![]() “The reception to Recharged has been great.” Rosen beams. In these £7.99 updates, classics like Gravitar and Breakout get a modern lick of paint, bringing them to consoles with quality of life changes like leaderboards, achievements and of course, shiny HD graphics. Thanks to a renewed focus on PC and consoles for the first time in decades, Rosen tells of a newly energised era of Atari, which kicks off via a ‘ Recharged’ line of games. Despite his relatively short time as CEO, in the last 10 months Atari has released eight new games. We’re not trying to compete with companies that we can’t compete with… we’re just trying to make great Atari games.” We’re not trying to be anything that we’re not. “Licensing is a big part of Atari, but we’re also focusing on making premium games for modern platforms.” replies Rosen, “ is understandable, but everybody at Atari today loves games – and they love making Atari games. It’s a perception Rosen is keen to correct: While flogging t-shirts, branded Lego and licensing appearances in Ready Player One and Stranger Things undoubtedly rake in a few quid, it’s a somewhat sad fate for the industry’s original innovators – the games company that no longer makes games. As a pop culture brand… appearances in TV, movies, licensing etc, never been stronger.” “Take something like Pong,” he continues, “The amount of people who have actually played the original Pong is quite small – but everybody knows what Pong is. You know the 13 year olds who wear Nirvana shirts? Atari shirts are in that same genre.” “Now, Atari almost transcends the games on which it was originally founded. Speaking to NME ahead of the company’s 50th anniversary, CEO Wade Rosen makes an immediate impression with his disarmingly laid-back presence and genuine passion. READ MORE: Best FPS Games: What’s the best shooting game you can play in 2022?.Now, however, an ambitious new CEO is looking to put Atari back in the game. Yet after years of poor licensed games in the ‘80s – culminating in the mass burial of thousands of E.T game cartridges – and a misjudged noughties pivot to mobile, many wrote off the once legendary company for good. The software house that birthed classics like Pong, Asteroids, Breakout and Centipede, this 8-bit behemoth once ruled the retail roost. When it comes to gaming household names, there are few more beloved than California’s Atari.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |