New Atari Console that Ataribox?

[+Nathan Strum]

Just a reminder: Despite news stories that say the Collector's Edition "sold out all 6000 units", Atari neither sold 6000 CEs nor stopped selling them on the June 6th (IIRC) deadline.

 

 

How can you "sell out" of something that doesn't exist? Shouldn't that be "pre-sold out"?

[Matt_B]

Just a reminder: Despite news stories that say the Collector's Edition "sold out all 6000 units", Atari neither sold 6000 CEs nor stopped selling them on the June 6th (IIRC) deadline. Unfortunately, I can't find a screenshot of the CE bundle with the date.

 

 

 

Tom's Hardware actually mildly called out Atari on the Tribute edition, even going so far as to suggest it may just be a "cash grab". They also don't seem impressed with the difference between the CE and TE.

 

 

 

Given that no actual hardware exists yet, any differences between the CE and TE are most likely a figment of Atari's imagination.

[+frankodragon]

[RainbowCemetery]

if the atari properties are their children i feel like i should report them to dfcs

[+x=usr(1536)]

"Reputable" was an entertaining choice of word, but I loved how they took the opportunity to pimp their penny stock as if it would somehow add to their credibility.

 

Atari SA, since you're reading this: you have no credibility. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Rien.

[+frankodragon]

Atari SA ist ein Urhebertroll

[+KaeruYojimbo]

Apologies if this gag has already been done. I was taking a much needed break from Atariboxing and honestly don't feel up to reading everything that has been posted since the last time I checked in on this thread. (Ironically, the ad that popped up while I was grabbing stills from YouTube was for the VCS.)

 

Edited June 21, 2018 by KaeruYojimbo

[+frankodragon]

I wondered what Atari SA, the uber trolls, would do if the project went under and they made just the shells. They could start selling this "reputable" item:

 

 

[PlaysWithWolves]

Despite yesterday's free marketing by online sites, Backerkit doesn't show even a blip.

 

Smash JT found out that Atari's PR company is Uberstrategist, which charges $5000-15000 per month for their services. He's troubled because as a response to his email Atari basically referred him to their spin doctors. He also found a glowing recommendation by Atari COO Todd Shallbetter.

 

 

 

I wonder if they do sock puppets and astroturfing, too?

[AtariLeaf]

So the PR company is the one answering comments on facebook about the ataribox and not atari themselves?

[PlaysWithWolves]

So the PR company is the one answering comments on facebook about the ataribox and not atari themselves?

 

 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Your choices seem to be:

 

A) Uberstrategist

B) Rainfactory

C) Michael Artz, Atari Connect COO and "Marketing and Business Leader"

D) All of the above

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Almost 400 pages? Jeez...

 

 

[Flojomojo]

LORDY, THERE ARE TAPES

 

Remember when "Atari" complained about the mean things said to them by TheRegister.UK? You know, when Atari invited them to their hotel room during GDC and couldn't answer simple questions about the empty AtariBox shell they brought?

 

Here's the Register's side of the story. The full interview, with audio. Who is "unprofessional" now? It will be interesting to see how Atari responds to this.

 

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/21/atari_interview_in_full/

 

Just a few days left before the train wreck of a campaign is over. For those punter-pigeons foolish enough to pledge real money to "Atari," it's not yet too late to take your money back from "Atari." But it will be soon. After that, they've stated there will be no refunds. Collector box or not, do you really want to support this kind of chicanery?

[uglyclone]

a few things I've learned so far watching the ongoing AtariVCS discussion:

• people love tacos as much as I do
• the Register is an awesome read

The Register recently posted mp3 clips of their talk with Michael Artz in response to being called trolls on the Atari Facebook page. Epic

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/21/atari_interview_in_full/

[AtariLeaf]

a few things I've learned so far watching the ongoing AtariVCS discussion:

• people love tacos as much as I do
• the Register is an awesome read

The Register recently posted mp3 clips of their talk with Michael Artz in response to being called trolls on the Atari Facebook page. Epic

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/21/atari_interview_in_full/

 

Wow, that's pretty damning. THIS should be posted on their facebook page.

[JBerel]

I am now an official fan of The Register. At first I thought their article was a little snarky and maybe a bit unfair, even though Atari totally deserved it based on their own decision to invite press to a big nothing. With these recordings and Atari's bitching, I see now that The Register went easy on them, and they were practicing good journalism. Truly pathetic on Atari's behalf.

Remember backers, you have zero excuse you delicate optimistic little snowflakes.

[digdugnate]

i just listened to the mp3 recordings- wooooooow.

 

it was said elsewhere on the site, too, but it just flummoxes me that they found that *many* folks that are willing to just throw money at the thing while Atari SA is insulting them at the same time.

 

the conspiracy theorist in me wonders how many of the IGG preorders were by Atari SA themselves.

[JBerel]

i just listened to the mp3 recordings- wooooooow.

 

it was said elsewhere on the site, too, but it just flummoxes me that they found that *many* folks that are willing to just throw money at the thing while Atari SA is insulting them at the same time.

 

the conspiracy theorist in me wonders how many of the IGG preorders were by Atari SA themselves.

You know they did their best to inflate early backers through whatever means they had at their disposal. They could always back it as many times as they want and simply rebate themselves, their friends and family. But, with a company numbering in single digits to low teens, I doubt they have too much flexibility to do a lot of that, unless it was a corporate strategy to pay the Indiegogo fee for inflated backer numbers like they pay for social media followers and such. That could still be a business expense to write off, and if they did it through staff, partners and families they could write off the entire purchase price that they refund/rebate to those people.

 

The point is, there's plenty of room for fraud and other schemes within these crowdfunding rackets. They can write off all expenses related to ads, marketing, fees etc. to effectively cancel out any revenue they derive from the campaign. Based on the advertising and marketing expenditures alone, this may well be one of the worst crowdfunding campaigns ever in respect to backer funds directed to the actual product development. At the end of the day, this may be nothing more than another Atari SA marketing exercise paid for by hapless backers.

[TheVgaTv]

i just listened to the mp3 recordings- wooooooow.

 

it was said elsewhere on the site, too, but it just flummoxes me that they found that *many* folks that are willing to just throw money at the thing while Atari SA is insulting them at the same time.

 

the conspiracy theorist in me wonders how many of the IGG preorders were by Atari SA themselves.

 

 

Given the extremely high number of "anonymous" backers I've thought this for a while now. And it makes sense given their ad campaign "oh look we raised a million dollars in a matter of hours!"

[youxia]

It's mid-2018, not exactly the dawn of crowdfunding. It's been around for nearly a decade now, there were countless examples of how not to do things.

 

And so, you had one job Atari: just to follow the safe, tried & tested blueprint. But no, instead you've chosen to tick just about every wrong box, from fake presentations to pissing off an influential news site.

 

You just could not make it up. Listening to that guy dodging, evading and generally weaseling his way through this interview was truly excruciatig. I felt like in an episode of The Office...surreal stuff.

Edited June 21, 2018 by youxia

[dj_convoy]

I am now an official fan of The Register. At first I thought their article was a little snarky and maybe a bit unfair, even though Atari totally deserved it based on their own decision to invite press to a big nothing. With these recordings and Atari's bitching, I see now that The Register went easy on them, and they were practicing good journalism. Truly pathetic on Atari's behalf.

Remember backers, you have zero excuse you delicate optimistic little snowflakes.

I mean, it's stuff like this that makes those of us who are... let's be nice and say "skeptics" wary of this company and this project. It's a shame that it won't make a whit of difference to the AlecRobs of the world, but c'est la vie... it's their money.

 

"Atari" should be ashamed of themselves with their gross attempt at declaring anything they don't like to be fake news. It's disgusting in things that actually matter in the real world, and it's pathetic here in first world problems video game land.

[godslabrat]

 

 

Given the extremely high number of "anonymous" backers I've thought this for a while now. And it makes sense given their ad campaign "oh look we raised a million dollars in a matter of hours!"

 

Between the obviously astroturfed donations and the broken transaction system that resulted in a multiple order epidemic... I've never been impressed with Atari's Day 1 performance.

[Inky]

At this point, I wouldn't even trust them to sell me just the shell. Hell, the only one that exists is probably the one they showed at the hotel room.

AtariVCS, you said you're watching this thread. Why won't you respond publicly to the charges?

[Flojomojo]

What happens when you write your dreams down? Let's find out.

 

This is obviously fiction, but if the principals at Atari SA want to use it, please do so with my compliments.

 

To fans of Atari, old and new:

This is a difficult update to write.

Despite the crowdfunding success of our company’s recent IndieGoGo campaign for the Atari VCS, it’s become clear through our recent financial results that our classic brand does not carry the clout that it once did. Furthermore, we have been listening to customer feedback and we know that we are letting down the legacy fans, while failing to attract new fans.

The Atari VCS campaign will be suspended immediately, and all backers will receive an automatic refund to your chosen payment method. Atari SA will purge its records of mailing lists and any stored personal information we have collected. The project has never grown out of the prototype phase and development has ended. We regret any inconvenience or disappointment this may cause.

We’ve tried to improve upon the brand legacy launched by Atari in 1972, but we have failed to live up to the expectations of gamers and enthusiasts. For that we are sorry, but we have some plans to make it up to you.

Effective immediately, we’re going to stop commercial monetization of our IP. Projects in the production pipeline will release as scheduled, but Atari SA will no longer function as a licensing entity. Furthermore, effective September 2018, 41 years after the launch of the Atari 2600 console that popularized the company, Atari SA will release its vintage gaming assets into the public domain, so that the community may freely enjoy these historic games, such as Asteroids, Adventure, Missile Command, and many others.

As we dissolve Atari SA, shareholders will be paid out the market value of our stock once creditors are paid, in accordance with the law.

Thank you for being with us on this wonderful journey.

The Atari SA Board of Directors

[racerx]

You lost me at "we have been listening to customer feedback."