One of our favorite first-day meetings of PAX East 2024 was Atari. Marketing and communications director David Lowey spent a half hour with us, talking over the company’s history, plans for the future, and brand presence in the world of gaming.
Lowey shared that the transition to Atari CEO Wade Rosen has radically shifted the gaming company’s priorities and vision. When Rosen took over, Atari was a relic of the past, a fifty-year-old cultural icon that had failed to remain relevant in the field it once pioneered.
“We were out of balance,” Rosen said, referring to the company’s focus on selling its pop-culture brand as compared with investing in its game development. He worked hard to restore that balance, and now the company’s future looks bright.
Explaining Atari’s new philosophy, David Lowey observed, “We want to be as relevant fifty years from now as we were fifty years ago.” With that axiom in mind, Atari has invested heavily in “recharging” its classic IP’s while launching new titles.
“Retro is our sweet spot,” noted Lowey. “With some titles, we remaster them; Star Wars: Dark Forces is a great example of this, which we developed through Night Dive. With other titles, offer collections or re-releases.”
Most exciting though is the possibility of re-imagining celebrated Atari titles like Lunar Lander; we teamed up with Dreams Uncorporated to develop narrative story around these classic games, which in their time were more of a gameplay mechanic rather than a reflection of modern video games. The results, like Lunar Lander Beyond, are gripping modern games with the classic Atari soul.
With the exciting changes happening at Atari, it’s no doubt they will remain relevant in the gaming community for years to come.
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Source: Atari
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