Atari Calls it Quits on the Atari VCS

[TheLostSwede]

What can only be summed up as one of the biggest failures when it comes to gaming consoles, the Atari VCS, is coming to an end, as Atari has decided to pull the plug. The company is said to have cancelled all of its "existing VCS manufacturing contracts", which means that after its current stock is sold out, it's unlikely that the company will make any more VCS consoles. The company is offering its current stock at a 20 percent discount, to anyone that would be interested in throwing away their money.

Atari's revenue from sales of the VCS and its accessories dropped from €2.3 million last year, to an abysmal €0.2 million this year, or a drop in revenue of 92 percent based on Atari's latest earnings report. This suggests that the company went from selling around a million units to selling around 10,000 units, based on the retail pricing of the VCS. Atari is apparently planning on launching new games based on its intellectual property, as well as getting into NFTs in the future, in addition to potentially licensing its brand to third parties for new hardware products. It would appear that history is repeating itself when it comes to Atari's success and not in a good way, as the company had a net loss of €5.4 million this year.



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[sepheronx]

While it's cool device, there were plenty that did the same thing but cheaper. I know, it had a custom amd SoC but still.

I wish for more competition in the market. I would love to see Atari, Sega, and others attempt to rejoin the console market. But if they are to do it, they need to bring something different to the table or just be overall competitive. This was just an expensive retro console.

 

[TheLostSwede]

While it's cool device, there were plenty that did the same thing but cheaper. I know, it had a custom amd SoC but still.

I wish for more competition in the market. I would love to see Atari, Sega, and others attempt to rejoin the console market. But if they are to do it, they need to bring something different to the table or just be overall competitive. This was just an expensive retro console.

The main issue was that it was very late to market, as in it took Atari four years to make the hardware and by then it was already outdated.
They pissed off their backers (since it was crowd funded) and it's hard to gain much goodwill after you do that.
There were also lots of hardware development issues and the final product didn't quite deliver from what I've read.
Not surprised it ended up being a fairly shortlived product.

 

[sepheronx]

The main issue was that it was very late to market, as in it took Atari four years to make the hardware and by then it was already outdated.
They pissed off their backers (since it was crowd funded) and it's hard to gain much goodwill after you do that.
There were also lots of hardware development issues and the final product didn't quite deliver from what I've read.
Not surprised it ended up being a fairly shortlived product.

Sounds awfully like what happened during Panther and Jaguar days. Heck, I didn't even know a single other guy who had one of those and back then remember hearing how crap it was.

Yeah, the Atari brand name has been dragged through the mud since the 90's and now this. So even if they really wanted to return to the game market in near future, most won't trust them who remember what Atari is, and those who don't know who Atari is, may not be as keen either.

 

[AsRock]

History repeats it seems with Atari.

Sounds awfully like what happened during Panther and Jaguar days. Heck, I didn't even know a single other guy who had one of those and back then remember hearing how crap it was.

Yeah, the Atari brand name has been dragged through the mud since the 90's and now this. So even if they really wanted to return to the game market in near future, most won't trust them who remember what Atari is, and those who don't know who Atari is, may not be as keen either.

My mother got one for my brother back then, total fail.

 

[AusWolf]

I didn't even know it existed.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I didn't even know it existed.

You might be able to score a bargain now then...

 

[bonehead123]

Game consoles are just like most pc cases nowadayz.....

they all look alike, and are practically identical, with only very minor differences... don't believe me, just line up the last 50 or so ATX/mATX cases released by any/all case mfgr's in the past 3-5 years, side by side at 20 feet away with their name badges removed, and I dare you to accurately tell me which one is which... this would of course ignore the one offs like iWin, TT, and a very few others who have dared to buck the ongoing trend of same-ole-same-same-boring-AF-no-design-effort-whatsoever

what we really need is a console that is actually different, new & fresh, not just in name/specs/ect but in DESIGN, features and at moar REASONABLE price points....WITH a completely agnostic platform/hdwr that will play games from any service or developer...and WITHOUT the gawd-awful streamin SAAS crap-apps that were supposed to be "da bomb" like 5-7 years ago but have never materialized to this day

Yea, I know I'm dreamin, but then again, I don't do gamz, so I really could care less one way or the other, but just sayin

 

[sepheronx]

History repeats it seems with Atari.




My mother got one for my brother back then, total fail.

Did your brother ever talked to Mom again or was relations very strained after that?

I was a tad peeved when my dad said no to the Turbo Gphx 16 but now I understand after seeing those prices.

 

[StrayKAT]

It's sad what most of the early tech innovators became. Atari dead, Commodore dead, IBM personal computing dead, DEC dead, Radio Shack bought by a meme fraudster. Only Apple remains out of those 70s hardware giants. Being Gen X, I grew up with all of them. I still like Apple, but surely there was room for another?

 

[sepheronx]

Commodore. Their Amiga line of machines were pretty awesome. But their attempt in the gaming sphere was the last nail in the coffin. They just had too much debt.

Apple can take a long walk off a short pier.

Atari? Well, they were as bad as MS is now with shovelware and helped lead the gaming crash initially (colleco helped big time too).

I was more sad to see Hudson soft and NEC not do anything again or new. I don't even know if Hudson soft even exists anymore.

 

[Zareek]

Even with 20% off, I'm not interested. Maybe 50% off it might be fun to mess with, maybe mod it into a Batocera box.

 

[StrayKAT]

Commodore. Their Amiga line of machines were pretty awesome. But their attempt in the gaming sphere was the last nail in the coffin. They just had too much debt.

Apple can take a long walk off a short pier.

Atari? Well, they were as bad as MS is now with shovelware and helped lead the gaming crash initially (colleco helped big time too).

I was more sad to see Hudson soft and NEC not do anything again or new. I don't even know if Hudson soft even exists anymore.

Hudson IP is owned by Konami, who in turn is mismanaged. They care more about pachinko machines more than all their gaming IP.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

Sounds awfully like what happened during Panther and Jaguar days. Heck, I didn't even know a single other guy who had one of those and back then remember hearing how crap it was.

I remember the Jaguar! And the Lynx, too and how badly they bombed. If I remember correctly, the Lynx tried to compete with Game Boy and the Sega Game Gear (and since it was 16-bit, the SNES as well, I think) and the Jaguar was supposed to compete on the home console front... Both of them were absolute shit

 

[StrayKAT]

I remember the Jaguar! And the Lynx, too and how badly they bombed. If I remember correctly, the Lynx tried to compete with Game Boy and the Sega Game Gear (and since it was 16-bit, the SNES as well, I think) and the Jaguar was supposed to compete on the home console front... Both of them were absolute shit

My friend had the Jaguar. He was always going against the grain. By that point, I was a simple Nintendo guy.

 

[sepheronx]

I remember the Jaguar! And the Lynx, too and how badly they bombed. If I remember correctly, the Lynx tried to compete with Game Boy and the Sega Game Gear (and since it was 16-bit, the SNES as well, I think) and the Jaguar was supposed to compete on the home console front... Both of them were absolute shit

Yes they were indeed manure.

 

[trsttte]

I know, it had a custom amd SoC but still.

It wasn't, it's a Ryzen Embedded R1606G dual core. And when the 'console' finally launched it was old as fuck

The console has a very nice look to it, I wouldn't mind having something like that as a streaming box/htpc but it's too expensive and outdated for even that, not to mention slow (it's a freaking dual core in 2021)

 

[StrayKAT]

(it's a freaking dual core in 2021)

Better than the Ouya!

 

[sepheronx]

It wasn't, it's a Ryzen Embedded R1606G dual core. And when the 'console' finally launched it was old as fuck

The console has a very nice look to it, I wouldn't mind having something like that as a streaming box/htpc but it's too expensive and outdated for even that, not to mention slow (it's a freaking dual core in 2021)

Ah OK. I just remember them touting it was custom soc but if it was a standard embedded then that makes it even less impressive and less of a reason why it was constantly delayed.

 

[Chrispy_]

• Ridiculously late
• Ridiculously priced
• Multiple lawsuits against Atari for the shambolic and troubled release, including one from the hardware designer who wasn't paid!!
• Not authentic hardware, just emulating like a $10 Raspberry Pi
• The 2600 is heavily blamed for the shovelware epidemic that caused the videogame crash of 1983

I am surprised this Atari internal vanity project made it this far, really.
Goodbye and good riddance; Nothing of value was lost, since nothing of value was created in the first place.

 

[StrayKAT]

Ah OK. I just remember them touting it was custom soc but if it was a standard embedded then that makes it even less impressive and less of a reason why it was constantly delayed.

Technically, it's an SoC, in the sense that Ryzen+Vega/Radeon chips have been too. Hell, at this point, even Intel calls all it's Core line SoCs. I would prefer an SoC had more extensions like Android and Apple chips, but this is way they want to roll now, I guess. It's like Oprah: "You get an SoC and you get an SoC and you get an SoC!"

 

[lemonadesoda]

• Multiple lawsuits against Atari for the shambolic and troubled release, including one from the hardware designer who wasn't paid!!

like wtf!

 

[StrayKAT]

like wtf!

Anyone who's getting involved in big hardware products at this level (and not an established player) is either 1) a scammer 2) amateurs way in over their head 3) or some bit player from China who has no real longterm ambition or cares for support.
It's especially apparent in the phone space. Few even try with unique game consoles and computers anymore. It's sad too, because I long for more variety, but if it could be done right, the Big Boys would already be doing it.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Sounds awfully like what happened during Panther and Jaguar days. Heck, I didn't even know a single other guy who had one of those and back then remember hearing how crap it was.

I knew a few people that had that Jag, but they were hardcore Atari fans. It had some great games, but nothing that would be considered a "killer app" or system seller. The hardware was damn good by the specs, but dev tools were lacking. It was a great idea and had potential, but was poorly handled. Likewise, this VCS was a great idea poorly done.

It wasn't, it's a Ryzen Embedded R1606G dual core. And when the 'console' finally launched it was old as fuck

The console has a very nice look to it, I wouldn't mind having something like that as a streaming box/htpc but it's too expensive and outdated for even that, not to mention slow (it's a freaking dual core in 2021)

There's nothing wrong with the SOC. You would be surprised what a 2c/4t CPU can do.

AMD Ryzen Embedded R1606G Specs

Zen, 2 Cores, 4 Threads, 2.6 GHz, 25 W

www.techpowerup.com

I have two laptops older than that running Windows 11 perfectly. The specs for the VCS, while not stellar, were good.

Where Atari went wrong was how they managed the development, manufacture and distribution of the system and it's software offerings. They also had to compete with with ALOT of other similar systems with more to offer for only a little more money and could run all of people's existing games.

What Atari needed to do was partner with Steam, Epic and GOG to make their system a platform anyone and everyone could jump right into.

 

[Chrispy_]

like wtf!

It's an interesting read if you have the time and enjoy watching dumpster fires.

As if not paying the designer of this new VCS console was bad enough (Atari defaulted in court), I dare you to read about what happened to Feargal Mac - they guy who originally posed the idea of a retro-remake to Atari and got their permission to launch the IndieGoGo campaign that raised $3M for the project.