What would you do if you ran Atari?

[ApolloBoy]

Basically, make a list of things you would do for Atari if you were Atari's CEO from 1976 to 1996. I can't really think of anything right now.

[ApolloBoy]

OOPS! Accidently hit "Submit" twice! Anyways, go ahead and reply.

[+Nathan Strum]

I'd let Nolan run things.

 

A few things I learned from the Stella at 20 tape:

 

1) The Atari 400/800 was originally developed to be a game console to replace the 2600. Warner execs felt it was too expensive, so they added a keyboard and turned it into a computer.

 

2) Nolan's take was that Atari should take a loss on the hardware, since the real money was to be made on software (something everyone else has done since). If everyone has your hardware - they'll buy your software.

 

3) Activision (according to a couple of its founders) probably never would have existed, had Nolan stayed with Atari, since the rift between management and programmers never would have happened.

 

4) Nolan deeply regrets leaving Atari. He would have liked to stay, in retrospect.

 

So... if you do a little extrapolation:

 

1) If the Atari 400/800 had been released as a console (late '79) at rock-bottom prices, it would have blown away everything else at the time, and completely dominated the industry. The 2600 would have gone the way of dedicated Pong consoles.

 

2) If Activision hadn't been formed, then other companies wouldn't have tried to imitate them. The glut of bad 2600 games which caused the home market to crash would never have existed. Nolan was very good at keeping the competition at bay, through deals with vendors and other tactics.

 

3) Nolan would have kept pushing Atari to innovate, in order to dominate. The 400/800-based console probably would have been replaced within a few years, with a more powerful system. Home console systems would have advanced faster than they did, rivaling arcade game quality well before the Famicom (NES) appeared. Consoles would have remained strong, instead of all but disappearing for several years.

 

4) Nintendo may or may not have successfully marketed the NES in the United States. Atari would have remained the dominant force here, but with home video games remaining profitable, someone certainly would have wanted to cash in on it. Would Nolan have tried to beat back Nintendo, or strike a deal with them to bring their software to the Atari console?

 

5) The whole industry as we know it today would be different. The PlayStation only exists because a deal with Nintendo fell through for Sony to make a CD-ROM module for them, so Sony went ahead and built their own system from it. Would that deal have even been started in the first place, had Atari remained dominant? Would Sony even be in gaming now?

 

Of course, this is all pointless speculation. Wishful thinking. Whatever. But it's interesting to think what difference one decision can make in the grand scheme of things.

[snorlaxnut]

Nathan said some of the things I would do, here is some of my ideas, sorry if they stink:

 

1. If Atari didn't go with the 400/800 as a game system, continued with the 2600, and made the game Star Raiders, I would like to make a controller that combines the joystick and video touch pad together. It would look like the Jaguar controller with a directional pad, one fire button

twice as big as the joystick's button, no pause and option buttons, and two cords, one for the joystick and one for the keypad/video touch pad/keyboard/kid's controller/thing with the numbered buttons part.

 

2. Release the 7800 when is was announced in 1984. Sure, the NES would be a big success, but at least the 7800 would have been out a couple of more years, making some more games.

 

3. If Atari did became the US distributor for the NES, I would have made adaptors for playing 2600/5200/7800 carts like Mattel and Coleco did for their systems for 2600 carts. And maybe try to make a US version of the Famicom's disk drive and keyboard accessories, or accessories that let you use Atari's computer software.

 

3. I would redo the Lynx and try to make carts for the system larger so that the games would be as big as Game Boy and Game Gear carts in the early 90's.

 

4. As for the Jaguar, I would still make it, but make Trevor Mcfur In The Crescent Galaxy better.

 

5. After, say 20 years, I would release the 2600, and (if possible) some of the game roms, into the public domain so that people could make their own 2600-compatible systems or adaptors without any trouble.

 

6. If I had to sell the company, I would sell it to someone who would make it as a company that is an important part of the video game industry, and not just some brand name to make some quick cash.

 

Anyway, that's what I might have done.

[Nukey Shay]

I'd liquidate the entire company, and send all of the money to Kurt Howe who lives somewhere along the LR tracks in Mpls.

 

But I just know that'll never happen

[ussexplorer]

1. Hopefully Avoid the Game Crash. Even, if I couldn't, I still have several other options.

2. Release the 7800 Followed a few years later from 1984 with a new system

3. Leave the computer market early. Most companies who left the market early when they lost the war. Seemed to do okay. At least for the U.S. Not sure what year it would have been. Due to Atari Success in foreign markets.

4. Make sure to keep original employees and bring in new people for new ideas.

5. At some point probably sell part of the company.

6. Contiunue to make arcade stuff. But deffently keeping both the arcade unit seperate from the game console. (Except for game ports)

 

That is about it.

 

Laters,

 

Josh

[Brad2600]

1.Nolan would still be in charge of the company. No Chuck E Cheese!

2. The 2600 would be discounted and Atari would concentrate on the 5200. Bounty Bob would not be the rarest game ever.

3. The computer line would only get ports of arcade quality games. No more having to choose between a 5200 and an 800XL.

4.The 2600 would be heavily discounted and eventually discontinued in 1984.

5. The 7800 would have been released in Fall of 1985, still before the release of the NES state-wide, but just in time to grab whatever remaining market share was left.

6. After this, Atari would concentrate on making the 5200 the "arcade series" and the 7800 the "modern series" and this means that the 5200 would get arcade-perfect ports and the 7800 would be more versatile in order to compete with the NES

 

Alternative Scenario regarding the 7800:

 

Atari picks up the rights to distribute the NES. The NES becomes a second-tier system with the 7800 getting all the good games. Nintendo is relegated to competitor status and thus, is never allowed to catch up to Atari.

 

Atari dominates the game market until 1995, when the PS1 is released.

 

Sorry, the evolution from cartridges to CD was bound to happen. You cannot deny it because the executives of console manufacters would eventually catch on to the cheapness and quality of CDs.

 

I dunno.

 

Just if we were living in an alternate universe.

[Nukey Shay]

In that last scenario, PS1 would probably not have happened (since it was started as a Snes component...etc.)

[tyranthraxus]

This is a pretty crazy What If thread. There are just too many

possibilities. I feel the most interesting (and disaterous) decisions

were made after the crash.

 

#1 Not release the 2600 Jr. The 26 dies in 1984.

#2 Drop the 8-bit computers in 1986 in favour of the ST

#3 Release the 7800 in 1986 but not with oldie arcade games. I'd

like to see how it could have done with more current arcade games

and fresh originals. Also see the Nintendo & Atari thread in the 7800

forum for some good arguments why a 1984 release was impossible.

#4 Release the Lynx earlier (didn't they have that ready in 87 or 88)

and aggressivly market it.

#5 If the 7800 still failed, then I would not continue to persue

consoles. Resources would be shifted to the ST & Lynx and to

becoming a software publisher (ala Sega)

[dirtboy69]

i woulda made the jaguar cd based to start with a cart add on. and since i belive the lynx was still half alive i would of made a add on kinda like the super gameboy to play the games on the jag and then started to cross platform games more between the two. also atari needed a big mascot in 1996 sega had sonic, sony had crash, nintendo had mario. now how about the companies with systems that didn't have a mascot? that's right 3D0 and jaguar both failed.

[Godzilla]

i would have turned atari in an oriental themed sensual massage oil company, and given all the video game stuff to ralph baer, just out of respect.

[joeybastard]

I want to be the CEO now. I would start making vidseo slot machines based on classic Atari games. WMS has already done it with Pac-Man and this could be a whole new area for Atari Games.

[ElectricTroy]

~1978 - Give the programmers credit for their creations. What was so difficult about that? It's a simple thing to do, and would have kept the Activision crew at Atari.

 

~1982 - Skip the 5200. It's incompatibility and 4-yr-old technology was a BAD idea. Instead, they should have released the 7800 as originally planned. It would have blown away the competition.

 

~1983 - Install the Pokey chip *inside* the 7800 and then release it.

 

~1995 - Spend 1 more year polishing the Jaguar so it has TRUE 64-bit graphics, add a CD player, add a 3D graphics chip, and then release it to smash the N64.

 

~2000 - Jaguar 2 released.

[Inky]

Interesting thread...

 

First, Yes, I'd let the programmers have credit, and a portion of royalties.

 

Second, should the ST line come about, I'd put in a different sound chip, and market it as a games machine.

 

Third, Retire the 2600 circa 1983, and release the 7800. Offer a rebate for 2600 owners wanting to 'trade up'

[NE146]

I'd friggin make the deals to get our 8-bit Donkey Kong moved to the 5200 and out the door.

 

I'd have them finish up Tempest for the 5200 and send that puppy out! Ditto for Asteroids, and make a special effort to get every other Atari coin-op ported to our home systems (5200 Gravitar and Black Widow anyone?) ^_^

 

5200 MAJOR HAVOC. 5200 MAJOR HAVOC. 5200 MAJOR HAVOC. 5200 MAJOR HAVOC.

[Vic George 2K3]

Re-release Smurf: Rescue In Gargamel's Castle for the 2600 and have more classic arcade translations for the 7800.

[Buck]

1) If the Atari 400/800 had been released as a console (late '79) at rock-bottom prices, it would have blown away everything else at the time, and completed dominated the industry. The 2600 would have gone the way of dedicated Pong consoles.

 

THIS - I think would have saved the company from it's eventual demise. It was certainly a possiblity. The 5200 was a repackaged 400, right? If this wouldnt have saved the company, it would have certainly changed everything. (Intellivison - Colecovision - Heck even Commodore and Texas Instruments Would have had a different take on things)

 

Excellent point Nathan.

 

Buck

[Goochman]

I would first shut down all projects for 6 months missing my first Xmas - put my family in control, pad all my pockets.

 

I take 1980 marketing and apply that to my 1990 product line.

 

Id cash out all those 'options' I got

 

Id blow out all the remaining inventory, sell out to a disk drive company and move to a tropical island making 20% during the dot com boom

 

Wait,

Someone beat me to it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Godzilla]

I would first shut down all projects for 6 months missing my first Xmas - put my family in control, pad all my pockets.

 

I take 1980 marketing and apply that to my 1990 product line.

 

Id cash out all those 'options' I got

 

Id blow out all the remaining inventory, sell out to a disk drive company and move to a tropical island making 20% during the dot com boom

 

Wait,

Someone beat me to it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

 

HAHAHHAAAaaaaAAAAaaa