NEW YORK, May 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Atari® — one of the world's most iconic consumer brands and interactive entertainment producers — announced today the acquisition of more than a dozen Atari 2600 games published originally under the M Network label. The collection includes fan favorites Armor Ambush, Astroblast, Frogs And Flies, Space Attack, and Star Strike. Atari will seek to expand digital and physical distribution of the classic titles, create new games based on the IPs, and explore brand and merchandising collaborations.
“M Network represents a unique moment in Atari’s early history, and this acquisition expands the Atari 2600 catalog in a meaningful way,” said Atari CEO Wade Rosen. “We have the potential to reintroduce these titles in a number of ways, ranging from rereleasing them in collections to creating new games based on the acquired IPs.”
Atari also acquired the corresponding rights to the M Network brand. M Network was a video game division within Mattel that produced games for the Atari 2600 video game system during the 1980s.
The M Network acquisition is the third expansion in 2023 that expands Atari’s classic games catalog. In March, Atari announced the acquisition of a dozen classic arcade games, including Berzerk and Frenzy. In April, Atari announced the acquisition of 100 PC and console titles from the 1980s and 1990s, including notable games from the Bubsy, Hardball, and Demolition Racer series.
Atari is undertaking a multi-year effort to transform the company behind one of the world's most iconic brands. An essential part of that effort involves expanding Atari’s video game business, leveraging the company’s extensive catalog of IP to release classic games and bring new, high-quality games to market. Atari's vast library of IP is the vault from which new and exciting game development ideas are pulled – reinventing old classics, reimagining storylines, and developing entirely new narratives inspired by the games that set the course for an entire industry.
To stay up-to-date on all things Atari and retro-pop culture, follow on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , and YouTube , and join the community on the official Discord .
Atari is an interactive entertainment company and an iconic gaming industry brand that transcends generations and audiences. The company is globally recognized for its multi-platform, interactive entertainment, and licensed products. Atari owns and/or manages a portfolio of more than 200 unique games and franchises, including world-renowned brands like Asteroids®, Centipede®, Missile Command®, Pong®, and RollerCoaster Tycoon®. Atari has offices in New York and Paris. Visit us online at www.Atari.com .
Atari shares are listed in France on Euronext Growth Paris (ISIN Code FR0010478248, Ticker ALATA) and OTC Pink Current (Ticker PONGF).
©2023 Atari Interactive, Inc. Atari wordmark and logo are trademarks owned by Atari Interactive, Inc.
die-microcrap-die on May 5th, 2023 at 13:20 UTC »
This Atari seems different.
I hope they release modernized versions of the classic games but also release some kind of updated versions of their old computers, especially the Falcon 030.
And if the stars aligned, a proper Jaguar 2!
BeerNTacos on May 5th, 2023 at 12:24 UTC »
Huh. This brings me back. I remember the surprise of M Network being released, as I grew up near Mattel's then headquarters, had friends of the family who worked at Mattel and had an Intellivision. My cousins had a 2600. As we had an "in," we got Mattel games for cheap.
Essentially Mattel's Intellivision & the Atari 2600 were rival consoles. Mattel decided that they would take some of their more popular Intellivision properties, change the game's name and make lesser remakes of the properties for the 2600, using the moniker "M Network" for these lesser ports. The cartridges were even shaped like Intellivision cartridges, but with a wider base that would fit in the 2600.
The titles listed in the press release: Armor Ambush, Astroblast, Frogs And Flies, Space Attack, and Star Strike? All released years earlier on the Intellevision. Armor Battle, Astrosmash, Frog Bog, Space Battle were the prior names Intellevision used for the above, though weirdly enough they kept the Star Strike name for the Atari version as well.
Mattel also had their own line of sports games that they ported over to Atari, but just took the Mattel name off of them.
I'm betting that Atari only has the rights to the games that Mattel owned outright. They made 2600 versions of games using multiple trademarked properties and I have a feeling Hasbro, G-Mode, Kraft Heinz, Comcast and Disney (with possibly others because license agreements did not look much in the future when it came to these old early 80's games) wouldn't want those old games being released unless a lot of money changed hands, if at all.
This makes me wonder what other properties Atari will try to snag. Maybe the three Atari games they specifically sold at Sears? Get the rights to the Crazy Climber Atari version from Hamster? Get the licenses for the Axlon 2600 games from (I think) Hasbro? Maybe find out who owns the two or three 2600 games made by Sculptured Software after their assets were bought by Acclaim, who had their assets bought up and resold a couple times over already?
It's anybody's guess, I suppose.
TheTabman on May 5th, 2023 at 10:36 UTC »
Todays Atari is really just a company that monetizes the Atari brand however they can.