Today, Are There Any Careers In Atari 2600?

[MeatWithGravy]

I'm a man of a certain age. I've been a bartender for the past eight years and I'm looking to change careers. We've all heard it said, 'Do what you love, and the money will follow.' Well, I love old video arcade games, home video game systems, and pinball. But, most of all, I love the good ol' Atari VCS. So, my question for the AA community is, are there any 2600-related careers around for a guy like me?

 

Maybe it's a goofy question, but I'm trying to think outside the box here. I'm college educated, Magna Cum Laude. My degree is in *ahem* fine art. I'm dependable, trustworthy, and always on time. On the other hand, I don't yet know my way around a soldering iron. I guess you could say I'm long on passion for Atari, but short on know-how for Atari. Well, I've gone on long enough. If you have any career advice, I'd love to have it. And, if you happen to be in the New York Metropolitan area and hiring, PM me! I'm eager to get started!

[Shawn]

Absolutely no way you could support yourself and\or family with Atari 2600 work.

[youxia]

are there any 2600-related careers around for a guy like me?

 

 

[Keatah]

Atari VCS has a shrinking audience these days. All attention is being turned toward 16-bit consoles like from Sega & Nintendo. Might as well 32-bit in there too.

[Shawn]

Atari VCS has a shrinking audience these days. All attention is being turned toward 16-bit consoles like from Sega & Nintendo. Might as well 32-bit in there too.

 

And you couldn't make a decent living off the 16, 32 or 64 bit machines either. Unless you program a "retro like" or "retro inspired" game and put it on modern consoles in the Playstation Store, Xbox store, IOS\Android or Steam it just ain't happening. Even then you gotta get a hit on your hands to really get the ball rolling.

[john_q_atari]

If you are an artist that is computer savvy then perhaps you might eventually get into some sort of graphic design/art creation for video games but I imagine it would take awhile to get established and I don't know that it would pay all that well. The only other thing I could think of is working in a video game store but my guess is if you go that route you are probably looking at minimum wage at best for the rest of your life in that sort of roll. My advice, find a job that pays the bills and use your video game interests as a hobby and a reason to get out of bed each morning.

[Shawn]

If you are an artist that is computer savvy then perhaps you might eventually get into some sort of graphic design/art creation for video games but I imagine it would take awhile to get established and I don't know that it would pay all that well. The only other thing I could think of is working in a video game store but my guess is if you go that route you are probably looking at minimum wage at best for the rest of your life in that sort of roll. My advice, find a job that pays the bills and use your video game interests as a hobby and a reason to get out of bed each morning.

 

Exactly. When your hobby becomes your job then you no longer have that hobby. Odds are it will sour you from the thing you once enjoyed as a pastime as well.

[+GoldLeader]

My only thoughts were: Learn to code and make a homebrew, just don't expect a lot of dough...Or learn to repair the machines or mod them or restore them ...

 

But, ...

 

I tend to be in agreement that sometimes a hobby is fun because it isn't work...

[Zitruskeks]

My advise would be: don't be so specific in the beginning. Solely Targeting a 40 year old gaming system and the aging guys and gals that even happen to remember this thing sounds not a great plan to me.

So in broad terms: you are an art guy and gaming aficionado. I dont know if you can write better than you paint or if you are a good modeller or anything. But look where you art skills and games and a broad or rich audience to sell goods or services to meet and try to find a place there. Ever thought about researching art in gaming in a scientific way? Maybe you can find a university to work in this field. Either way, you are saying you have the passion but lack the knowledge on atari and soldering, so you should focus on the stuff you know: the art side. A job that you have the knowledge and profession for and that has at least something to do with your passion. It will probably have nothing to do with atari or the vcs.

[Video]

Uh, make Atari style games and we'll them on mobile market (android, iOS) or hit up Xbox or PlayStation arcade.

 

You can do Atari stuff, and we'd love that, but there is no market or career for out of production systems.

[Flojomojo]

You're right, it is kind of a goofy question, like "I like cupcakes. How can I make a career out of that?"

 

I agree with others who say hobbies are a nice escape but you can ruin them by trying to make them a job.

 

Sounds like you want to get out of the bartender gig, but the first thing that came to mind is to run a Barcade. Put your art and design chops into designing marketing materials and maybe having tournaments and events to keep it social and fun?

[MeatWithGravy]

Thank you all for the insightful replies, everybody. I really appreciate it.

 

If anybody has anything to add, please, keep it coming!

[racerx]

Sounds like you want to get out of the bartender gig, but the first thing that came to mind is to run a Barcade. Put your art and design chops into designing marketing materials and maybe having tournaments and events to keep it social and fun?

My friends that have opened successful arcades/barcades are also competent repairmen, otherwise maintenance on these old beasts will eat you alive. If one of my personal cabs goes down it can sit there for months. On location, it needs to be up and running. The other option is to have an op put them on location, but then you're splitting profits and have pretty much eliminated the flat fee admission model.

 

As everyone else has said though, no. You can make a little change on the side but there's no way to earn a living off the 2600 at this point.

[Brian O]

You're about 40 years too late.

[MeatWithGravy]

You're about 40 years too late.

 

Oh, man. Tell me about it. Story of my life.

[jaybird3rd]

If you're thinking of making a living directly from new Atari 2600 development, then it is indeed too late. That's not to say that there is no money at all to be made there—hobbyists who create games or hardware upgrades can make enough money from them to partially offset the costs of their hobby, or at least go out for a nice dinner every once in a while—but it certainly wouldn't be enough to live on.

 

However, it's entirely possible to use your exploration of vintage systems like the 2600 as a way of acquiring knowledge and skills that can be valuable in other related fields. Depending on your approach, these skills can include assembly language programming, digital electronics, and printed circuit board design, all of which would be useful to a career in (for example) embedded systems engineering.

 

To give a personal example: I set out a few years ago to finally fulfill my long-deferred ambition to undertake some projects for classic consoles or computers. I stumbled upon the Mattel Aquarius, an obscure home computer which had a lot of potential for my purposes but needed a little "TLC" to get there. I started learning to build the pieces that I would need, and a few months later, I developed my own cartridge board for the Aquarius, the first circuit board I ever designed. I also learned assembly language programming for the Z80 (the microprocessor in the Aquarius), which lead to the development of the Aquaricart, my Aquarius multi-cart. As it happens, the Z80 is similar in many ways to the 8-bit microcontrollers that are still widely used today in embedded applications, so everything that I learned from my Aquarius projects helped me to transition into embedded firmware programming. That background, in turn, eventually lead to the creation of a new embedded systems course at my university, which I am still teaching. I've since written a few academic papers on the teaching of secure firmware development, and I'm thinking now of writing my own textbook.

 

(Granted, the fact that I already had my degrees in Computer Science probably helped me. Still, there's a lot that can be learned from tinkering with the computers and consoles of the past. I see this as a way of taking my enjoyment of the hobby to a new level, while still keeping work and play separate enough to be able to continue enjoying it as a hobby.)

[toiletunes]

Do you have any money to invest? Atari sells IP at bankruptcy auctions every few years. Then you can license them to AtGames etc.

[Lord Thag]

No.

Can you make some additional cash making and selling 2600 games? Sure.

The thousands of hours you spend doing so will only earn you pennies back. You do this for fun, for the love of the hobby. The money's an occasional side benefit.

Edited November 2, 2018 by Lord Thag

[fiddlepaddle]

"Do what you love and the money will follow" is a nice sentiment, but not really the best advice.

 

Generally speaking, the best paying jobs are for doing what others won't do, or can't do. Plus, you'll probably get more job satisfaction from something that challenges you as well.

 

I would find out who all is hiring, and then choose based on how you respect the people and company. Working hard on a good opportunity with good people is FAR superior to a lazy-hazy-sell-your-time job (of course, we all have to make enough to pay the bills).

[godslabrat]

Send a resume to Atari SE, while they're still in business. I wouldn't wait all that long.

[Pink]

Open up your own retro game shop? But even then those are ridiculously hard to become successful if I judge solely off all the retro game shops that i've seen open and close during the past 10 or 15 years in Minnesota alone where I live. Not just that, any small specialty mom and pop stores and entrepreneurship are extremely hard, especially nowadays with ebay and the rest of the internet and everyone owning a smartphone. Just googling statistics on restaurants and seeing how many of those close during their first year of business alone is scary.

 

Theres one game shop I remember, during the Halo Reach midnight launch on Xbox 360, GameStop had a line wrapped around the whole strip mall standing outside (in the cold Minnesota winter weather no less), and this local mom and pop retro game store let you come inside and had a whole pre-launch party leading up to midnight. They had free chips and soda/pop and TVs hooked up and tournaments and what not, and they still only attracted a handful of people. Go to the GameStop down the street, a gigantic line wrapped around the whole strip mall waiting outside for Halo Reach.

Edited November 3, 2018 by Pink

[Keatah]

Enduring hardship together is a bonding experience. The mom-n-pop shop didn't do that.

[+swlovinist]

As others have said, nope.

 

Too limited in scope and these days is hobbyist at best. As a publisher of many small projects, there is a ton that goes into a release. If done right, you can break even. My suggestion is to market yourself to a current game company.

[MeatWithGravy]

Theres one game shop I remember, during the Halo Reach midnight launch on Xbox 360, GameStop had a line wrapped around the whole strip mall standing outside (in the cold Minnesota winter weather no less), and this local mom and pop retro game store let you come inside and had a whole pre-launch party leading up to midnight. They had free chips and soda/pop and TVs hooked up and tournaments and what not, and they still only attracted a handful of people. Go to the GameStop down the street, a gigantic line wrapped around the whole strip mall waiting outside for Halo Reach.

 

That's a real bummer about the mom n' pop shop. I hate that. Classic example of the little guy being unable to compete with the big chain. Pink, why do you suppose so few people supported the mom n' pop shop? My guess is that the price at GameStop was lower. And all those folks in line around the mall, whether they thought about it or not, cast their vote for GameStop. Folks comparison shop. When they do, the little guy will always lose. And someday, there won't be anymore mom n' pop shops.

 

So, wait. Where were we? You were suggesting I open a mom n' pop shop?

[Pink]

 

That's a real bummer about the mom n' pop shop. I hate that. Classic example of the little guy being unable to compete with the big chain. Pink, why do you suppose so few people supported the mom n' pop shop? My guess is that the price at GameStop was lower. And all those folks in line around the mall, whether they thought about it or not, cast their vote for GameStop. Folks comparison shop. When they do, the little guy will always lose. And someday, there won't be anymore mom n' pop shops.

 

So, wait. Where were we? You were suggesting I open a mom n' pop shop?

Not necessarily suggesting it but it's a way to potentially make a "career" out of retro games, I suppose. High chance of failure, but there are successful ones out there. One that comes to mind is Tradengames.com I believe the owner is a member here on Atariage. Though honestly hypothetically if you had the money, capital and resources to launch your own mom and pop shop, there'd probably be other types of businesses that'd be a lot better to open honestly.

 

As for why so few people supported it the one I was talking about? Perhaps marketing or the fact maybe not a lot of people were aware that it existed or they were having a pre-launch party leading up to midnight. Maybe GameStop had some good preorder bonuses, or the fact that when someone wants to preorder a game the first thing that comes to their mind is GameStop. Or that GameStop actively advertises and promotes it's midnight launch.