Is Atari Coming Back?

Atari has a new CEO by the name of Frederic Chesnais. Frederic has a unique position at Atari since it is still one of the most renowned and infamous companies in gaming, even though it has not release a title in 30 years.

Given that Atari still lives on as the definitive classic game console, Frederic wants to revive the company from the classics and back into the hearts of the people of a modern generation and not just the over 25s. He says that after the glory days of the release of the 2600 console, the company has changed owners many times and they were never truly “Atari” as a company, he plans to change everything.

“Yeah…that is one of the challenges we face in the next five years and we need to re-position the brand…gear it more for the future. You know, Hasbro got it in the ’90s. Then Infogrames bought it [at the] end of the ’90s. Infogrames renamed itself Atari, but there was kind of, uh … no ‘real’ Atari. Frankly, the best Atari games were all released 30 years ago, right? So I think it is important that we re-position the brand with meaning, taking advantage of social features, online features — but this is not something that we can do in two months or three months.”

“It’s a positive brand, because we show it to everyone and it reminds them of something positive and the appeal of the logo … so for me it’s synonymous with … it is positive. It is fun. It is entertainment. And it is something that we like. Even if we don’t know what [Atari is]. I go through customs and immigration; they ask me … they [customs agents] say, ‘What do you do?’ ‘I do video games.’ ‘Okay. Which company?’ ‘Atari.’ ‘Ahh! Atari!’”

When talking about the future of Atari, Frederic says that the company is a publisher and could go back into making consoles but they will not for the time being.

As usual, feel free to share your thoughts on Atari below
Do you think Atari should start making consoles again?