Atari acquires rights to more than 100 games

The popular console producer Atari acquired more than 100 consoles and PC retro games from the 1980s and 1990s.

Atari acquired almost 100 PC and console games from the 1980s and 1990s, including well-known titles from the Bubsy, Hardball, and Demolition Racer series, 1942: Pacific Air War, F-117A, and the F-14 air combat series. Since Atari’s heyday, its ownership and catalog have changed significantly, thus the purchase also marks the return of part of Atari’s previous IPs.

Along with announcing the purchase of this game library, Atari also disclosed that it has acquired the Accolade and GTI trademarks. Atari claims that with the help of its most recent acquisition, it would make fresh versions of old stories and recreate old games on modern consoles.

Atari is planning a comeback

Atari is a popular name in the gaming industry, known all over the world for its multi-platform, interactive entertainment, and licensed gaming products. More than 200 distinct video games and franchises are owned and/or managed by Atari, including well-known names like Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, Pong, and RollerCoaster Tycoon.

The company is apparently buying up the rights to a large number of old games and establishing studios to help monetize the licenses and convert them into marketable products, similar to the Embracer Group, which has acquired the rights to over 700 IPs. The company intends to increase the availability of vintage digital and physical games while eventually exploring the development of new games and merchandising opportunities with its expanding portfolio of brands and games.

This appears to be a component of a fresh strategy to change the poor image the business acquired under its previous leadership. In a recent interview with Stephen Totilo of Axios Gaming, the CEO of Atari, Wade Rosen acknowledged the long-standing dissatisfaction with the Atari name among consumers, but he was upbeat about his third year in the role of CEO of the business. According to the CEO, the acquisition makes it possible for the company to remake tried-and-true favorites, revamp plotlines, and develop brand-new stories that draw inspiration from the games that helped shape an entire industry.

Just one month prior, Atari said that it had purchased 12 Stern Electronics arcade titles as well as the company Night Dive, which specializes in remastering classic games for contemporary platforms while also enhancing their quality, exactly what Atari seeks to do. The developer Nightdive is renowned for porting a wide variety of vintage games to contemporary hardware, including Doom 64, System Shock, Blood, Turok, Quake, and Blade Runner.

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