Lord Mushroom

Atari has had huge losses in the last year or two, and a lot of it was tied to the VCS. Warboss Gegguz is correct when he says that it is too weak in power and (therefore) game lineup to compete with the most powerful consoles, and too expensive to be attractive to a large audience of casual gamers. It only appeals to die hard Atari fans. Because it was expensive to develop, and they made too many of them, they lost money.

Have you tried a more lightweight OS? How about Q4OS?

Revenue from Web3 was $0.1 million, down from $0.7 million. It is alive, but I wouldn´t say well. They are saying it is due to a change in direction, so it will probably go up again, though.

I don´t think so. Wade owned 13%, and it looks to me like the two founders of Nightdive owned the rest. I guess if nobody had a majority alone, then Wade would have had the deciding vote if the two others disagreed.

Maybe I was too pessimistic about Nightdive´s future contributions, but the previous owners wouldn´t have sold it for $10-20 million if they expected it to make $2+ million per year. I read an interview with the Nightdive boss, and he said their past projects (probably didn´t include the latest System Shock) as profitable. So Nightdive is currently the most promising part of Atari. I do think they will struggle more and more with profitability as they scale up, though.

It is limited how much they could have improved the result by actions in 2023 alone. But they could have increased their efforts in licensing, and dropped any (expected) unprofitable developments and investments. I would also imagine that administration expenses could be lowered dramatically. They were reduced by $1 million in that half year, but I think it is still at $3.9 million. Wade became CEO in April 2021, though, so he had more time to make 2023 a good year. They lost $5 million before debt payments, and that doesn´t include the money they spent on purchases. Research & Development increased from $2.3 million to $3.3 million, and that is only because Nightdive Studios has been included in the figures (Nightdive also contributed $2.7 million in revenue). So even if there was no research and development, they still would have lost $1.7 million. Not exactly a good sign. Nightdive released the long awaited System Shock game on PC in this period. In other words, Nightdive contributed a lot more in this period than it will in an average period. Atari´s financial position doesn´t affect their level of investments much these days. They just borrow money from Wade to spend on whatever Wade wants them to spend on.

On the flip side, losses could continue, borrowing from Irate could continue (in fact it will, according to the financial statement) and Atari finds itself with loans it can´t repay. To avoid bankrupcy, the loan(s) to Irata are converted into shares at a microscopic share price, and existing shareholders lose almost everything. The next quarter is going to be crucial. If they can´t turn a profit in that quarter, where everything is in their favour, it is all over. I think they will turn a profit, though, but I don´t think it will be big enough to suggest a healthy future. I think they need to make at least $2 million in that quarter. More than $5 million, and I am back to being an optimist.

Since the purchases are so recent, I think those figures are simply the difference between the purchase price and the total value of the assets in the purchased companies.

It wouldn´t have been as high as it was with quality control, but it would still be high. They got over $3 million for the hotels. They got a lot of flak for that, but I think that is due to other licensing deals preceeding it, like the speakerhat. If people weren´t used to shitty Atari licensed products, they would think Atari hotels sounded cool. And some of the low quality deals that were made, could still have been made with changes. Atari could have made sure the first Flashbacks were at least ok. It would probably not have been as profitable, but they would have received something.

That is one way of looking at it. An alternative view is that he is using his dad´s money to buy and play with toys. The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding is the financial results. It is too soon to say whether or not Wade Rosen´s Atari is a failure, but early signs are bad.

It is hard to say because we don´t have access to their internal figures, so we don´t know what they are making money on, and what they are losing money on. I do suspect Wade wilfully starts projects that are unlikely to be profitable, simply because he thnks they are cool. They shouldn´t do that. Another thing they should have done differently is focusing more on licensing. Licensing revenue is very low now, but was high under Chesnais. They should have continued Chesnais´efforts in that area, just with quality control. I also don´t think they should have made all those purchases they have made. With the exception of the one they bought on auction, I think they were all unprofitable investments. Bottom line, any (expected) profitable ideas that don´t hurt the brand should have been done, and nothing else. At worst, that could mean just licensing, but it is better to make a small profit than a loss.

True, but I would think that applies less to Atari´s products. Some of their products are downloads, which are not popular Christmas gifts. And Atari´s target demographic isn´t kids anymore. Atari´s customers buy things for themselves. They do have the 2600+ coming up, though.

He has had some time to turn things around. They should have been at least near break even now, in my opinion. Losses were $5 million before debt payments. I used to be optimistic about Atari under Wade, but now I am pessimistic.

It looks to me like Wade is running Atari into the ground.

I was lucky and got 1 year for free without ads. Now I think that year has passed, and it seems I can´t play anything without upgrading to a paid subscription. Maybe they have dropped the free-with-ads model.

I have no advice to give, but I think it is impressive that you found an appropriate thread, which has been dead for three years, to make your inquiry as your first post. And welcome to the forum.

You are supposed to teleport them.

Can you say, @Shaggy the Atarian, how much it costs to maintain a cabinet from the 80s or 90s (including compensation for the ones doing the maintenance, but not electricity) per year? How much is it for modern games?

I just realized you have the Arcade Heroes channel on You Tube, @Shaggy the Atarian. I had seen several of your videos before realizing it was yours, and I think it is a good channel. I found your videos about which games do best in your arcades interesting. You say pinball machines and old school games do better in arcade bars than in other types of arcades. I have read that too, but do you have any idea why that is? Conversely, would newer games do poorer in an arcade bar? I have seen some videos of different arcade bars, and they rarely have any spectacular newer games like the ones that do the best in your arcades. You also talk about having a lot of competition, and having to have the newest stuff to compete. If you had been the only arcade in your area, do you think you could have had the same turnover (or more) you have now if you hadn´t had those spectacular newer cabinets? In other words, would people have been happy playing the best of the 80s and 90s if that was the only thing around, or is it the new stuff or nothing for a lot of people?

Nintendo Super System (3 games at a time, 12 cartridges)

No.

I am pretty sure he is way too expensive for them.

I like that you still view Cindy favourably. If your budget allows it, perhaps you can go to any nearby retro arcades and hang out with people with a similar interest. If you are lucky, you might even find people to hang out with outside of the arcade as well. You have a cool car, and I assume you are interested in cars. Perhaps there is some auto club or something you could join. Or any other hobby group you might be interested in. Or you could volunteer or something to meet people that way. You seem to be an outgoing guy, so it should be possible for you to find some more friends.

I found out it can be set to give you anywhere from two minutes to four minutes and 50 seconds or free play.

I meant luck plays a part in a game catching on or not.