Atari Reinvents Itself

Like an 80’s hair metal band, Atari are attempting at making a comeback in order remain relevant in today’s market. After a turbulent few decades, going through numerous buy-outs and mergers, a poorly managed Atari was left in tatters . The iconic 80’s brand is now moving away from the traditional ‘brick and mortar’ style of selling games.

With its focus on digital download games instead, they are hoping to capture the social gaming market, which targets social networking sites like Facebook. However the social gaming market is about to heat up considerably with reports of Google acquiring Slide, the developers behind applications such as ‘SuperPoke!’. Though Google may have the funds, Atari has the branding power with its extensive catalogue of iconic gaming brands such as Asteroids. Speaking to The LA Times, Atari President Jim Wilson says that “Over the next six months you're going to see some of our best brands coming out as casual online games and digital downloads across multiple platforms, and you'll see a handful of retail releases,"

Forced out of necessity, Atari does not have the funds available anymore to compete with the blockbuster releases “"I look at us as basically a start-up, but one with a brand everybody in the world knows and a great library of intellectual property," says Jeff Lapin, Chief Executive of Atari.