Atari has recently acquired the Intellivision brand name for an undisclosed amount, gaining control over more than 200 games from Intellivision LLC. Atari and Intellivision were rivals during the 70s and 80s and featured among the first console manufacturers in the United States.

Atari is widely known for successful consoles such as the Atari 2600, which was released in 1979 and had fairly big hits such as Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Pitfall, and Frogger. One of its main rivals was the Intellivision console, which launched in the same year. Both brands struggled to remain as driving forces in the console market from the late 80s onwards, but Atari has been having a renaissance recently based on nostalgia over its old IPs.

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Now, Atari has officially purchased the Intellivision brand name, as well as the license for over 200 games from Intellivision LLC, according to Games Industry.biz. While not many details of the deal were revealed, including an exact list of games and the money spent in the acquisition, it was confirmed that Atari will distribute Intellivision titles both digitally and physically. The company is set to explore Intellivision’s previous licenses, even “potentially creating new games” based on them. Intellivision LLC will continue to develop its recent Amico console, though, which was not part of the deal. Atari’s CEO Wade Rosen talked about the acquisition, calling it a “very rare opportunity to unite former competitors.”

It was already known that Intellivision was struggling. The company had its Amico console originally set to be released in 2020, but the launch has suffered several delays due to issues related to its production. Back in 2022, Intellivision’s CEO Tommy Talarico stepped down.

Atari Is Leveraging Decades of Nostalgia With New Releases

This acquisition is the latest major move from Atari, which has been having a sort of renaissance recently. Last year, Atari released The Making of Karateka, which was widely praised as one of the best video game museums due to how it used archival materials and video features to explain how the classic game was made.

So far, it seems that Atari’s moves towards leveraging its brands using nostalgia are working very well. Last month, for instance, Atari announced that it would bring back the classic Infogrames publishing label. Infogrames will now act as a new publishing label under Atari, and it will focus on releasing titles that are not part of Atari’s “core intellectual properties.”

Atari

Originally founded in 1972, Atari began as a company that created arcade games, home video game consoles, and computers. The brand was very popular in the 1970s and 1980s, producing games like Pong and consoles like the Atari 2600. The video game crash of 1983 tanked the company, selling the computer and game console divisions to Jack Tramiel, and split the company into Atari Games and Atari Corporation.

Since then, Atari has changed hands numerous times before eventually merging with IESA in 2008 and eventually filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013. However, the company announced the new corporate strategy, releasing new products, software, developing hotels, as well as a new console named the Atari VCS.

Date Founded

June 27, 1972

Headquarters

Sunnyvale, California, United States

Parent Company

Atari Games

Subsidiaries

NightDive Studios , Digital Eclipse , Rockstar North

Known For

Space Invaders