Company profile
- Industry
- Video games
- Founded
- 1972
- Headquarters
- Paris, France
- Ownership
- Publicly traded
Profiles are auto-generated and infrequently updated.
The analyses
The Cannibalization Choice · Business Model
Atari Built a Successor It Refused to Let Succeed
The 5200 was supposed to carry Atari into the next generation. Instead it was deliberately made incompatible with the 2600's games — by Atari's own engineers — and launched at $299.95 while the cash cow kept selling. Two hobbled machines, no clean break, and no lifeboat when the market fell 97%.
8 min
The Counterfactual · Decision Forks
Atari Nearly Signed Nintendo in 1983 — Then a $356 Million Collapse Blew the Company Apart
The legend says Atari turned down Nintendo. It almost signed the deal at the June 1983 CES — until a licensing fight, a CEO fired amid an SEC probe, and a $356 million collapse blew the company apart before the NES ever launched.
8 min
The Fall · Decision Forks
Atari Gave Away What Its Platform Should Have Sold — Then Came the Near-97% Collapse
The 1983 crash is remembered as a landfill in New Mexico full of E.T. cartridges. But Atari's home-video revenue fell from $3.2 billion to roughly $100 million by 1985 - a near-97% collapse - and the real cause was a platform that gave away the one thing it should never have sold.
8 min