Atari, the company behind the Atari VCS console has purchased a popular online gathering spot for fans. The sale has already garnered plenty of attention, both positive and negative, in the community – even spreading to the online news outlets that usually don’t cover retro gaming. The value of the sale has not been made public and I will not be bothering with attempting to guess. I am more interested in seeing how this plays out in the coming months.
Two decades in the making
According to the announcement by Albert, former owner of AtariAge, in his statement (available here he has agreed to sell ownership of the popular gather spot for fans to Atari. This is interesting news, but if you dig a little deeper, it clear this was bound to happen.
AtariAge started in April of 2001, over 22 years ago. That is a long time to run a website that is full of egos and prima donnas as well as good people just wanting to participate, help, or learn.
On the surface, based on Albert’s announcement, things are expected to not change at AtariAge. Albert even mentions potential access to official releases of games created by AtariAge users.
I just wish this was true or could last much longer than “the foreseeable future” so to speak.
The writing on the wall
According to Games Industry.biz Atari has been on a bit of a buying/investing spree over the last half decade or so. They apparently invested in Antstream (retro game streaming service) and Playmaji, a retro hardware maker. They also seem to have bought MobyGames, another popular retro gaming focuses site.
Picking up AtariAge seems like a natural fit based on their investments and acquisitions so far.
What this means for the independent homebrew community
There is a lot of concern in the community right now. Many are concerned about what will come of the developers that have used AtariAge’s forums to distribute their games. This is a very real concern.
Why?
Many of the independent homebrew titles made available on AtariAge forums are questionable in some manner. I am pretty sure no one got a license for this Super Mario Bros like title, or how might Atari feel about people posting hacks of titles such as Pitfall (owned by Activision) featuring Sonic the Hedgehog (owned by Sega).
Notice the audio is quite close to that of the Nintendo version
What about unofficial ports such as 1942 (owned by Capcom) or a “similar” title like Night Watch at Wilford’s (based on Five Nights at Freddy’s).
These are games chosen for the purpose of this article and are not meant to call out anyone, simply to point out how rocky the independent homebrew scene is in the forums of AtariAge.
I cannot fathom a time when releases like this will be allowed to be posted on AtariAge’s forums under the management of Atari. Nintendo is well known for being litigious and Sega has been making waves in a similar fashion to that of Nintendo.
The early days of this purchase
I don’t see anything changing early on. Not for the first year or so. I figure this will be the “wait and see” period for Atari. They will wait at least a year before dropping major changes to the AtariAge platform. I see this happening to give the community time to self-police before Atari comes in and institutes the changes they want (such as questionable titles being removed from the forums/store).
For now, according to Albert’s announcement, he is still running the site with the help of his moderators in the forums. How long that will last is unknown. It is also unknown what guidelines he is being given, goals and timelines, etc.
Just from a legal standpoint, I don’t see the titles linked above, and the many other questionably legal titles available, still having a home on AtariAge or its forums much longer.
I think this will stagnate the discussion and sharing of new titles for the Atari platforms. Something that was quite robust for the last decade or so.
Eventually we will see corporate Atari lay their hands on AtariAge and it won’t be the same and that is a sad thought. For now, enjoy the site, the forums, the comradery that is there for it may not last much longer.