Atari is building a series of Gaming Hotels across America.

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PeaKr

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I imagine game themed areas, Cosplay, Hi-Tech Expos featuring VR/AR coupled with some LAN Gaming e-sports. How about a Mortal Combat themed suite with a Princess Katana lov bot. Who knows, could be fun.
 
So who is Atari these days? I know it's not the original company, last I remember Infogrammes gobbled up the rights to Microprose, Hasbro and Atari. Infogrammes renamed to Microprose, then released that abomination of a game in Master of Orion 3 and shortly there after renamed their company Atari, but are they still the same company? Or did they go bankrupt and get gobbled up elsewhere?

That said they're not going to build any hotels, they're going to enter into agreement with existing hotel chains, re-theme the hotel, and call it an "Atari hotel" similar to the same way Nickelodeon did in the mid-2000s, and if they don't learn from that history they will be doomed to repeat it. That said, unless they get one near where major gaming conventions occur I can't see this as being profitable in the least, and even then something like Blizzcon in Anaheim those hotels are not having any issues with staying open due to a certain other big "event" that's near by.
 
The info in the link mentions building hotels and the follow on link to the at: https://atarihotels.com/ mentions groundbreaking spring 2020 in Phoenix AZ. Doesn't sound like a repurposed hotel to me. OTOH, ambitious announced plans often get modified if the planed financing doesn't show up. They could wind up in an abandoned Motel 6 and then complain that the concept didn't work after pocketing millions in Chief Officer pay from duped investors.
 
Will there be hacked E.T.?



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I'd stay there, I actually go to Phoenix from time to time. It's a magical place with In N Out and Wattaburger or however the fuck you spell it. Amazing.
 
sfsuphysics said:
So who is Atari these days? I know it's not the original company, last I remember Infogrammes gobbled up the rights to Microprose, Hasbro and Atari. Infogrammes renamed to Microprose, then released that abomination of a game in Master of Orion 3 and shortly there after renamed their company Atari, but are they still the same company? Or did they go bankrupt and get gobbled up elsewhere?

That said they're not going to build any hotels, they're going to enter into agreement with existing hotel chains, re-theme the hotel, and call it an "Atari hotel" similar to the same way Nickelodeon did in the mid-2000s, and if they don't learn from that history they will be doomed to repeat it. That said, unless they get one near where major gaming conventions occur I can't see this as being profitable in the least, and even then something like Blizzcon in Anaheim those hotels are not having any issues with staying open due to a certain other big "event" that's near by.
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According to Wikipedia It's complicated:

After the video game crash in 1983 the original Atari Inc split itself into two parts:

Atari Games (Arcade part of Atari) and Atari Consumer Electronics

Atari Games remained independent until 1993, when Tiime Warner bought a controlling stake of the company ran it until 1995 when Time Warner decided to exit the video game business and instructed Atari Games to find a buyer for themselves. Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell tried to buy the company, but failed. Eventually it was sold to WGS and folded in under their Midway Games arcade brand., In 1998 Atari games was renamed Midway Games West, and 5 years later the company exited the arcade market making the spiritual successor of Atari Games defunct.

Atari Consumer Electronics was sold to Tramiel Corportation (owned by Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore) in 1984 which then renamed itself Atari Corporation. In 1996 Atari corporation reverse merged (whatever the hell that means) with the disk drive maker JT Storage (JTS), and became a division of that company. In 1998 Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari assets from JTS, creating a new subsidiary, Atari Interactive. Infogrames Entertainment SA (IESA) bought Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and renamed the whole shebang Infogrames Interactive, but continued to intermittently publish Atari branded titles. In 2003 IESA renamed all of former Hasbro Interactive, Atari Interactive, and proceeded to cross-license the Atari name to another of its controlled subsisiaries, (Infogrames inc, formerly GT Interactive) naming that subsidiary Atari Inc, so at this point there is Atari Interactive and Atari Inc, both owned by IESA. In 2008 IESA completed the full acquisition of all outstanding shares of formerly GT Interactive (Now Atari Inc) making it a wholly owned subsidiary. IESA then renamed itself Atari SA in 2009

So, in summary Atari Games, the Arcade division of the original Atari is gone dead and buried.

The Atari Consumer Electronics division of the original Atari is now a part of Atari Interactive a subsidiary of Atari SA (formerly Infogrames). Agtari SA also owns Atari Interactive which used to be GT Interactive and has no lineage tying it back to the original Atari.

So, fake Atari Parent owns a subsidiary which in part contains whats left of Real Atari, plus another Atari which is not a real Atari, but rather a renamed GT Interactive.

To make it all more interesting, all three Ataris went into bankruptcy in 2013. During bankruptcy they sold off a ton of their titles, many of which have been relaunched or redeveloped since. The ataris have exited bankruptcy and are currently in restructuring and turning a profit for the first time since the 90's.

There is a brief mention that they also auctioned off rights to the Atari Logo and Name during the bankruptcy.

It is unclear to me who is actually opening these hotels, if they have any relation to Atari SA, or if they are whatever organization bought naming rights during the Bankruptcy.

Complicated indeed...

Either way, the brand is so watered down at this point that it bears no resemblance to the original company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney where Steve Jobs famously worked, and sort of conned the Woz into coding Breakout for him.
 
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I, for one, am strangely interested in seeing how this concept will evolve over time.
 
I got ocean front property I can sell in Oklahoma City for $300,000.
 
I’m not sure why anyone would want to continue using the name Atari. It isn’t like it’s synonymous with success.

At any rate, I’m not sure why anyone thinks game themed hotels would be a good idea. The whole reason arcades died in the first place is because people would rather game in the comfort of their own home.
 
NeoNemesis said:
I’m not sure why anyone would want to continue using the name Atari. It isn’t like it’s synonymous with success.

At any rate, I’m not sure why anyone thinks game themed hotels would be a good idea. The whole reason arcades died in the first place is because people would rather game in the comfort of their own home.
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Boomers.

They still recognize the name "atari" and think they can get it to mean something again, while finally understanding that "vidya games" is a multi billion dollar industry. I'm sure if they could afford it, they'd try and get another big name, but I doubt anyone would be willing to let such an obvious failure happen with their name on it.
 
Krazy925 said:
I'd stay there, I actually go to Phoenix from time to time. It's a magical place with In N Out and Wattaburger or however the fuck you spell it. Amazing.
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damn straight. I was in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago for work and had all kinds of fancy meals with coworkers. The best meal I had all week was all by myself in an In N Out burger.
 
Atari branded tshirts, hats and retro consoles are still sold allover the world so as a brand Atari is still doing well.
 
Mac2 said:
Atari branded tshirts, hats and retro consoles are still sold allover the world so as a brand Atari is still doing well.
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Sure, there's some occasional nostalgia for $20-$30 that sells.

But much like how questionable it is that nostalgia is going to sell a $350+ console, and that's at least a product that people could consider within the same category that people have some mild nostalgia for... do you really think there's enough people with nostalgia for atari willing to blow enough money to support 8 hotels? I don't think so. And not even just normal hotels, but themed hotels which are going to likely cost even more to setup, and have an even smaller niche audience than usual. As far as having "state of the art venues" for esports, yeah... those cities all have other venues where esports events can be hosted, in addition to other events. So they're going to rely on a niche for events? Yeah esports is big, but there are non-dedicated spaces that can host those and still host other things(as in, make money) during the rest of the month.

"There’s also talk of both virtual and augmented reality gaming options, which would be a pretty big draw in and of itself. Notably, there’s also no mention of whether or not classic Atari games will be playable at the hotels. Atari also mentions restaurants, a movie theater, a gym, and space for business work."

So aside from the extremely vague VR/AR bit, things every other hotel usually has available within or nearby. This is going to flop really hard, and doesn't stand much of a chance of being more than a silly oddity.
 
mls1995 said:
damn straight. I was in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago for work and had all kinds of fancy meals with coworkers. The best meal I had all week was all by myself in an In N Out burger.
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Being from Phoenix I just dont get the hype for this place at all. Its average at best. They sure are popular though. The one by my house usually has at least 20 cars in the drive thru at all times.
 
Krazy925 said:
I'd stay there, I actually go to Phoenix from time to time. It's a magical place with In N Out and Wattaburger or however the fuck you spell it. Amazing.
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They have In N Out there now? I loved Whatabuger when I lived there.
 
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