Nolan Bushnell doesn’t mince his words when it comes to how the company he co-founded was treated after his departure: “You hate to see your child being abused.”
Atari has certainly endured some tough years since its ’70s peak. The failure of the Jaguar console in the mid-’90s saw this oncerevered brand passed between owners: first Hasbro Interactive, then French publisher Infogrames, which adopted the Atari name in 2003, before encountering financial difficulties of its own. It declared bankruptcy in 2013, prompting a fire sale of its properties – when it reemerged the following year, the company had been slimmed down to ten or so staff, headed by Frédéric Chesnais, who had bought a 25 per cent stake in the company for 400.
Checquered by bizarre ideas and disappointing releases, from Atari-themed casino games to the infamous Speakerhat (see ‘If the cap fits’), the Chesnais years are regarded by Bushnell as little short of a disaster. “He basically did more to destroy the brand than any human being possible,” he says, clearly aggrieved. “It was all about putting money in his pocket.”
Bushnell isn’t the only one who feels this way. Mike Mika, president of Digital Eclipse, has long been an Atari fan. “I grew up with the brand – it was such an influential part of my life,” he enthuses. “In its heyday, it was just so inspiring, so exciting.” He too was distraught to see what happened to the company during what he calls its “oddball years” – a softer assessment than Bushnell’s, but Mika was no less disappointed. “It felt like that cool uncle you looked up to as a kid that hits rock bottom,” he says. “It was sad to watch it make bad life decisions.”
If you’ve been following any of the recent developments at Atari, you’ll know what’s coming next. Recent years have brought something of a renaissance for the company.
A steady stream of Recharged titles have delivered reimagined takes on classics such as Asteroids and Breakout, as well as Jeff Minter’s take on the unreleased Atari coin-op Akka Arrh, and the famous logo has returned to new gaming hardware in the form of the Atari 2600+ and 400 Mini. The company has been on something of a spending spree, too, acquiring AtariAge, MobyGames and two developers, Nightdive Studios and Mika’s Digital Eclipse. “It’s a game company again,” Mika says of his new employer. “It wants to do great things. Instead of only looking back, it’s looking forward, and for the first time in a long while I get goosebumps thinking about the kinds of things that are happening.”
Atari in March 2020, becoming chairman of the board, then replaced Chesnais as CEO in April 2021.
