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The Atari of today has very little to do with the Atari that helped kickstart the arcade and console business back in '70s, but the modern company is doing more than most zombie brand revivals to actually do good by its legacy. In this case, that means it's investing heavily in retro games, and helping some of the best studios in the space do what they're best at.
"We still make sure that we appeal to our core audience that has kept the lights on," CEO Wade Rosen tells GamesRadar+ in an interview at Gamescom. "I mean, Atari would have ceased to exist decades ago if it weren’t for that component, right? And we know that, we don’t ignore that – we’re really grateful for that because it allows us to set up a base."
Rosen jokes that, when deciding on the direction for the modern brand, "we weren’t taking Atari and trying to turn it into a car company, or a logistics company, or something like that. Atari? Oh, it's best in the world at retro games. Yeah, that makes sense in this timeline and in this universe. That actually puts it into place pretty well. So then we just said, 'Who's the best at that?' We can't do it alone. Nightdive, Digital Eclipse, M2, you know, these were the names that came up when we started talking about that."
All three of those studios are downright legendary for their work in bringing classic games to modern audiences. M2 is known for pitch-perfect emulation of classic console and arcade titles. Nightdive is known for restoring old-school PC FPS games with modern bells and whistles. Digital Eclipse is known for robust retro collections with extensive behind-the-scenes materials. And, of course, the latter two studios are now owned by Atari.
"We put into place projects with Digital Eclipse and Nightdive," Rosen says. "We were so impressed, and liked those projects so much, we talked to them. In addition to them bringing something to table for us, we felt we could bring something to the table for them, which was really, 'hey, let us help stabilize things a little bit.'
"I don't think anybody gets into the business to be like, 'I really want to get into it so I can manage HR and stare at these spreadsheets all day and about my IT infrastructure or data security.' So we brought that plus more. I'm downplaying it a little bit, but we also streamlined a lot of the other pieces, like the business development side. Not having to worry, you know, are you going to be able to make payroll the next day? What are the next projects that we're going to work on? We kind of took all that off their plate, and in the process, just let them be what they are, which is great in the world, at these very specific things. And then we built around that."
Beyond the retro projects and old-school IP revivals – including, somehow, a new Bubsy game – Atari is also investing in newer, more original projects. That includes things like the acquisition of Thunderful, the parent company handling such delights as the SteamWorld series.
The Atari "brand deserves to be something more" than just retro throwbacks, as Rosen says. "If it’s just a nostalgia play, there’s also something a little bit unfortunate about that, or a missed opportunity that exists there. I would say that people — especially in pop culture and society at large — they want to see a successful Atari. Like, who doesn’t want to see Atari neon signs in their reality?" he muses. "Like in Blade Runner."
The Gamescom 2025 schedule ain't over yet, but for now you should check out our recap of the Future Games Show at Gamescom 2025.
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