Reset Atari - makers of GCW Zero trying to buy Atari brand

[Curt Vendel]

Looks like the jig is up, and these guys knew they were busted for their scam... they stopped their fund raising...

[Taskmaster99]

Looks like the jig is up, and these guys knew they were busted for their scam... they stopped their fund raising...

 

I wonder how many people lost money on this.

[Retro Rogue]

I wonder how many people lost money on this.

 

Depends. If it's run like Kickstarter then nothing, if the goal isn't met there's no money exchanged.

[Retro Rogue]

LOL, they had a kickstarter as well. Wonder how many other sites they did this on.

 

http://www.kickstart...ld/posts/424132

 

 

Of note, take a look at the response. They're upset that places like AA didn't embrace them, and they also just stated they intend to misuse kickstarter and the funds. You can't have people donate expecting one thing and then state after it closes you're going to actually go in a "different direction."

[StoneAgeGamer]

Wow...

[cimerians]

My thoughts too. Unbelievable.

[+Gemintronic]

So, they still get to keep peoples money even though they're not fulfilling the kickstarter people paid them for?

[akator]

Buy it now and get a second free, just pay shipping and handling. Scammmmtastic!

[Taskmaster99]

I'm new to this whole Kickstarter thing. So explain it to me. From what I see on the Kickstarter site.....they reached the goal. Since they reached that goal......the people are now out the money they donated right??? So if they decide to take the funds and just pad thier wallet....those people are screwed??

 

 

I would rather give money to this project:

 

Truly this cant be for real. Can it?

Edited March 15, 2013 by Taskmaster99

[iswitt]

I would surprised if Kickstarter didn't intervene if it is true that they hit their goal.

[mos6507]

Kickstarter specifically says they are NOT to be used to launch startup companies. This is basically an attempt to start up (well, buy out and reactivate) a company.

 

Kickstarter is best used as the 21st century equivalent of the De Medicis, a patronage system for independent artists, most often videographers.

 

I donated $45 to someone doing a documentary on Susan Oliver (from Star Trek) and he squeaked by and will be doing his documentary. Lots of special interest programming like this is getting to see the light of day via this funding method. Even if a project like this never gets widely distributed, those who donate will at least get their copy of the DVD or just be happy they kind of preordered for it, and watch it on Vimeo or Youtube.

 

The downside is there is no iron-clad guarantee the project will be finished. Kickstarter doesn't insure it, and there's really no legal recourse. So yes, the person who took the money to do this documentary could just blow it on coke and whores. Also, if he DOES cut a broadcast deal and makes money hand over fist, none of us get a share of the profits. So ultimately it is a system that benefits those asking for money the most, which is why it is being treated as the gold rush that it is, and I do think over time that the bubble will burst and people will become more cautious about it. I think something like this WILL persist, but in a more carefully controlled form than what you currently see. We're still in wild-west days.

 

As for Atari, whether it's book value is $35-50 million or not, the fact that the IP has changed hands multiple times now and it still failed should be warning investors to stay away. The value of a property is only what people are willing to pay for it. If nobody steps forward to do anything with it, its value will keep dropping and dropping until whoever is handling the bankruptcy is willing to sell it off for pennies on the dollar.

 

What was said about the market is accurate. There was a resurgence of interest in Atari starting in the late 90s that continued onward through the mid 2000s or so, but you'd have a hard time sustaining a business on it now. Just about everything you could imagine doing with it has been done with varying degrees of success, everything from making remakes, new retro-hardware (even with homebrews embedded), casual gaming (remember the old games.com site with the Java applets??), mobile and downloadables. It's been a great run but it's losing steam.

 

It's hard enough staying in business as a regular game company. Doing it without deep pockets on the foundation of properties that have diffused themselves into the ambient background radiation of pop-culture the way something like Asteroids and Missile Command have is next to impossible. I'm sure at times the owners made more money from selling merchandise like T-shirts and mugs than anything else.

[Retro Rogue]

It's hard enough staying in business as a regular game company. Doing it without deep pockets on the foundation of properties that have diffused themselves into the ambient background radiation of pop-culture the way something like Asteroids and Missile Command have is next to impossible. I'm sure at times the owners made more money from selling merchandise like T-shirts and mugs than anything else.

 

That was basically my problem as well with the "plan." The were resigning the value of the IP to "game roms" for emulation, which would have further devalued the IP and showed very little understanding of the IP or the brand. The damage done by Infogrames to the IP and brand is going to be hard enough to undo without deep pockets, this just would have been the final insult.

 

There is a wealth of IP material involved that can certainly be leveraged in a far more 21st century un-retro manner if done right (which Infogrames never seemed to want to get right no matter how much direction we gave them).

[Bill Loguidice]

I think there's some confusion on here with the GCW-Zero Kickstarter. They were Kickstarting the handheld, which was successfully funded and which will be delivered. They merely used the platform/audience to then plug their Atari buy-back plan. That had nothing to do with the original Kickstarter other than saying, hey, if we have the Atari brand we'll be able to make the GCW-Zero an Atari-branded handheld, etc. The handheld itself was and is a good idea that was backed by people like me, the Atari plan was obviously not even half-baked and foolish. The handheld itself should be delivered to all backers within the next few months, if not sooner.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Just to clarify, regarding the link to the Kickstarter Retro Rogue provided. I can see the confusion for sure but the whole RESET ATARI + CGWZero "Update" on the Kickstarter page, it is just that, an update of future plans (at the time it was written) but if you click the "Please click here to show your support...." link it goes to the Fundables Crowd Funding site (which does seem to be on hold and not currently raising funds). It is not the same project listed on two separate sites, The Kickstarter was was in fact completed and successful, they raised their goals for the CGWZero handheld and apparently the units ARE shipping (though apparently some are still waiting and one fellow in particular seems very irate and vocal about it in the comments).

 

@Taskmaster99, how any given Kickstarter works is the money given by supporters (PLEDGES) towards the goal does get you something in return, different amount = different packages the person pledging receives. Once the goal is met, which amount was pledged will determine what will be received. This is an understanding between the supporter and the Kickstarter project creators. Just clarifying the CGWZero handheld Kickstarter and the Fundables RESET ATARI goals where 2 different thing set in motion by the same team. It is my understanding (admittedly limited, please anyone more informed chime in) that with any Kickstarter, Fundables , crowd-funding project the only obligation of the fundraisers is to deliver the outlined prizes and packages as outlined for various pledge amounts, of course this is only if the goal amount is reached or surpassed If the minimum goal amount is NOT reached then nobody is charged their pledge. Now, again, I am only attempting to somewhat clarify, if I have only confused the matter that was not my intention and I apologize, feel free to correct me where appropriate.

 

UPDATE: OF COURSE Bill Loguidice chimed in just as I finished and submitted this post. Yes that is pretty much what I was trying to clarify also though Bill has a much better grasp on words then I.

Edited March 15, 2013 by OldSchoolRetroGamer

[Retro Rogue]

Ok, that makes far more sense then Re: Kickstarter.

[mos6507]

There is a wealth of IP material involved that can certainly be leveraged in a far more 21st century un-retro manner if done right (which Infogrames never seemed to want to get right no matter how much direction we gave them).

 

 

 

That might make a good thread, if there isn't one already. I'm hard-pressed to think of anything that hasn't been tried already, with varying degrees of success. I try to think of it more of "it had a good run" than "what might have been".

[bennybingo]

There are just too many scumbags infiltrating the retro-gaming hobby, trying to rip people off on B.S. "get-rich-quick" schemes. Luckily for us, most times these things get stopped before too many folks get burned...this time, no one got hurt luckily.

[akator]

They got a chunk of money just a few months ago to do the handheld. I'm fine with that, as are most people... or CGW Zero wouldn't have reached their funding goals.

 

The problems is not only this new half-baked scheme, but with CGW Zero asking for another handout only 2 months later and before delivering on the promises from their last fundraiser.

 

What... did they spend all of the money from the January Kickstarter already? Or do they think so little of their customers and investors that they thought this scheme would be cool? Regardless of the reasons, even trying to do another fundraiser so soon is completely wrong. It's not like they're curing cancer. Hell, even local PBS stations aren't misguided enough ask for money that often.

[StoneAgeGamer]

I think there's some confusion on here with the GCW-Zero Kickstarter. They were Kickstarting the handheld, which was successfully funded and which will be delivered. They merely used the platform/audience to then plug their Atari buy-back plan. That had nothing to do with the original Kickstarter other than saying, hey, if we have the Atari brand we'll be able to make the GCW-Zero an Atari-branded handheld, etc. The handheld itself was and is a good idea that was backed by people like me, the Atari plan was obviously not even half-baked and foolish. The handheld itself should be delivered to all backers within the next few months, if not sooner.

 

Well I am glad to hear that people are getting their handhelds. I agree the Atari plan was stupid and hopefully it was just the case of "sounded better in their head" kind of thing. That's why I suggested they stop the Reset Atari thing to not ruin their name which it looks like they did. I am perfectly fine with Kickstarters from things like the GCW Zero. The Atari thing just made no sense.

[Amstari]

I think their intentions were good but completely unrealistic from the start. Then adding it to an existing project (GCW Zero) just made it complete mess!

 

They should have asked the retro gaming community for advice first rather than just assuming everyone would be behind them.

[MrMaddog]

Because selling overpriced & underpowered Dingoo handhelds with emulated games has worked so well for the classic game brands like NeoGeo...

 

- Said No One Ever

[+Gemintronic]

Because selling overpriced & underpowered Dingoo handhelds with emulated games has worked so well for the classic game brands like NeoGeo...

 

- Said No One Ever

 

The Neo Geo handheld is a closed platform. You buy their games. That's it. The GCW Zero is running Linux. WE control/make the software.

[Algus]

Arguments about whether it was a scam or not aside. I'd be super uncomfortable with crowd-funding one company's attempt to buy the assets of another company. You want to raise capital for that kind of thing, then you should probably start selling shares of stock.

[Luposian]

I'm curious if anyone knows, but...

 

If I were interested in acquiring the name "Atari" and the Fuji logo to make a company that specifically made just computers again (think ST, but vastly more powerful and unique; with a retro-futuristic floppy drive, to give users a sense of familiarity, but with a fully modern implementation), any idea how I would accomplish this and what I might be looking at, financially, to do so?

 

I'm not interested in outright OWNING the name/logo, just a very specific, exclusive use of the name/logo. Could the name/logo be "licensed" in a way that is exclusively separate from the current Atari that publishes game titles? Would that license remain valid, if the game publishing form were to be sold?

 

I don't care how crazy it seems, I just want to know if it would be even possible, legally or financially.

[Bill Loguidice]

I'm curious if anyone knows, but...

 

If I were interested in acquiring the name "Atari" and the Fuji logo to make a company that specifically made just computers again (think ST, but vastly more powerful and unique; with a retro-futuristic floppy drive, to give users a sense of familiarity, but with a fully modern implementation), any idea how I would accomplish this and what I might be looking at, financially, to do so?

 

I'm not interested in outright OWNING the name/logo, just a very specific, exclusive use of the name/logo. Could the name/logo be "licensed" in a way that is exclusively separate from the current Atari that publishes game titles? Would that license remain valid, if the game publishing form were to be sold?

 

I don't care how crazy it seems, I just want to know if it would be even possible, legally or financially.

 

You can query the present Atari rights holders for the costs of licensing the name and logo and/or slapping it on some product or another. That's what they're there for now. As for your computer idea, this seems to me like a case of if you have to ask, you won't be able to do it for a variety of reasons.