Atari Corporation — BrandWiki

Atari Corporation

Overview

Atari Corporation

former name	Tramel Technology, Ltd.
type	Private
industry	Home computer Video games
fate	Merged into JT Storage; assets later acquired by Hasbro Interactive
predecessor	Atari, Inc.
successor	Atari Interactive
founded	May 17, 1984
founder	Jack Tramiel
defunct	July 30, 1996
hq location city	Sunnyvale, California
hq location country	U.S.
key people	Jack Tramiel (CEO) Sam Tramiel (president)
products	Atari ST Atari 7800 Atari Portfolio Atari Lynx Atari Jaguar

Atari Corporation was an American manufacturer of home computers and video game consoles. It was founded by Jack Tramiel on May 17, 1984, as Tramel Technology, Ltd., but then took on the Atari name less than two months later when Warner Communications sold the home gaming and computing assets of Atari, Inc. to Tramiel.

Its chief products were the Atari ST, Atari XE, Atari 7800, Atari Lynx and Atari Jaguar; in addition to hardware, the company also published video games for its home systems and also had an in-house development team for Lynx and Jaguar software for porting, or developing original titles such as Warbirds and Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy. In 1996, the company reverse merged with JTS Corp., becoming a small de facto non-operating division which itself closed after JTS sold all Atari assets to Hasbro Interactive in 1998.

History

The company was founded by Commodore International's founder Jack Tramiel soon after his resignation from Commodore in January 1984. Initially named Tramel Technology, Ltd. (TTL), the company's goal was to design and sell a next-generation home computer. On July 1, 1984, TTL bought the Consumer Division assets of Atari, Inc. from Warner, and TTL was renamed Atari Corporation. Warner sold the division in exchange for $240 million in stock in the new company.Under Tramiel's ownership, Atari used the remaining stock of game console inventory to keep the company afloat while they finished the development of their 16-bit computer system, the Atari ST. In 1985, they released their update to the 8-bit computer line—the Atari XE series—as well as the 16-bit Atari ST line. Then in 1986, Atari Corp. launched two consoles designed when Atari was under Warner's control: Atari 2600 Jr and Atari 7800 (which had a limited release in 1984). Atari Corp. rebounded, producing a $25 million profit for 1986.[1] The Atari ST line proved very successful (mostly in Europe, not the U.S.), ultimately selling more than 5 million units. Its built-in MIDI ports made it especially popular among musicians. Still, after initially outselling the Amiga line, its closest competitor in the marketplace, the Amiga outsold it 3 to 2 in the end.[2]Atari eventually released a line of inexpensive IBM PC compatibles, announcing a budget model at "a record-breaking price of under $599" in early 1987,[3] to be followed by a more expandable PC-2 model at a higher price point,[4] this being announced alongside the PC-3 in November 1987.[5] Responding to the introduction of the low-cost Amstrad PC1512 in the UK, price points for the initial PC model were given as around £400 including VAT for a 512 KB floppy-only model supporting CGA, EGA and Hercules graphics, rising to £1000 including VAT for a hard drive model.[6] Later, the company introduced an MS-DOS compatible palm computer called the Atari Portfolio.

Decline and aftermath

In December 1995, Sam Tramiel suffered a mild heart attack, forcing him to step down as Atari's president, causing Jack Tramiel to come back and lead the company again. On January 2, 1996, at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show, Atari Corporation formally announced the formation of a PC division, Atari Interactive, to "address the worldwide PC market".[21][22] Planning to initially launch with four titles, Tempest 2000,[23] Highlander: The Last of the MacLeods, Baldies, and FlipOut!, further releases would include Missile Command 3D, Return to Crystal Castles, Rocky Interactive Horror Show, and Virtual War. These plans did not materialize.

Despite the Jaguar being a commercial failure, by February 1996, a series of successful lawsuits followed by profitable investments left Atari with millions of dollars in its bank account but no new products to sell at all. In addition, the Tramiel family wanted out of the business. On February 13, 1996, Atari agreed to merge with JTS Inc., a short-lived maker of hard disk drives, in a reverse takeover to form JTS Corporation.[1][24] The reverse merger was completed on July 30, 1996.[25] Financially, the merge consisted of Atari's "acquisition" of JTS for approximately $112.3 million.[26][27] Atari's role in the new company largely became a holder for most of its properties. Most of Atari's staff members were either dismissed or resigned, and its Atari Interactive division was quickly shut down,[28] with the remainder of its employees being relocated to JTS's headquarters.[29][30] Consequently, the Atari name almost vanished from the consumer market.

On March 13, 1998, JTS Corporation sold the Atari name and assets to Hasbro Interactive for $5 million,[31] less than a fifth of what Warner Communications had paid 22 years earlier. The transaction primarily involved the brand and intellectual property rights, which Hasbro Interactive largely used as a brand name for retro game releases.

On January 29, 2001, Hasbro Interactive was sold to Infogrames,[34] which renamed it Infogrames Interactive and then the Atari Interactive name in 2003. The present day Atari Interactive, through Atari SA, continues to hold and license all Atari trademarks as well as produce many new games, some based on Atari's original properties, to this day.

Atari Corporation

History

Decline and aftermath

List of products

External links

References