Atari
This article is a stub. You can help Deskthority by expanding it.
| Industry |
Consumer electronics Home entertainment |
|---|---|
| Successor | Atari Corporation |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Founder(s) |
Nolan Bushnell Ted Dabney |
| Defunct | 1984 |
| Headquarters | Sunnyvale, CA, USA |
| Former type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry |
Home computers Video games |
| Predecessor | Atari Inc. |
| Successor | Atari Interactive, Atari SA |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Founder(s) | Jack Tramiel |
| Defunct | 1998 |
| Headquarters | Sunnyvale, CA, USA |
| Key people |
Jack Tramiel (CEO) Sam Tramiel (President) |
| FCC grantee code | EBA |
Atari was founded as Atari Inc. in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in Sunnyvale, California. Formerly the two of them had founded Syzygy Engineering and designed a game for Nutting Associates that would eventually become the first arcade video game and the first video game commercially available.[1]
With the release of the Atari VCS (later renamed 2600) console in 1975 Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications, continuing as chairman and co-CEO until 1978 when he decided to leave due to disagreements with WC management. After the big success of the Atari 2600 and following the video game crash of 1983 Warner ended up selling the home computing and game console divisions of Atari to Tramel Technology in 1984, but kept the arcade division under the new name Atari Games until they sold it to Namco in 1985.
It is under Jack Tramiel's ownership that the new Atari Corporation enters the 16-bit era with the Atari ST line of computers, as well as releasing updates for old machines with the Atari XE series of computers and later the Atari 2600 Jr. and Atari 7800 consoles. As the industry evolved so did Atari with the release of the Atari Lynx and Jaguar consoles, but with limited success. In 1996 the company merged with JTS Corp. and virtually vanished from the market.
In 1998 JTS sold the Atari name and assets to Hasbro Interactive, which then became the property of French software publisher Infogrames in 2000. In 2003 the subsidiary was renamed as Atari Interactive, then in 2009 it changed again to Atari SA.
Products
See also
References
- ↑ Technologizer — Computer Space and the Dawn of the Arcade Video Game by Benj Edwards. Dated 2011-12-11. Retrieved 2024-05-10.
