How Atari is leveraging 50 years of nostalgia | Wade Rosen interview

Wade Rosen needs Atari to come back again as one of essentially the most priceless gaming manufacturers. After all, there aren’t many 50-year-old recreation firms.

Last yr, the corporate began marking its anniversary with a group of basic video games, and it’ll probably have extra as the unique Atari 2600 console video games all begin turning 50. On high of that, the corporate has been making video games and doing licensing offers to get the model in entrance of new audiences.

For a small firm with simply 30 individuals, that’s rather a lot of work, Rosen mentioned in an interview on the Dice Summit. Rosen took over as CEO in April 2021, after earlier CEO Fred Chesnais moved on after taking Atarin into the cell video games market and blockchain. The firm just lately introduced the launch of a brand new and improved MobyGames web site, constructed from the bottom up.

Atari additionally partnered with Utomik to publish video games like RollerCoaster Tycoon 2: Triple Thrill Pack, Pong Quest, and Asteroids: Recharged on the cloud gaming service.

And Atari dealt with the worldwide launch of Jeff Minter’s frenzied tube shooter recreation Akka Arrh on the PC and consoles. Minter is a legendary arcade recreation designer who gave us classics like Tempest.

Here’s an edited transcript of our interview.

GamesBeat: It looks like an enormous yr. You have Atari’s fiftieth anniversary. When did all of the celebration begin?

Wade Rosen: It began at first of final yr, however the problem was that once I got here on board, we didn’t have an incredible quantity of content material. We needed to begin by rebuilding the content material. I suppose the celebration in earnest began within the second half of the yr, and it continues immediately. We’re nonetheless doing issues to have fun the 50 years of Atari. The good half is, within the coming years there will likely be 50-year anniversaries for lots of main video games and milestones. All the arcade video games first, after which finally Adventure and Yar’s and all of the 2600 titles will observe behind. It’s good. We’d love to do a rolling anniversary of Atari.

GamesBeat: Is there something specifically that stands out to you as one thing it’s best to pour growth assets into for the anniversary?

Rosen: Atari 50 was our huge mission. But the good factor about that mission is—the response has been so universally optimistic. It’s one thing the group actually loves. We in all probability need to do extra with 50. We assume there’s extra that may be finished there, extra that may be constructed upon. As nice of a group as that is, it’s actually simply the tip of the iceberg in phrases of the historical past of Atari. We’re persevering with to construct that and flesh that out. And then no matter titles have one thing coming across the bend, looking for distinctive and fascinating methods to help that. Sometimes that’s software program. Sometimes that could possibly be {hardware}. Sometimes it’s a mixture of these.

GamesBeat: How many individuals are at Atari now?

Rosen: We all the time joke that it’s a 50-year startup. It’s nonetheless fairly small. There are about 30 of us. But we additionally use solely outsourced growth, so it’s in all probability a bit bigger than that. The 30 is simply the core group. Then we’ve got rather a lot of our outsourced growth that we work with throughout a quantity of nice firms. It’s very a lot a scrappy, nimble firm. The good half about that is all of us get to get up every single day and have the chance to push issues ahead. Everybody could make a tangible distinction in an organization of that dimension.

GamesBeat: Are your remakes nonetheless in progress? Where you’re making use of the standard IP.

Rosen: The Recharged titles? We form of go down two paths. We wish to have all the pieces we do have that core ingredient of straightforward to study, troublesome to grasp. We simply had a launch earlier this week, Akka Arrh, which is a recreation from Jeff Minter based mostly on a famously unreleased Atari arcade recreation. That’s an excellent instance of a really cool, progressive, lovely title. You can decide it up and also you’ll get it earlier than too lengthy. But as you’re enjoying it the mastery comes slowly. There’s no talent gating to it. You can decide it up and when you have the talent, you are able to do wonderful issues from soar. But it’s actually constructing that up.

That’s one thing we’ve discovered is deeply satisfying. And then additionally discovering methods to offer a common narrative for all of the Atari video games. Or I shouldn’t say a common narrative, however discovering methods to loop them collectively. Even in case you’re enjoying video games which might be historically narrative-light, having Centipede relate to Missile Command and Missile Command relate to Asteroids, that’s one thing we’ll do extra of within the coming years too. Pulling all of it collectively into one bigger Atari universe.

GamesBeat: Is there something that you just’d say you’re making your largest wager on? Something you’re doubling down on? Under Fred the corporate appeared to be going in lots of instructions. More firms proper now appear to be specializing in fewer issues.

Rosen: Right, focusing relatively than spreading to rather a lot of issues. The query we frequently ask ourselves is, “What do we feel we can do better than anyone else?” Depending on what you take a look at, that modifications. For software program, it’s that straightforward to study, troublesome to grasp, holistic Atari universe—these are distinctive issues that we expect we will give attention to. For {hardware} we expect that there’s a powerful place we will carve out in retro gaming. That’s an underserved market from a {hardware} standpoint. With licensing and what we do in popular culture, there’s rather a lot of alternative to have interaction with followers in a bunch of new and fascinating methods.

In phrases of what we need to give attention to, I feel it is—we’re some of the big video games we will put out that can develop, that take what individuals love and develop it. If you take a look at the franchises that fall below that, there’s the large ones like Asteroids, Missile Command, Centipede, Breakout. But there’s additionally Rollercoaster Tycoon, which is one thing rather a lot of individuals love. It’s close to and expensive to our hearts. We’ll in all probability be specializing in some fairly cool, progressive methods to have a look at these collection.

GamesBeat: On the licensing aspect, is there something that’s particularly fascinating or seeing extra focus as nicely? Things just like the resort licensing or other forms of licensing alternatives. What is nonetheless on the market for you?

Rosen: I feel the largest licensing alternative that we haven’t pursued—we do have rather a lot of new licensing tasks that we’re engaged on, however in all probability the most important is round media. Film, tv, animation, documentaries, recreation exhibits, all of these issues. We simply introduced a partnership with APA. They’ll be representing us in each scripted and non-scripted. Looking at alternatives in that house is in all probability the largest piece of the licensing puzzle that we haven’t put in but. They’ve been great.

GamesBeat: Are some of the earlier licensing tasks just like the resorts going ahead?

Rosen: There is nonetheless a resorts license that’s lively. The tasks are nonetheless being pursued there. The group is based mostly out of Phoenix. They’re wonderful. They maintain me up to date on what they’re doing. Fingers crossed on that. I’ve to defer to them on the place they’re with their plans, however I do hope that one thing will get launched with that. It’s cool.

GamesBeat: And the blockchain stuff is nonetheless a completely separate firm?

Rosen: We do have blockchain initiatives. Some of the outdated initiatives are not half of Atari. They’re completely separate, fully aside from what we do. Quite a bit of what we do now in web3 is targeted on community-building and initiatives that permit individuals to have interaction and do enjoyable issues collectively. What that business is transferring away from in a short time is something that felt—it’s transferring towards extra of a collaborative, community-driven, purpose-driven business. Less of a financially-driven initiative. It has to to ensure that it to outlive. More utility, extra fleshed-out tasks, deeper tasks.

Gaming is one half of that. But I feel the place we’ve seen the largest progress, and the place we’re doing rather a lot of issues, is simply in methods to permit individuals to work together as a group. Often it seems like web2. To the person it truly doesn’t really feel any totally different than web2. The deeper half is extra in regards to the companions you possibly can combine with. Web3 permits for lots of fascinating integrations with the bigger group of companions. That’s in all probability the largest shift I see. It’s a shift from web3 being very targeted on, “Hey, here’s all the things that consumers would want,” to, “This allows us to integrate in a meaningful way with our partners. Let’s make it feel as simple and easy and user-friendly to people as we can.” Right now that’s typically a web2 expertise for the client.

GamesBeat: Do you have got extra contact today with Nolan Bushnell?

Rosen: Yeah, positively. I see Nolan fairly often. He’s a strategic advisor at Atari now too. He was within the workplace. We had been doing our all-hands a couple of weeks in the past and he swung by for that. We get to work with and work together with Nolan. He’s an excellent man. Anybody who meets Nolan, they all the time stroll away deeply impressed and impressed with how real and he is.

GamesBeat: There was a partnership with one of his sons too, proper?

Rosen: Yeah, Tyler Bushnell, with Polycade. That’s persevering with. That’s an instance of a very cool web3-based mission. There’s a really robust, tangible, bodily presence. The web3 piece is simply further performance that folks can use and have interaction with if they need, however they don’t should. Tyler’s finished a superb job of displaying what a brand new sort of web3 utility appears like.

GamesBeat: Is the board in some methods totally different than it was?

Rosen: The board has been comparatively constant. We had one change this previous yr, when Jessica joined. But the board is nice. They’re deeply passionate in regards to the turnaround of Atari, the renaissance story there. They’re an incredible board. I’m fortunate to have them.

GamesBeat: Do you have got extra video games coming this yr than in earlier years?

Rosen: Yeah, yeah. We’ve been rising the quantity of video games yearly fairly a bit. The first yr, as a result of we had been simply placing most of our video games in growth, we solely had a pair that we had been capable of get out. Last yr I feel we completed with seven. We’re taking pictures for 11 this yr. Some are smaller titles, just like the Recharged line, that are actually for the followers, clear remasters of nice video games. There are a pair of surprises within the Recharged line, too. Just a few deep cuts and a few fan favorites that aren’t essentially thought of as Atari, however at the moment are wrapping in. Those will likely be cool surprises. We have some bigger video games as nicely, throughout the entire spectrum. I feel individuals can anticipate to see some fairly cool content material from us that’s not simply on consoles. We’re performing some progressive stuff on the sport aspect.

One factor that folks can stay up for is Atari doing issues as a extra unified model going ahead. Whether they’re interacting with us on the software program aspect or on the {hardware} aspect or they’re simply shopping for a T-shirt from Atari.com, actually any of the initiatives we’re doing, we wish it to really feel prefer it comes from a single Atari. Not that these are simply initiatives we determined to do as a result of they had been opportunistic in nature, however that they had been strategic and half of a bigger imaginative and prescient for the corporate.

The one which’s laborious to explain, however that we do really feel is going to start this yr, is pulling all the pieces collectively and permitting it to dwell below a single banner, a “one Atari” sort of program. That’s one thing for individuals to stay up for, particularly deep Atari followers. Those are the sorts of issues that they’re asking for. We need to present that for them. Deeper group engagement total. For Atari it simply comes again to that. With any of these lasting manufacturers, it’s about the way you interact with the group. It’s not as headline-catching as a brand new recreation launch, but it surely’s one thing we put rather a lot of time and vitality into. We work on it every single day.

The different factor can be some new {hardware} tasks we’ll be asserting later within the yr. One of these is going to be associated to the VCS. As we seemed on the VCS to offer extra utility, one of the ways in which we expect that may be finished successfully is to develop the {hardware} capabilities of the VCS. It’s a fairly cool {hardware} initiative that I feel is distinctive for the business. You can anticipate that, in addition to a number of others we’ll be engaged on and introducing with companions.

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