive in 1999, and renamed it Infogrames, Inc. Following IESA's acquisition of Hasbro Interactive, Infogrames, Inc. intermittently published Atari branded titles for Infogrames Interactive. In 2003, Infogrames Inc. licensed the Atari name and logo from Atari Interactive and changed its name to Atari Inc. On October 11, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary.
Atari Inc. (1972–1984)
In 1971, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded an engineering firm, Syzygy Engineering, that designed and built the first arcade video game - Computer SpaceComputer Space
Computer Space is a video arcade game released in November 1971 by Nutting Associates. Created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, who would both later found Atari, Inc., it is generally accepted that it was the world's first commercially sold coin-operated video game — and indeed, the first...
for Nutting Associates. On June 27, 1972 Atari, Inc. was incorporated and soon hired Al Alcorn
Al Alcorn
Allan Alcorn is an American pioneering engineer and computer scientist. He grew up in San Francisco, California, and attended the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences in 1971.- Atari and Pong :He worked for...
as their first design engineer. Bushnell decided to have Alcorn produce as a test of his abilities, an arcade version of the Magnavox Odyssey
Magnavox Odyssey
The Magnavox Odyssey is the world's first home video game console. It was first demonstrated on May 24, 1972 and released in August of that year, predating the Atari Pong home consoles by three years....
's Tennis game, which would be named Pong
Pong
Pong is one of the earliest arcade video games, and is a tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics. While other arcade video games such as Computer Space came before it, Pong was one of the first video games to reach mainstream popularity...
. While Bushnell incorporated Atari in June 1972, Syzygy Company was never formally incorporated. Before Atari's official incorporation, Bushnell wrote down several words from the game Go
Go (board game)
Go , is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago...
, eventually choosing atari, a term which in the context of the game means a state where a stone or group of stones is imminently in danger of being taken by one's opponent. In Japanese, atari is the nominalized form of ataru (verb), meaning "to hit the target" or "to receive something fortuitously". The word 'atari' is used in Japanese when a prediction comes true or when someone wins a lottery. The choice of Atari as a brand name was arguably better than Syzygy for most markets in terms of spelling, pronunciation and potential name recognition. Atari was incorporated in the state of California on June 27, 1972.
In 1973, Atari secretly spawned a "competitor" called Kee Games
Kee Games
Kee Games was an arcade game manufacturer that released games from 1973 to 1978. Kee was headed by Joe Keenan, a long-time friend of Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Keenan managed to hire several defectors from Atari, and began advertising itself as a competitor...
, headed by Nolan's next door neighbor Joe Keenan, to circumvent pinball
Pinball
Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...
distributors' insistence on exclusive distribution deals; both Atari and Kee could market (virtually) the same game to different distributors, with each getting an "exclusive" deal. Though Kee's relationship to Atari was discovered in 1974, Joe Keenan did such a good job managing the subsidiary that he was promoted to president of Atari that same year.
In 1976, Bushnell, through a Grass Valley, CA. engineering firm - Cyan Engineering, started an effort to produce a flexible video game console that was capable of playing all four of Atari's then-current games. The result was the Atari Video Computer System
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
, or "VCS" (Later renamed the Atari 2600 when the Atari 5200 was released). Bushnell knew he had another potential hit on his hands, but bringing the machine to market would be extremely expensive. Looking for outside investors, in 1976 Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications for an estimated $28 – $32 million, using part of the money to buy the Folgers
Folgers
Folgers Coffee is a major brand of coffee in the United States, part of the food and beverage division of The J.M. Smucker Co.-Company history:...
Mansion. Nolan continued to have disagreements with Warner Management over the direction of the company, the discontinuing of the Pinball division and most importantly, he felt that the Atari 2600 should be discontinued. In 1978, the Kee Games brand was dropped. In December of that year during a heated argument between Nolan Bushnell and Manny Gerard, Bushnell was fired.
A project to design a successor to the 2600 started as soon as the system shipped. The original development team estimated the 2600 had a lifespan of about three years, and decided to build the most powerful machine they could, given that time frame. Midway into the effort's time-frame, the home computer
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
revolution was taking off, so the new machines were adapted, with the addition of a keyboard and various inputs, to produce the Atari 800
Atari 8-bit family
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips...
, and its smaller cousin, the 400. Although a variety of issues made them less attractive than the Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
for some users, the new machines had some success when they finally became available in quantity in 1980. In 1982, the Atari 5200
Atari 5200
The Atari 5200 SuperSystem, commonly known as the Atari 5200, is a video game console that was introduced in 1982 by Atari Inc. as a higher end complementary console for the popular Atari 2600...
was released, based heavily on the 400 and 800 models, but without a keyboard.
Under Warner, Atari Inc. achieved its greatest success, selling millions of 2600s and computers. At its peak, Atari accounted for a third of Warner's annual income and was the fastest-growing company in the history of the United States at the time. However, Atari Inc. ran into problems in the early 1980s. Its home computer
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
, video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
, and arcade
Video arcade
An amusement arcade or video arcade is a venue where people play arcade games such as video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers , or coin-operated billiards or air hockey tables...
divisions operated independently of one another and rarely cooperated. Faced with fierce competition and price wars in the game console and home computer markets, Atari was never able to duplicate the success of the 2600.
These problems were followed by the infamous video game crash of 1983
Video game crash of 1983
The North American video game crash was a serious event that brought an abrupt end to what is considered the second generation of console video gaming in North America. Beginning in 1983, the crash almost destroyed the then-fledgling industry and led to the bankruptcy of several companies producing...
, with losses that totaled more than $500 million. Warner's stock price slid from $60 to $20, and the company began searching for a buyer for its troubled division.
In 1983, Ray Kassar
Ray Kassar
Raymond E. Kassar was president, and later CEO, of Atari Inc. from 1978 to 1983. He had previously been vice-president of Burlington Industries, a textile company....
was forced to leave Atari over an insider stock trading sale, and executives involved in the Famicom
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
lost track of the negotiations, and the deal eventually died. With Atari's further financial problems and the Famicom's runaway success in Japan after its July 16, 1983 release date, Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
decided to go it alone.
Financial problems continued to mount and Ray's successor, James J. Morgan
James J. Morgan
James J. Morgan is a former American executive who served as CEO of Atari from 1983 to 1984 and CEO of Philip Morris USA from 1994 to 1997.James Morgan first joined Philip Morris in 1963...
, had less than a year in which to tackle his predecessor's problems, he began a massive restructuring of the company and worked with Warner Communications in May 1984 to create "NATCO" which stood for New Atari Company which would further lean the company facilities, personnel and spending and make the company profit. Unknown to James Morgan and the senior management of Atari, Warner had been in talks with Tramel Technology to buy Atari's Consumer electronics and Home Computer divisions. Negotiating up until close to midnight of July 1, 1984 Jack Tramiel purchased Atari. Warner sold the home computing and game console divisions of Atari to Jack Tramiel
Jack Tramiel
Jack Tramiel is an American businessman, best known for founding Commodore International - manufacturer of the Commodore PET, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Commodore Amiga, and other Commodore models of home computers.-Biography:...
for $50 cash and $240 million in promisary notes and stocks, giving Warner a 20% stake in Atari Corporation who then used it to create a new company under the name Atari Corporation. Warner retained the arcade division, continuing it under the name Atari Games
Atari Games
Atari Games Corporation was an American producer of arcade games, and originally part of Atari, Inc..-History:When, in 1984, Warner Communications sold the Atari Consumer division of Atari Inc...
, but sold it to Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
in 1985. Warner also sold the fledgling Ataritel to Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi Motors
is a multinational automaker headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. In 2009 it was the fifth-largest Japan-based automaker and the 17th-largest in the world measured by production...
.
Atari Corporation (1984–1996)
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
. ("ST" stands for "sixteen/thirty-two", referring to the machines' 16-bit bus and 32-bit processor core.) In April 1985, they released the first update to the 8-bit computer line - the Atari 65XE, the Atari XE series. June 1985 saw the release of the Atari 130XE, Atari User Groups received early sneak-preview samples of the new Atari 520ST's, and major retailer shipments hit store shelves in September 1985 of Atari's new 32-bit Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
computers. In 1986, Atari launched two consoles designed under Warner - the Atari 2600jr and the Atari 7800
Atari 7800
The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a video game console re-released by Atari Corporation in January 1986. The original release had occurred two years earlier under Atari Inc. The 7800 had originally been designed to replace Atari Inc.'s Atari 5200 in 1984, but was temporarily...
console (which saw limited release in 1984). Atari rebounded, earning a $25 million profit that year.
In 1989, Atari released the Atari Lynx, a handheld console with color graphics, to much fanfare. A shortage of parts kept the system from being released nationwide for the 1989 Christmas season, and the Lynx lost market share to Nintendo's Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
which, despite only having a black and white display, was cheaper, had better battery life and had much higher availability. Tramiel emphasized computers over game consoles but Atari's proprietary computer architecture and operating system fell victim to the success of the Wintel
Wintel
Wintel is a portmanteau of Windows and Intel, referring to personal computers using Intel x86 compatible processors running Microsoft Windows...
platform while the game market revived. In 1989, Atari Corp. sued Nintendo for $250 million, alleging it had an illegal monopoly. Atari eventually lost the case when it was rejected by a US district court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
in 1992.
In 1993, Atari positioned its Jaguar
Atari Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar is a video game console that was released by Atari Corporation in 1993. It was the last to be marketed under the Atari brand until the release of the Atari Flashback in 2004. It was designed to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Panasonic...
as the only 64-bit interactive media entertainment system available but it sold poorly.
By 1996, a series of successful lawsuits had left Atari with millions of dollars in the bank, but the failure of the Lynx and Jaguar left Atari without a product to sell. Tramiel and his family also wanted out of the business. The result was a rapid succession of changes in ownership. In July 1996, Atari merged with JTS Inc.
JT Storage
JT Storage was a maker of inexpensive IDE hard drives for personal computers based in San Jose, California...
, a short-lived maker of hard disk drives, to form JTS Corp. Atari's role in the new company largely became that of holder for the Atari properties and minor support, and consequently the name largely disappeared from the market.
As a division of Hasbro (1998–2001)
In March 1998, JTS sold the Atari name and assets to Hasbro Interactive for $5 million—less than a fifth of what Warner Communications had paid 22 years earlier. This transaction primarily involved the brand and intellectual property, which now fell under the Atari Interactive division of Hasbro Interactive. The brand name changed hands again in December 2000 when French software publisher InfogramesInfogrames
Infogrames Entertainment SA was an international French holding company headquartered in Paris, France. It was the owner of Atari, Inc., headquartered in New York City, U.S. and Atari Europe. It was founded in 1983 by Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet using the proceeds from an introductory...
took over Hasbro Interactive
Hasbro Interactive
Hasbro Interactive was an American video game production and publishing subsidiary of Hasbro, the large game and toy company.Hasbro Interactive was formed late in 1995 in order to compete in the computer and video game arena. Several Hasbro properties, such as Monopoly and Scrabble, had already...
.
Atari Inc., a division of Atari, SA (2001-)
In October 2001 InfogramesInfogrames
Infogrames Entertainment SA was an international French holding company headquartered in Paris, France. It was the owner of Atari, Inc., headquartered in New York City, U.S. and Atari Europe. It was founded in 1983 by Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet using the proceeds from an introductory...
(now Atari, SA) announced that it was "reinventing" the Atari brand with the launch of two new games featuring a prominent Atari branding on their boxarts : Splashdown
Splashdown (video game)
Splashdown is a water racing game for Xbox and PlayStation 2. It can be played by one or two players. Splashdown is quite similar to Nintendo's Wave Race series. Players take control of a personal water-craft as they race against each other on various courses...
and MX Rider. On May 7, 2003, Infogrames
Infogrames
Infogrames Entertainment SA was an international French holding company headquartered in Paris, France. It was the owner of Atari, Inc., headquartered in New York City, U.S. and Atari Europe. It was founded in 1983 by Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet using the proceeds from an introductory...
had its majority-owned, but discrete US subsidiary Infogrames NA officially renamed Atari, Inc., renamed its European operations to Atari Europe but kept the original name of the main company Infogrames Entertainment. The original Atari holdings division purchased from Hasbro, Atari Interactive
Atari Interactive
Atari Interactive is a name used by several separate groups and corporations since the mid-90's. In 1996 it was the name of Atari Corporation's PC publishing division, bringing games like the Atari Jaguar's Tempest 2000 to the PC platform. From 1998 to 2001, Atari Interactive, Inc...
, was also made a separate corporate entity.
In November 2006, Krome Studios had acquired Melbourne House from Atari and that the studio would be renamed to Krome Studios Melbourne.
On November 13, 2007, The US division announces to exit the game development business to concentrate solely on publishing and distribution.
On March 6, 2008, Infogrames made an offer to Atari Inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value of $1.68 per share, or $11 million total. The offer would make Infogrames sole owner of Atari Inc., thus making it a privately held company. On April 30, 2008, Atari Inc. announced its intentions to accept Infogrames' buyout offer and to merge with Infogrames. On October 11, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary.
On December 9, 2008, Atari announced that it had acquired Cryptic Studios
Cryptic Studios
Cryptic Studios, a wholly owned Perfect World subsidiary, is a small American massively multiplayer online role-playing game developer headquartered in Los Gatos, California.-History:...
, an MMORPG
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
developer.
Namco Bandai has purchased a 34% stake in Atari Europe on May 14, 2009, paving the way for its acquisition from Infogrames.
Atari has had significant financial issues for several years now, posting losses in the tens of millions since 2005.
Atari, SA (2009-)
In May 2009 Infogrames Entertainment, SA, the parent company of Atari Inc. and Atari Interactive Inc., announced it would be changing Infogrames' name to Atari, SA.In April 2010, Atari board member, and former CEO David Gardner resigned. His replacement is Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell.
See also
- History of video game companies
- Golden Age of Video Arcade Games
- Atari DemocratAtari DemocratAtari Democrat, a phrase first popularized during the early 1980s, references both the video game brand Atari and Democratic legislators who suggested that the support and development of high tech and related businesses would stimulate the economy and create jobs.-Definition:The definition of an...
- Tengen (company)Tengen (company)Tengen was a video game publisher and developer that was created by arcade game manufacturer Atari Games.-History:Atari had been split into two distinct companies. Atari Corporation was responsible for computer and console games and hardware and owned the rights to the Atari brand for these domains...
External links
- Atari brand's official global site
- The Atari History Museum - Atari historical archive site.
- Atari Times, supporting all Atari consoles.
- AtariAge.com
- Atari Gaming Headquarters - Atari historical archive site.
- Atari On Film - List of Atari products in films.
- The Dot Eaters: classic video game history - Comprehensive history of videogames, extensive info on Atari offerings and history