Atari - Woodhorn.com Woodhorn.com From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the corporate brand. For other uses, see Atari (disambiguation) . Atari Atari, SA Atari (from a Japanese verb meaning "to hit the target") is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972, currently by Atari Interactive , a subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA (ASA). [1] [2] [3] The original Atari, Inc. founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney was a pioneer in arcade games , home video game consoles , and home computers . The company's products, such as Pong and the Atari 2600 , helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. In 1984, the original Atari Inc. was split due to its role in the video game crash of 1983 , and the arcade division was turned into Atari Games Inc .

[4] Atari Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text "Games" on arcade games, as well as rights to the original 1972–1984 arcade hardware properties. The Atari Consumer Electronics Division properties were in turn sold to Jack Tramiel's Tramel Technology Ltd., which then renamed itself to Atari Corporation . [5] [6] In 1996, Atari Corporation reverse merged with disk drive manufacturer JT Storage (JTS), [7] becoming a division within the company. In 1998, Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari Corporation related properties from JTS, [8] creating a new subsidiary, Atari Interactive. [9] Infogrames Entertainment (IESA) bought Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and renamed it to Infogrames Interactive, later Atari Interactive in 2003, when Infogrames Inc. licensed the Atari name and logo from the latter and changed its name to Atari Inc., [2] [10] [11] a name used for a company founded in 1993 as GT Interactive , which IESA also renamed to Infogrames, Inc.

and acquired a 62% controlling interest in by 1999. [12] After IESA's acquisition of Hasbro Interactive, Infogrames, Inc. intermittently published Atari branded titles for Infogrames Interactive. On October 11, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary. [13] Contents Main article: Atari, Inc. In 1971, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded an engineering firm, Syzygy Engineering, [14] that designed and built Computer Space , the world's first arcade video game, for Nutting Associates. On June 27, 1972 Atari, Inc. was incorporated and soon hired Al Alcorn as their first design engineer. Bushnell decided to have Alcorn produce as a test of his abilities, an arcade version of the Magnavox Odyssey 's Tennis game, [15] which would be named Pong . While Bushnell incorporated Atari in June 1972, Syzygy Company was never formally incorporated.

Before Atari's official incorporation, Bushnell wrote down several words from the game go , eventually choosing atari , a term which in the context of the game means a state where a stone or group of stones is imminently in danger of being taken by one's opponent. In Japanese, atari (当たり, あたり, or アタリ) is the nominalized form of ataru （当たる, あたる, or アタル） (verb), meaning "to hit the target" or "to receive something fortuitously". The word 'atari' is used in Japanese when a prediction comes true or when someone wins a lottery. Atari was incorporated in the state of California on June 27, 1972. [16] The third version of the Atari Video Computer System sold from 1980 to 1982 In 1973, Atari secretly spawned a "competitor" called Kee Games , headed by Nolan's next door neighbor Joe Keenan, to circumvent pinball distributors' insistence on exclusive distribution deals; both Atari and Kee could market virtually the same game to different distributors, with each getting an "exclusive" deal.

Though Kee's relationship to Atari was discovered in 1974, Joe Keenan's management of the subsidiary led to him being promoted president of Atari that same year. [17] In 1976, Bushnell, through a Grass Valley, CA . engineering firm—Cyan Engineering, started an effort to produce a flexible video game console that was capable of playing all four of Atari's then-current games. The result was the Atari Video Computer System , or "VCS" (Later renamed the Atari 2600 when the Atari 5200 was released). Bushnell knew he had another potential hit on his hands, but bringing the machine to market would be extremely expensive. Looking for outside investors, in 1976 Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications for an estimated $28–32 million, using part of the money to buy the Folgers Mansion. Nolan continued to have disagreements with Warner Management over the direction of the company, the discontinuing of the Pinball division and most importantly, he felt that the Atari 2600 should be discontinued. In 1978, the Kee Games brand was dropped.

[18] In December of that year during a heated argument between Nolan Bushnell and Manny Gerard, Bushnell was fired. "[W]e started fighting like cats and dogs. And then the wheels came off that fall. Warner claimed they fired me," recalled Bushnell. "I say I quit. It was a mutual separation." [19] A project to design a successor to the 2600 started as soon as the system shipped. The original development team estimated the 2600 had a lifespan of about three years, and decided to build the most powerful machine they could, given that time frame. Mid-way into the effort's time-frame, the home computer revolution was taking off, so the new machines were adapted, with the addition of a keyboard and various inputs, to produce the Atari 800 , and its smaller cousin, the 400. Although a variety of issues made them less attractive than the Apple II for some users, the new machines had some success when they finally became available in quantity in 1980. In 1982, the Atari 5200 was released, based heavily on the 400 and 800 models, but without a keyboard.

Under Warner and the Chairman and CEO they chose to run Atari, Raymond Kassar , Atari Inc. achieved its greatest success, selling millions of 2600s and computers. At its peak, Atari accounted for a third of Warner's annual income and was the fastest-growing company in the history of the United States at the time. However, Atari Inc. ran into problems in the early 1980s as interference from the New York-based Warner management increasingly affected daily operations. Its home computer , video game console , and arcade divisions operated independently of one another and rarely cooperated. Faced with fierce competition and price wars in the game console and home computer markets, Atari was never able to duplicate the success of the 2600. These problems were followed by the video game crash of 1983 , with losses that totaled more than $500 million. Warner's stock price slid from $60 to $20, and the company began searching for a buyer for its troubled division. In 1983, Ray Kassar was forced to resign, and executives involved in the Famicom lost track of the negotiations, and the deal eventually died.

With Atari's further financial problems and the Famicom's runaway success in Japan after its July 16, 1983 release date, Nintendo decided to go it alone. Financial problems continued to mount and Kassar's successor, James J. Morgan , had less than a year in which to tackle the company's problems, he began a massive restructuring of the company and worked with Warner Communications in May 1984 to create "NATCO" which stood for New Atari Company which would further lean the company facilities, personnel and spending and make the company profit. Unknown to James Morgan and the senior management of Atari, Warner had been in talks with Tramel Technology to buy Atari's Consumer electronics and Home Computer divisions. Negotiating up until close to midnight of July 1, 1984 Jack Tramiel purchased Atari. Warner sold the home computing and game console divisions of Atari to Tramiel for $50 cash and $240 million in promissory notes and stocks, giving Warner a 20% stake in Atari Corporation [20] who then used it to create a new company under the name Atari Corporation.

Warner retained the arcade division, continuing it under the name Atari Games , but sold it to Namco in 1985. Warner also sold the fledgling Ataritel to Mitsubishi . Atari Corporation (1984–1996)[ edit ] Main article: Atari Corporation Atari ST Under Tramiel's ownership, Atari Corp. used the remaining stock of game console inventory to keep the company afloat while they finished development on a 16/32-bit computer system, the Atari ST . ("ST" stands for "sixteen/thirty-two", referring to the machines' 16-bit bus and 32-bit processor core.) In April 1985, they released the first update to the 8-bit computer line — the Atari 65XE, the Atari XE series. June 1985 saw the release of the Atari 130XE, Atari User Groups received early sneak-preview samples of the new Atari 520ST's, and major retailer shipments hit store shelves in September 1985 of Atari's new 32-bit Atari ST computers.

In 1986, Atari launched two consoles designed under Warner — the Atari 2600jr and the Atari 7800 console (which saw limited release in 1984). Atari rebounded, earning a $25 million profit that year. In 1987, Atari acquired Federated Group for $67.3 million to have their own retail store shelf space, [21] which was sold to Silo in 1989. [22] In 1989, Atari released the Atari Lynx , a handheld console with color graphics, to much fanfare. A shortage of parts kept the system from being released nationwide for the 1989 Christmas season, and the Lynx lost market share to Nintendo's Game Boy which, despite only having a black and white display, was cheaper, had better battery life and had much higher availability. Tramiel emphasized computers over game consoles but Atari's proprietary computer architecture and operating system fell victim to the success of the Wintel platform while the game market revived. In 1989, Atari Corp. sued Nintendo for $250 million, alleging it had an illegal monopoly.

[23] Atari eventually lost the case when it was rejected by a US district court in 1992. [24] In 1993, Atari positioned its Jaguar as the only 64-bit interactive media entertainment system available but it sold poorly. By 1996, a series of successful lawsuits [25] had left Atari with millions of dollars in the bank, but the failure of the Lynx and Jaguar left Atari without a product to sell. Tramiel and his family also wanted out of the business. The result was a rapid succession of changes in ownership. In July 1996, Atari merged with JTS Inc. , a short-lived maker of hard disk drives, to form JTS Corp. [26] [27] [28] Atari's role in the new company largely became that of holder for the Atari properties and minor support, and consequently the name largely disappeared from the market.

As a division of Hasbro (1998–2000)[ edit ] Main article: Atari Interactive In March 1998, JTS sold the Atari name and assets to Hasbro Interactive for $5 million—less than a fifth of what Warner Communications had paid 22 years earlier. [29] This transaction primarily involved the brand and intellectual property, which now fell under the Atari Interactive division of Hasbro Interactive. The brand name changed hands again in December 2000 when French software publisher Infogrames took over Hasbro Interactive . [30] Main article: Atari, SA In October 2001 Infogrames (now Atari, SA ) announced that it was "reinventing" the Atari brand with the launch of two new games featuring a prominent Atari branding on their boxarts : Splashdown and MX Rider. [31] On May 7, 2003, Infogrames had its majority-owned, but discrete US subsidiary Infogrames NA officially renamed Atari, Inc., [32] renamed its European operations to Atari Europe but kept the original name of the main company Infogrames Entertainment .

The original Atari holdings division purchased from Hasbro, Hasbro Interactive , was also made a separate corporate entity renamed as Atari Interactive . On March 6, 2008, Infogrames made an offer to Atari Inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value of $1.68 per share, or $11 million total. [33] The offer would make Infogrames sole owner of Atari Inc., thus making it a privately held company. [34] On April 30, 2008, Atari Inc. announced its intentions to accept Infogrames' buyout offer and to merge with Infogrames. [35] [36] On October 8, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary. [13] [37] On December 9, 2008, Atari announced that it had acquired Cryptic Studios , an MMORPG developer. [38] Namco Bandai has purchased a 34% stake in Atari Europe on May 14, 2009, paving the way for its acquisition from Infogrames.

[39] Atari has had significant financial issues for several years now, posting losses in the tens of millions since 2005. [40] In May 2009 Infogrames Entertainment, SA, the parent company of Atari Inc. and Atari Interactive Inc., announced it would change its name to Atari, SA. In April 2010, Atari SA board member and former CEO David Gardner resigned. Original Atari Inc. co-founder Nolan Bushnell joined the board as a representative for Blubay holdings. [41] As of March 31, 2011, the Board of Directors consisted of Frank Dangeard, Jim Wilson, Tom Virden, Gene Davis, Alexandra Fichelson. [3] On January 21, 2013, Atari Inc., Atari Interactive Inc., Humongous, Inc. and California US Holdings, Inc. (collectively, the "Companies") filed petitions for relief under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. [42] All three Ataris emerged from bankruptcy one year later and the entering of the social casino gaming industry with Atari Casino.

[43] Frederic Chesnais, who now heads all three companies, stated their entire operations consist of a staff of 10 people. [44] Atari - 1972 - 1984 1972 - 1984 Jaguar at the Mall. June 27, 1972 Atari Incorporated – Co-founders Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney embark on their new venture. Their first engineer hired was Allan Alcorn who designed Pong as simply a test, but it turned out to be the company’s first shipped product. November 30, 1972 First production Pong arcades begin to ship. Selling at just $1095, Pong began to sell to distributors and dealers to begin showing up in Bars, bowling alley’s and even in Mall’s and JC Penny’s. 1973 To break the exclusive deals with distributors, Atari secretly creates its own competitor – Kee Games, run by Nolan Bushnell’s neighbor – Joe Keenan and headed by Steve Bristow as its lead engineer, Kee Games begins selling knock offs of Atari games, but with unique enhancements.

November 1974 Kee Games releases its first unique game – Tank. This was the first coin-op game to contain ROM based code for its graphics. It was an instant hit seller and immediately saw a follow up – Tank II that same year. Tank is a very important game to Atari as later on it would become the basis for Atari Combat, which was the pack-in game included with the Atari 2600 video game console in 1977. December 1975 Pong comes home. Sears Roebuck approaches Atari to sell video games in its Sporting Goods Department. Atari designs a home TV version of its Pong Arcade, originally looking to sell 50,000 units, Sears wants Atari to produce 150,000 of the Home Pong branded as Sears Telegames Pong. Atari would also sell 50,000 of its own Atari branded Atari Pong units. Sporting color, on screen score and audio from a built in speaker inside of the oddly shaped pedestal console, it turns out to be one of the hottest selling items for the 1975 holiday shopping season with people waiting several hours in line to purchase.

May 13, 1976 Atari Breakout is released. This unique game has been called “Pong turned on its side” – basically it was a video game version of the very popular Racquetball game of the era. The concept was created by Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow. Looking to increase profits, the game circuit design was given to a young Atari engineer named Steve Jobs. Steve would come back and deliver a PC board design that reduced 50 chips from the cost, giving Steve Jobs a $5,000 bonus. However it would later be revealed that it was Steve Wozniak, while coming in during the middle of the night to play arcade games after work from Hewlett Packard who in fact designed the Breakout board. The board, while working and saving a great deal of cost was not usable in production, so it would have to be redone. The two Steve’s would move on and later found a computer company many might have heard of… Apple, Inc. October 1977 The Atari Video Computer System (2600) model #2600 makes its debut.

With a retail price of $199-$229, the system is a multiprocessor based, programmable game console. It includes 2 joysticks and 2 paddle controllers. It comes with a 2 player game with 27 variations called Combat. Expected to have a library of 10 different games based on Atari arcade games, the console design is hoped to have a selling life of 2-3 years. December 1978 Atari Announces its formed a new Home Computer Division. The Home Computer and Consumer Electronic divisions are kept separate from one another. January 1979 Atari’s marketing decides to try something new – to sell video games all year long and not push only for the holiday shopping season. At the Winter Consumer Electronics show in Atari officially debuts its Atari 400 and Atari 800 Home computers. Summer 1979 Meanwhile Atari releases Lunar Lander into the arcades. October 1979 Atari 400 and Atari 800 home computers are officially released.

November 1979 Atari’s answer to the quarter eating arcade hit Space Invaders arrives – called Asteroids, this arcade game will become one of Atari’s best selling and most memorable Atari smash hits.* December 1979 Selling Atari 2600 units all year round proves to be a major marketing move for Atari, and a profitable one as well. Selling nearly 400,000 units in 1979, Atari sells over $200 million in inventory for a net profit of almost $20 million…. Bigger sales and even bigger profits are ahead. Atari’s first licensed title for its 2600 game console is released… Space Invaders. June 1980 Atari releases Missile Command into the arcades. Originally titled Armegeddon, its gameplay reflected the Cold War nuclear attack scenario of the era. The designer of the game would only do it if the game was a defensive game and not an attack game. November 1980 Atari Battlezone is released into the arcades.

The “Battle of the Future Tanks” is a hit, with its unique scope view upgrade design, dual control handles and its highly realistic wire frame simulation graphics, this game would later catch the attention of the US Military which would approach Atari to design a version called “Army Battlezone” which would be a very accurate simulation of the Army’s new Bradley Fighting Vehicle. January 1981 Atari announces but never ships – the Atari Remote 2600 and the Atari Cosmos tabletop 3D holographic (called Holoptics by Atari) game console. April 1981 Missile Command comes home to the Atari 2600. July 1981 Atari Centipede becomes the first coin-op to be UL (Underwriters Laboratory) Approved. August 1981 Asteroids also comes home to the Atari 2600 continuing to give Atari dominance in releases arcade translations to its home console line. October 1981 Atari Tempest hits the arcades. Its incredible full color vector graphics, enticing sound effects and unique game play bring in huge followings of players to this new game. The game designer actually had a nightmare which was his inspiration for the creation to Tempest.

January 1982 Atari Introduces its Advanced Video Computer “System X” at the Winter CES…. This would later be renamed the Atari 5200 Super System. February 1982 Space Duel is released in the arcades and Atari’s Haunted House is released on the 2600 (the original internal title was called Graves Manor) March 1982 Atari releases Pac Man for the 2600. It is a rushed product by a programmer who didn’t really like Pac Man, the result was a very poorly written game bearing little resemblance to the coin-op version. May 1982 Yars’ Revenge is released on the 2600. The programmer came up with the name by reversing first name of RAY KASSAR – CEO of Atari. Kassar would later find out about this and compliment the programmer for his ingenuity. June 1982 Atari officially introduces the Atari 5200 Super System. A new high end game console with controllers that were so packed with features, they became the systems failing.

With speed sensitive 360 degree analog joysticks which were unheard of in 1982, but are common on all of today’s modern consoles. Using innovative conductive contact pads to cram a full 12 key keypad, 2 left and 2 right first buttons a Start, Pause and Reset button, the controller was impressive, but was difficult to use with many games that required a simple 4 direction digital joystick. Also, Atari’s Pack-in game with its new flagship console was Super Breakout. July 1982 Atari opens its first “Atari Adventure Center” arcade amusement center at the Marriot Great America theme park in California. November 1982 Atari releases Millipede, Quantum and Liberator. It also releases its newest license – Pole Position. Originally Atari did not want to license the game, but through some licensing pressure, it took the game and it turned out to be a smash hit in the arcades.

January 1983 Atari would announce a huge assortment of new games for both its 2600 and its 5200 game consoles, among them – 5200: Dig Dug, Kangaroo, Pole Position and Galaxian and on the 2600 – Centipede, Pheonix, Vanguard, Pole Position and Ms Pac Man. February 1983 Atari announces its new product – “The Graduate” which was also called “My First Computer” a new enhancement to the 2600 console that would’ve added a computer keyboard ontop of the console turning it into a basic computer system. Atari also announces its “Swordquest Challenge” a series of 4 games that would use included Comic books that would contain clues to solve a puzzle. Winners would then go to Atari for a special contest for each game. Each winner would be awarded a gold and jewel encrusted $25,000 prize and after all 4 winners were awarded, they were to come back and all play against each other in a special contest to win a $50,000 gold and jewel encrusted sword.

The contests were canceled after the Fireworld contest because Atari had been sold in 1984. A quiet award ceremony was done to award the Waterworld prize to the winner. The final game – Airworld was never finished or released and its prize and the Sword prize were never awarded and were returned to Franklin Mint during the sale of Atari in July 1984. March 1983 Atari begins shipment of its new Atari 1200XL home computer. The new design is very high tech, low profile and sleek. However it lacks any expansion capabilities and it is incompatible with a great deal of software. Sales of the Atari 800 home computer increase as buyers rush to purchase the earlier model before they are no longer available. May 1983 Atari Star Wars and Food Fight are released into the arcades. June 1983 Atari announces its “Next Generation” line of home computers – the Atari 600XL, 800XL to replace the Atari 400 and Atari 800.

A new pair of advanced systems called the Atari 1400XL and 1450XLD both of which would have built in modems and speech synthesizers. The 1450XLD would come with a built in disk drive and room for a 2nd to be added by the consumer at one of Atari’s 1,400 authorized Atari Service™ Centers. 1983 Crystal Castles is released into the arcades. November 1983 Atari releases Major Havoc and Pole Position II into the arcades. Atari signs a deal to negotiate further business with new silicon valley startup Amiga Corporation.* January 1984 Atari releases its Laserdisc arcade – Firefox, based on the movie starring Clint Eastwood. Atari introduces “Atarisoft” and introduces its normally Atari-only exclusive titles on IBM PC, Apple ][, C64, TI/99, Intellivision and Colecovision. Atari announces a large assortment of titles for the 2600 and Atari 5200 systems including Mario Brothers, Moon Patrol and Berzerk.

April 1984 Atari releases Taz and Crystal Castles for the 2600. May 8, 1984 Atari and Lucasfilm introduce two ground breaking titles exclusively for Atari game consoles and computers – Ballblazer and Rescue on Fractalus. May 21, 1984 Atari introduces the Atari 7800 Prosytem gaming console. With built in Atari 2600 compatibility, plus the ability to play new perfect arcade titles, the new console along with its 12 launch titles, including exclusives such as Pole Position II packed in, the first home version of Galaga and Xevious as well as new titles such as Desert Falcon hope to give Atari the needed boost back into the home gaming console industry. May 22, 1984 Atari’s Roller-Coaster Ride - CHM Revolution Atari’s Roller-Coaster Ride While Dabney and Bushnell founded Atari together in 1972, both would be gone from the company by 1980. Dabney left in 1973, believing the market was unstable; Bushnell left in 1979 after having sold the company to Warner Communications.

Atari's Roller-Coaster Ride Success came swiftly to Atari. Staying on top proved harder. Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded Atari in June 1972. Five months later, Atari’s first product, Pong, changed gaming forever. The company quickly rolled out other arcade games. In 1977, it introduced the Atari Video Computer System (VCS) and sold millions of game cartridges over 15 years. Warner Communications bought Atari in 1976. When a market glut crashed the game industry in 1983, Atari tried to cope by shifting its focus to home computers, a stopgap on the road to declining profits and further mergers. 1. Andy Capp’s Tavern 2. Sears & Roebuck Atari 2600 prototype Steve Mayer and Ron Milner built this prototype system for the Atari 2600 Video Computer out of a standard “Jolt” card that used the 6502 microprocessor. The primitive video hardware gave it a reputation as one of the most complex machines to program. Developers wrote and assembled software on a DEC PDP-11 minicomputer, and then downloaded it for testing.

The first program developed, a forerunner of the classic “Combat” video game cartridge, shipped with the 1977 release. View Artifact Detail Atari's Gamer-in-Chief Nolan Bushnell’s eccentric management style—encouraging odd hours and no dress code—made Atari a lively workplace. The hot tub in his office helped too. After selling Atari to Warner Communications in 1976, Bushnell’s next inspiration was to marry games with pizza. In 1977 he founded Pizza Time Theater, the Chuck E. Cheese game and pizza chain. Atari | Wiki | 🌐 Everipedia Everipedia Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities after its inception in 1972, currently by Atari Interactive , a subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA (ASA). The original Atari, Inc. founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney was a pioneer in arcade games , home video game consoles , and home computers . The company's products, such as Pong and the Atari 2600 , helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s.

In 1984, the original Atari Inc. was split due to its role in the video game crash of 1983 , and the arcade division was turned into Atari Games Inc . Atari Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text "Games" on arcade games, as well as rights to the original 1972–1984 arcade hardware properties. The Atari Consumer Electronics Division properties were in turn sold to Jack Tramiel 's Tramel Technology Ltd., which then renamed itself to Atari Corporation . In 1996, Atari Corporation reverse-merged with disk-drive manufacturer JT Storage (JTS), fitting a division within the company. In 1998, 6 November Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari Corporation related properties from JTS, creating a new subsidiary, Atari Interactive. Infogrames Entertainment (IESA) bought Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and renamed it to Infogrames Interactive, later Atari Interactive in 2003, when Infogrames Inc.

licenced the Atari name and logo from the latter and changed its name to Atari Inc., a name used for a company founded in 1993 as GT Interactive , which IESA additionally renamed to Infogrames, Inc. and acquired a 62 percent controlling interest in by 1999. After IESA's acquisition of Hasbro Interactive, Infogrames, Inc. intermittently published Atari branded titles for Infogrames Interactive. On October 11, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary. History Atari Inc. (1972–1984) In 1971, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded an engineering firm, Syzygy Engineering, that designed and built Computer Space , the world's first arcade video game, for Nutting Associates. On June 27, 1972 Atari, Inc. was incorporated and soon hired Al Alcorn as their first design engineer. Bushnell decided to have Alcorn produce as a test of his abilities, an arcade version of the Magnavox Odyssey 's Tennis game, which would be named Pong .

While Bushnell incorporated Atari in June 1972, Syzygy Company was never formally incorporated. Before Atari's official incorporation, Bushnell wrote down several words from the game go , eventually choosing atari , a term which in the context of the game means a state where a stone or group of stones is imminently in danger of being taken by one's opponent. Atari was incorporated in the state of California on June 27, 1972. The third version of the Atari Video Computer System sold from 1980 to 1982 In 1973, Atari secretly spawned a "competitor" called Kee Games , headed by Nolan's next door neighbour Joe Keenan, to circumvent pinball distributors' insistence on exclusive distribution deals; both Atari and Kee could market virtually the same game to different distributors, with each getting an "exclusive" deal. Though Kee's relationship to Atari was invented in 1974, Joe Keenan's management of the subsidiary led to him being promoted president of Atari that same year. In 1976, Bushnell, through a Grass Valley, CA .

engineering firm—Cyan Engineering, started an effort to produce a flexible video game console that was capable of playing all four of Atari's then-current games. The result was the Atari Video Computer System , or "VCS" (Later renamed the Atari 2600 when the Atari 5200 was released). The initial release of the VCS cost $199 (equivalent to $829 in 2015) and included a console unit, two joysticks, a single pair of paddles, and the Combat cartridge. Bushnell knew he had another potential hit on his hands, but bringing the machine to market would be extremely expensive. Looking for outside investors, in 1976 Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications for an estimated $28–32 million, using part of the money to buy the Folgers Mansion. Nolan continued to have disagreements with Warner Management over the direction of the company, the discontinuing of the Pinball division and most importantly, he felt that the Atari 2600 should be discontinued. In 1978, the Kee Games brand was dropped.

In December of that year throughout a heated argument between Nolan Bushnell and Manny Gerard, Bushnell was fired. "[W]e started fighting like cats and dogs. And then the wheels came off that fall. Warner claimed they fired me," recalled Bushnell. "I say I quit. It was a mutual separation." A project to design a successor to the 2600 started as soon as the system shipped. The original development team estimated the 2600 had a lifespan of about three years, and decided to build the most powerful machine they could, given that time frame. Mid-way into the effort's time-frame, the home computer revolution was taking off, so the new machines were adapted, with the addition of a keyboard and various inputs, to produce the Atari 800 , and its smaller cousin, the 400. Although a variety of issues made them less attractive than the Apple II for a few users, the new machines had a few success when they finally became available in quantity in 1980. In 1982, the Atari 5200 was released, based heavily on the 400 and 800 models, but without a keyboard.

The 5200 was unsuccessful, due to a lack of backwards compatibility with the 2600 library, a small amount of games, and notoriously-unreliable controllers. Under Warner and the Chairman and CEO they chose to run Atari, Raymond Kassar , Atari Inc. achieved its greatest success, selling millions of 2600s and computers. At its peak, Atari accounted for a third of Warner's annual income and was the fastest-growing company in the history of the United States at the time. Notwithstanding Atari Inc. ran into problems in the early 1980s as interference from the New York-based Warner management increasingly affected daily operations. Its home computer , video game console , and arcade divisions operated independently of one another and rarely cooperated. Faced with fierce competition and price wars in the game console and home computer markets, Atari was never able to duplicate the success of the 2600. These problems were followed by the video game crash of 1983 , with losses that totaled more than $500 million. Warner's stock price slid from $60 to $20, and the company began searching for a buyer for its troubled division.

In 1983, Ray Kassar was forced to resign, and executives involved in the Famicom lost track of the negotiations, and the deal eventually died. With Atari's further financial problems and the Famicom's runaway success in Japan after its July 16, 1983 release date, Nintendo decided to go at it alone. Financial problems continued to mount and Kassar's successor, James J. Morgan , had less than a year in which to tackle the company's problems, he began a massive restructuring of the company and worked with Warner Communications in May 1984 to create "NATCO" which stood for New Atari Company which would further lean the company facilities, personnel and spending and make the company profit. Unknown to James Morgan and the senior management of Atari, Warner had been in talks with Tramel Technology to buy Atari's Consumer electronics and Home Computer divisions. Negotiating up until close to midnight of July 1, 1984 Jack Tramiel purchased Atari.

Warner sold the home computing and game console divisions of Atari to Tramiel for $50 cash and $240 million in promissory notes and stocks, giving Warner a twenty percent stake in Atari Corporation who then used it to create a new company under the name Atari Corporation. Warner retained the arcade division, continuing it under the name Atari Games , but sold it to Namco in 1985. Warner additionally sold the fledgling Ataritel to Mitsubishi . Logotype The Atari logo was designed by George Opperman who was Atari's first in-house graphic designer. The design is known as " Fuji " for its resemblance to the Japanese mountain, although the design's origins are unrelated to it. Opperman designed the logo intending for the silhouette to look like the letter A as in Atari, and for its three "prongs" to resemble players and the midline of the "court" in company's first hit game, Pong. Atari Corporation (1984–1996) Atari ST Under Tramiel's ownership, Atari Corp.

used the remaining stock of game console inventory to keep the company afloat while they finished development on a 16/32-bit computer system, the Atari ST . ("ST" stands for "sixteen/thirty-two", referring to the machines' 16-bit bus and 32-bit processor core.) In April 1985, they released the first update to the 8-bit computer line — the Atari 65XE, the Atari XE series. June 1985 saw the release of the Atari 130XE, Atari User Groups received early sneak-preview samples of the new Atari 520ST's, and major retailer shipments hit store shelves in September 1985 of Atari's new 32-bit Atari ST computers. In 1986, Atari launched two consoles designed under Warner — the Atari 2600jr and the Atari 7800 console (which saw limited release in 1984). Atari rebounded, earning a $25 million profit that year.

In 1987, Atari acquired Federated Group for $67.3 million, securing shelf space in over 60 stores in California, Arizona, Texas and Kansas at a time when major American electronics outlets were reluctant to carry Atari-branded computers, and two-thirds of Atari's PC production was sold in Europe. The Federated Group (not related to Federated Department Stores ) was sold to Silo in 1989. In 1989, Atari released the Atari Lynx , a handheld console with colour graphics, to much fanfare. A shortage of parts kept the system from being released nationwide for the 1989 Christmas season, and the Lynx lost market share to Nintendo's Game Boy which, notwithstanding only having a black and white display, was cheaper, had better battery life and had much higher availability. Tramiel emphasised computers over game consoles but Atari's proprietary computer architecture and operating system fell victim to the success of the Wintel platform while the game market revived. In 1989, Atari Corp. sued Nintendo for $250 million, alleging it had an illegal monopoly.

Atari eventually lost the case when it was rejected by a US district court in 1992. In 1993, Atari positioned its Jaguar as the only 64-bit interactive media entertainment system available, but it sold poorly. It would be the last home console to be produced by Atari and the last to be produced by an American manufacturer until Microsoft 's introduction of the Xbox in 2001. By 1996, a series of successful lawsuits had left Atari with millions of dollars in the bank, but the failure of the Lynx and Jaguar left Atari without a product to sell. Tramiel and his family additionally wanted out of the business. The result was a rapid succession of changes in ownership. In July 1996, Atari merged with JTS Inc. , a short-lived maker of hard disc drives, to form JTS Corp. Atari's role in the new company largely became that of holder for the Atari properties and minor support, and consequently the name largely disappeared from the market.

As a division of Hasbro (1998–2000) In March 1998, JTS sold the Atari name and assets to Hasbro Interactive for $5 million—less than a fifth of what Warner Communications had paid 22 years earlier. This transaction primarily involved the brand and intellectual property, which now fell under the Atari Interactive division of Hasbro Interactive. The brand name changed hands again in December 2000 when French software publisher Infogrames took over Hasbro Interactive . Infogrames/Atari SA (2001-present) In October 2001, Infogrames (now Atari, SA ) announced that it was "reinventing" the Atari brand with the launch of three new games featuring a prominent Atari branding on their boxarts: Splashdown , MX Rider and TransWorld Surf . Infogrames used Atari as a brand name for games aimed at 18-34 year olds. Other Infogrames games under the Atari name included V-Rally 3 , Neverwinter Nights , Stuntman and Enter the Matrix .

On May 7, 2003, Infogrames had its majority-owned, but discrete US subsidiary Infogrames NA officially renamed Atari, Inc., renamed its European operations to Atari Europe but kept the original name of the main company Infogrames Entertainment . The original Atari holdings division purchased from Hasbro, Hasbro Interactive , was additionally made a separate corporate entity renamed as Atari Interactive . On March 6, 2008, Infogrames made an offer to Atari Inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value of $1.68 per share, or $11 million total. The offer would make Infogrames sole owner of Atari Inc., thus making it a privately held company. On April 30, 2008, Atari Inc. announced its intentions to accept Infogrames' buyout offer and to merge with Infogrames. On October 8, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary. On December 9, 2008, Atari announced that it had acquired Cryptic Studios , a MMORPG developer.

Namco Bandai has purchased a 34 percent stake in Atari Europe on May 14, 2009, paving the way for its acquisition from Infogrames. Atari has had significant financial issues for several years now, posting losses in the tens of millions after 2005. In May 2009, Infogrames Entertainment, SA, the parent company of Atari, Inc. and Atari Interactive, Inc., announced it would change its name to Atari, SA. In April 2010, Atari SA board member and former CEO David Gardner resigned. Original Atari Inc. co-founder Nolan Bushnell joined the board as a representative for Blubay holdings. As of March 31, 2011, the Board of Directors consisted of Frank Dangeard, Jim Wilson, Tom Virden, Gene Davis and Alexandra Fichelson. On January 21, 2013, Atari, Inc., Atari Interactive, Inc., Humongous, Inc. and California US Holdings, Inc.

(collectively, the "Companies") filed petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. All three Ataris emerged from bankruptcy one year later and the entering of the social casino gaming industry with Atari Casino. Frederic Chesnais, who now heads all three companies, stated that their entire operations consist of a staff of 10 people. On June 22, 2014, Atari announced a new corporate strategy that would include a focus on "new audiences", specifically " LGBT , social casinos, real-money gambling, and YouTube ". CGR's On This Day In Gaming - June 27, Atari Founded! - YouTube CGR's On This Day In Gaming - June 27, Atari Founded! Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Jun 27, 2012 Happy birthday Atari!

Classic Game Room presents CGR's ON THIS DAY IN GAMING! On June 27, 1972, Atari was founded by chill-out colleagues Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. The company would launch the video game industry with arcade hits like Pong, Asteroids, Centipede, and Breakout, before being sold to Warner Communications for $28 million, a move that would bring business and creative forces to a head. Bushnell would be removed, designers like David Crane would depart, the release of the Atari 5200 would baffle the consumer, and the saturation of terrible games would leave Atari and the gaming industry in shambles. Category Ted Dabney - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki More info on Ted Dabney Wikis Ted Dabney: Wikis Advertisements Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the corporate brand. For other uses, see Atari (disambiguation) .

Atari 1998 as Atari Interactive (division of Hasbro Interactive ) 2003 as Atari Interactive (formerly Infogrames Interactive/Hasbro Interactive) 2003 as Atari Inc. (formerly Infogrames Inc./ GT Interactive ) video games , consumer electronics Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari SA (ASA). [1] The original Atari Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in arcade games , home video game consoles , and home computers . The company's products, such as Pong and the Atari 2600 , helped define the computer entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid 1980s. In 1984, the original Atari Inc. was split, and the arcade division was turned into Atari Games Inc .

[2] Atari Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text "Games" on arcade games, as well as rights to the original 1972 - 1984 arcade hardware properties. The Atari Consumer Electronics Division properties were in turn sold to Jack Tramiel's Tramel Technology Ltd., which then renamed itself to Atari Corporation. [3] [4] In 1996, Atari Corporation reverse merged with disk drive manufacturer JT Storage (JTS), [5] becoming a division within the company. In 1998, Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari Corporation related properties from JTS. [6] , creating a new subsidiary, Atari Interactive. [7] IESA bought Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and renamed it to Infogrames Interactive. [8] IESA changed the company name entirely to Atari Interactive in 2003. [1] The company that currently bears the name Atari Inc. was founded in 1993 under the name GT Interactive . IESA acquired a 62% controlling interest in GT Interactive in 1999, and renamed it Infogrames, Inc.

[9] Following IESA's acquisition of Hasbro Interactive, Infogrames, Inc. intermittently published Atari branded titles for Infogrames Interactive. In 2003, Infogrames Inc. licensed the Atari name and logo from Atari Interactive and changed its name to Atari Inc. [10] On October 11, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary. [11] Contents Main article: Atari, Inc. In 1971, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded an engineering firm, Syzygy Engineering , [12] that designed and built the first arcade video game - Computer Space for Nutting Associates. On June 27, 1972 Atari, Inc. was incorporated and soon hired Al Alcorn as their first design engineer. Bushnell decided to have Alcorn produce as a test of his abilities, an arcade version of the Magnavox Odyssey 's Tennis game, [13] which would be named Pong . While Bushnell incorporated Atari in June 1972, Syzygy Company was never formally incorporated.

Before Atari's official incorporation, Bushnell wrote down several words from the game Go , eventually choosing atari , a term which in the context of the game means a state where a stone or group of stones is imminently in danger of being taken by one's opponent. In Japanese, atari is the nominalized form of ataru (verb), meaning "to hit the target" or "to receive something fortuitously". The word 'atari' is used in Japanese when a prediction comes true or when someone wins a lottery. The choice of Atari as a brand name was arguably better than Syzygy for most markets in terms of spelling, pronunciation and potential name recognition. Atari was incorporated in the state of California on June 27, 1972. [14] The third version of the Atari Video Computer System sold from 1980 to 1981 In 1973, Atari secretly spawned a "competitor" called Kee Games , headed by Nolan's next door neighbor Joe Keenan, to circumvent pinball distributors' insistence on exclusive distribution deals; both Atari and Kee could market (virtually) the same game to different distributors, with each getting an "exclusive" deal.

Though Kee's relationship to Atari was discovered in 1974, Joe Keenan did such a good job managing the subsidiary that he was promoted to president of Atari that same year. In 1976, Bushnell, through a Grass Valley, CA. engineering firm - Cyan Engineering, started an effort to produce a flexible video game console that was capable of playing all four of Atari's then-current games. The result was the Atari 2600 , sometimes called VCS for Video Computer System. Bushnell knew he had another potential hit on his hands, but bringing the machine to market would be extremely expensive. Looking for outside investors, in 1976 Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications for an estimated $28 – $32 million, using part of the money to buy the Folgers Mansion. Nolan continued to have disagreements with Warner Management over the direction of the company, the discontinuing of the Pinball division and most importantly, he felt that the Atari 2600 should be discontinued. In 1978, the Kee Games brand was dropped. [15] In December of that year during a heated argument between Nolan Bushnell and Manny Gerard, Bushnell was fired.

A project to design a successor to the 2600 started as soon as the system shipped. The original development team estimated the 2600 had a lifespan of about three years, and decided to build the most powerful machine they could, given that time frame. Midway into the effort's time-frame, the home computer revolution was taking off, so the new machines were adapted, with the addition of a keyboard and various inputs, to produce the Atari 800 , and its smaller cousin, the 400. Although a variety of issues made them less attractive than the Apple II for some users, the new machines had some success when they finally became available in quantity in 1980. In 1982, the Atari 5200 was released, based heavily on the 400 and 800 models, but without a keyboard. Under Warner, Atari Inc. achieved its greatest success, selling millions of 2600s and computers. At its peak, Atari accounted for a third of Warner's annual income and was the fastest-growing company in the history of the United States at the time. However, Atari Inc.

ran into problems in the early 1980s. Its home computer , video game console , and arcade divisions operated independently of one another and rarely cooperated. Faced with fierce competition and price wars in the game console and home computer markets, Atari was never able to duplicate the success of the 2600. These problems were followed by the infamous video game crash of 1983 , with losses that totaled more than $500 million. Warner's stock price slid from $60 to $20, and the company began searching for a buyer for its troubled division. In 1983, Ray Kassar was forced to leave Atari over an insider stock trading sale, and executives involved in the Famicom lost track of the negotiations, and the deal eventually died. With Atari's further financial problems and the Famicom's runaway success in Japan after its July 16, 1983 release date, Nintendo decided to go it alone. Financial problems continued to mount and Ray's successor, James J.

Morgan , had less than a year in which to tackle his predecessor's problems, he began a massive restructuring of the company and worked with Warner Communications in May 1984 to create "NATCO" which stood for New Atari Company which would further lean the company facilities, personnel and spending and make the company profit. Unknown to James Morgan and the senior management of Atari, Warner had been in talks with Tramiel Technologies to buy Atari's Consumer electronics and Home Computer divisions. Negotiating up until close to midnight of July 1, 1984 Jack Tramiel purchased Atari. Warner sold the home computing and game console divisions of Atari to Jack Tramiel for $50 cash and $240 million in promisary notes and stocks, giving Warner a 20% stake in Atari Corporation [16] who then used it to create a new company under the name Atari Corporation. Warner retained the arcade division, continuing it under the name Atari Games , but sold it to Namco in 1985. Warner also sold the fledgling Ataritel to Mitsubishi .

Atari Corporation (1984–1996) Main article: Atari Corporation Atari ST Under Tramiel's ownership, Atari Corp. used the remaining stock of game console inventory to keep the company afloat while they finished development on a 16/32-bit computer system, the Atari ST . ("ST" stands for "sixteen/thirty-two", referring to the machines' 16-bit bus and 32-bit processor core.) In April 1985, they released the first update to the 8-bit computer line - the Atari 65XE, the Atari XE series. In June 1985 saw the release of the Atari 130XE and Atari User Group's received early sneak-preview samples of the new Atari 520ST's and major retailer shipments hit store shelves in September 1985 of Atari's new 32-bit Atari ST computers. In 1986, Atari launched two consoles designed under Warner - the Atari 2600jr and the Atari 7800 console (which saw limited release in 1984). Atari rebounded, making $25 million profit that year.

In 1989, Atari released the Atari Lynx , a handheld console with color graphics, to much fanfare. A shortage of parts kept the system from being released nationwide for the 1989 Christmas season and the Lynx lost market share to Nintendo's Game Boy , which despite only having a black and white display, was cheaper, had better battery life and had much higher availability. Tramiel emphasized computers over game consoles. At the time Atari, like many other personal computers of that era, had their own operating system, which fell victim to Microsoft's success. But, gaming revived and Tramiel missed the boat. Also in 1989, Atari Corp. sued Nintendo for $250 million, alleging it had an illegal monopoly. [17] Atari eventually lost the case when it was rejected by a US district court in 1992. [18] In 1993, Atari positioned its Jaguar as the only 64-bit interactive media entertainment system available, and sold around 200,000 units (at $250 each) in its first year on the market.

By 1996, a series of successful lawsuits [19] had left Atari with millions of dollars in the bank, but the failure of the Lynx and Jaguar left Atari without a product to sell. Tramiel and his family also wanted out of the business. The result was a rapid succession of changes in ownership. In July 1996, Atari merged with JTS Inc. , a short-lived maker of hard disk drives, to form JTS Corp. [20] Atari's role in the new company largely became that of holder for the Atari properties and minor support, and consequently the name largely disappeared from the market. As a division of Hasbro (1998–2001) Main article: Atari Interactive In March 1998, JTS sold the Atari name and assets to Hasbro Interactive for $5 million—less than a fifth of what Warner Communications had paid 22 years earlier. This transaction primarily involved the brand and intellectual property , which now fell under the Atari Interactive division of Hasbro Interactive. The brand name changed hands again in December 2000 when French software publisher Infogrames took over Hasbro Interactive .

Atari Inc., a division of Infogrames (2001 to present) Main article: Atari, Inc (Infogrames) In October 2001 Infogrames announced that it was "reinventing" the Atari brand with the launch of three new games. On May 7, 2003, Infogrames had its majority-owned, but discrete US subsidiary Infogrames NA officially renamed Atari, Inc., renamed its European operations to Atari Europe but kept the original name of the main company Infogrames Entertainment . The original Atari holdings division purchased from Hasbro, Atari Interactive , was also made a separate corporate entity. In November 2006, Krome Studios had acquired Melbourne House from Atari and that the studio would be renamed to Krome Studios Melbourne . In November 13, 2007, The US division announces to exit the game development business to concentrate solely on publishing and distribution. On March 6, 2008, Infogrames made an offer to Atari Inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value of $1.68 per share, or $11 million total.

The offer would make Infogrames sole owner of Atari Inc., thus making it a privately held company. [21] On April 30, 2008, Atari Inc. announced its intentions to accept Infogrames' buyout offer and to merge with Infogrames. [22] On October 11, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary. [11] On December 9, 2008, Atari announced that it had acquired Cryptic Studios , an MMORPG developer. [23] Namco Bandai has purchased a 34% stake in Atari Europe on May 14, 2009, paving the way for its acquisition from Infogrames. [24] Atari has had significant financial issues for several years now, posting losses in the tens of millions since 2005 Atari SA (2009-) Main article: Atari, SA In May 2009 Infogrames Entertainment, SA, the parent company of Atari Inc. and Atari Interactive Inc., announced it would be changing the company's name to Atari, SA.

See also Atari | Act of War Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Founded New York City, New York, United States Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. As of 2012, it is owned by Atari Interactive, a subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA (ASA). History Edit The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles, and home computers. The company's products, such as Pong and the Atari 2600, helped define the computer entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid 1980s. In 1984, the original Atari Inc. was split, and the arcade division was turned into Atari Games Inc. Atari Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text "Games" on arcade games, as well as rights to the original 1972 - 1984 arcade hardware properties.

The Atari Consumer Electronics Division properties were in turn sold to Jack Tramiel's Tramel Technology Ltd., which then renamed itself to Atari Corporation. In 1996, Atari Corporation reverse merged with disk drive manufacturer JT Storage (JTS), becoming a division within the company. In 1998, Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari Corporation related properties from JTS, creating a new subsidiary, Atari Interactive. IESA bought Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and renamed it to Infogrames Interactive. IESA changed the company name entirely to Atari Interactive in 2003. The company that currently bears the name Atari Inc. was founded in 1993 under the name GT Interactive. IESA acquired a 62% controlling interest in GT Interactive in 1999, and renamed it Infogrames, Inc.[11] Following IESA's acquisition of Hasbro Interactive, Infogrames, Inc. intermittently published Atari branded titles for Infogrames Interactive. In 2003, Infogrames Inc. licensed the Atari name and logo from Atari Interactive and changed its name to Atari Inc.

On October 11, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary.

Question: In June 1972, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded which electronics and video games company?
Answer: Atari