
The name ‘Atari’ is, for many gaming veterans, synonymous with video gaming. The company was a trailblazer in the world of arcades before bringing interactive entertainment home with the VCS/2600 console. However, following the video game crash of ‘83 – which many blame on Atari’s poor business practices – the company stumbled from one disaster to another before eventually giving up the ghost in the ‘90s, its assets picked apart by other firms.
The Atari we have today is, therefore, not the one which thrilled us with the likes of Asteroids, Battlezone and Pong, and if you needed any more confirmation of that, then check this out – the 2020 version of Atari is building a hotel.
According to a press release issued yesterday, Atari is working with the GSD Group “to acquire the rights to build video game-themed Atari Hotels in the United States, with the first location breaking ground in Phoenix, AZ later this year.” Atari Hotels will apparently ‘level up hotel entertainment’ with ‘full immersive experiences for every age and gaming ability’, boasting the latest in VR and AR technology. These hotels will also host special studios to accommodate eSports events.
Fred Chesnais, CEO of Atari, had this to say:
We are thrilled to partner with GSD Group and True North Studio to build the first-ever Atari branded hotels across the United States. Together we’ll build a space that will be much more than just a place to stay. Atari is an iconic global brand that resonates with people of all ages, countries, cultures and ethnic backgrounds and we cannot wait for our fans and their families to enjoy this new hotel concept.
Work on the Arizona hotel is expected to begin this year, and additional hotels in Las Vegas, Denver, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, and San Jose are expected in the future.
Of course, Atari isn’t the first gaming company to entertain the idea of getting into the hotel business. Nintendo famously opened a chain of ‘love hotels’ in Japan that would allow amorous couples to book in for some short-stay ‘slap-and-tickle’. However, that was at a time before video games had dramatically changed Nintendo’s fortunes.
Atari is also working on a revival of its VCS console, which has endured a rather painful route to production.
[source atarihotels.com]
Comments 43
From the article about this...
"Meanwhile, the development of the Atari VCS retro console has been reported to be undergoing significant difficulties, with the console’s lead architect claiming that he hadn’t been paid in over six months. If Atari, a gaming company, is having this much trouble with building a game console, it paints a troubling picture of how the hotels will turn out."
Atari is dead. The name is being used by grifters to gain pretend legitimacy
Great. Now when are they gonna start making playing cards?
Yeah, no thank you
@Muddy_4_Ever That's the problem with the U.S. economy - a lot of grifters. Too many.
Atari at this point is nothing but a logo and a few IPs to rush some games out, so that they can avoid bankruptcy
Good luck with that. So what will we get first, the hotel or the VCS? Speaking of which who's goona pay near £300 to play some old 2600 games and not only that but with most of the better ones missing
Nintendo rival?
Wate... so... did kickstarter just Fund a Hotel?
Atari's been pickled apart? What kind of brine did they use?
Stay at Atari hotels, where every wall is covered in wood veneer, and each suite is furnished with a kitchenette featuring Edsel appliances!
@Muddy_4_Ever Chuck E. Cheese is more legitimately the real legacy of Atari than anything else that has borne the actual Atari name.
Would be funny if the rooms had no beds. There's only chairs in front of a TV and an Atari console. Hehe
@Muddy_4_Ever it might be the first ever crowd funded hotel. Released in "2 years", so understand 5 to 6 years and they'll path it later if a wall falls off.
I can’t remember the last time Atari created a video game that really resonated with people.
Maybe RCT3? And that was over 15 years.
If they keep it up, the next generation won’t know what an Atari just as the general movie fan doesn’t know about Edison’s movie studio.
@Volmun my thoughts exactly...
Nintendo should build an hotel, it will be smash hit like Disney hotels
@KingBowser86 The number of crowdsourcing and cryptocurrency scams I see daily is stunning. This hotel will undoubtedly A-never exist & B-scam some money from "investers" taken in by the vaporware concept art.
why phoenix and not vegas? i feel this will do much better in vegas, but phoenix, i don’t see this happening.
@Toy_Link This doesn't count but at least they published the Ghostbusters Video Game.
Atari VCS (codename Ataribox) is an upcoming home video game console produced by Atari, SA. The system was first revealed in June 2017 and pre-orders began on May 30, 2018.[3] After several delays, the console is expected to ship in March 2020. Unless it gets another delay
***DO NOT PLAY PAC-MAN THERE***
@KingBowser86 whatcha do is start a few contracting and construction companies. Run up bills and owe a lot of money once it's done. Then declare bankruptcy and buy it from your own company for a fraction of the cost and screwing over people who built it. Certain real estate moguls have done it for decades. Even getting loans and government grants to make it happen.
@bluedogrulez Wouldn't you want to play Pac-Man in Sandbox Mode?
@tendonerd Sad but true!
Test Drive Unlimited was the last game that I can remember that Atari published that I actually enjoyed.
Although I enjoyed playing the 2600 as a kid, the Atari arcade games were so much better. Asteroids, Tempest, Centipede just to name a few.
Now I have the Atari arcade games in my Tesla Model 3 and can still enjoy them.
Knew it would be a game themed one! I know gaming is now a gigantic, over saturated market now,(the biggest selling medium?) but it's things like things like this that make me realise just how popular games are today. I mean, you can take a whole different business venture, link it with games and instantly see profit. I had a pipe dream 5 or so years ago of opening a gaming cafè. Too bad I never followed through xD
What is with that whole diversity statement? They are acting like Atari has been a relevant brand. Atari has been a completely different company since the 80's video game crash and the original brand fell apart sometime about a decade ago as a 3'rd party publisher. Now the only thing that remains is just the brand name.
@Toy_Link The last great game they published IMO was Test Drive Unlimited 2.
@NEStalgia I'd hate to think that Chuck E. Cheese is the real legacy of Atari. Regardless of all these stragglers peddling the name over the years/decades, the name Atari is still an icon in video gaming history. Chuck E. Cheese is most definitely not.
On a side note: when I read ‘full immersive experiences for every age and gaming ability’ in combination with hotels, I somehow immediately envisioned a commercial in which they invite artists to the hotel, and explain to them that they don't ACTUALLY have to throw TV's through the windows anymore, because now, they can do it all it Virtual Reality mode, and even win digital currency with it, which they can subsequently spend in the virtual casino...
@ThanosReXXX Technically Activision is the real legacy of Atari as far as the video game industry is concerned.
@JayJ True, but I'd like to think that the brand itself, the original brand before all the takeovers/handovers, is its own legacy. More than plenty of us 70's and early 80's children grew up with an Atari 2600 underneath the TV, and it was a great time, and basically the dawn of video gaming as we know it today.
I bet they'll serve tacos there...
@ThanosReXXX Chuck E. Cheese is what Nolan Bushnell went on to create after Atari was in the tank. I tend to consider the lasting creation of the same creator, when the brand in question was more or less one man's creation/vision to be the real successor. In this case, the enduring brand Bushnell failed to create with Atari, he finally found with Chuck E. Cheese.
Still more related to the real Atari than a hotel in the shape of the logo and a vaporware low budget mini console
@NEStalgia Obviously, I was only looking at video gaming, not at former video game company CEO's diversifying into other industries.
What if he had went on to invent UGGS? Would that then have been the true legacy of Atari? That would be even worse than Chuck E. Cheese...
@ThanosReXXX Or if Namco went on to run a chain of arcades....wait......
@NEStalgia Now if only a hand pushed through MY monitor would actually reach through yours...
Why does that building look like it should come with lots of ominous drums and low tune trombones?
@Bloodmetal Off topic, but do you like your Tesla? I was thinking of getting one when I got older - any advice?
Atari still has money?
To quote a horribly overplayed Disney song: LET IT GO.
Atari is dead. Stop trampling on the memory with terrible micro consoles and cash grab gimmicky hotels.
@redd214 I never heard of that place until you brought it up. It seems like a vacation itself.
@bluedogrulez Why?
@DrDaisy it’s hard to forget let alone forgive the Pac-Man 2600 experience. BONK BONK BAH BA BONK BONK. Ugh
@Alpha-2002
By far it’s the best car that I have ever owned and the hype for this car is real. I’ve had Mustang GT Convertible and Porsche Boxster but the Model 3 has more power and acceleration while being more comfortable with more space overall. The car was a lot more expensive since I got the dual motor long range but it’s worth it.
I get free charging at my work and the car is extremely low maintenance so it makes up for the high cost. Everyone whom I have given a ride to is impressed and these are guys who own expensive Audi’s, Mercs and BMW’s.
Really feels like the future of cars and spend the extra for long range as the extra distance is always worth it. I don’t regret not buying the Performance model as it already beats any gas car that you see on the road.
@bluedogrulez Um... Okay.
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