Earlier this year, Atari reported that they were teaming with Playmaji to create Atari modules for the Polymega console, but a recent half-year financial report shows that their investment in the company goes beyond that. According to the document, Atari owns a non-controlling stake of 53% of the company.
The year has seen quite a few acquisitions by Atari. While it started out by buying back catalogs of game properties, they later announced the acquisition of Nightdive Studios and Digital Eclipse, two of the top developers focused on remasters, rereleases, and overall preservation of video games. In July, they announced their partnership with Playmaji along with a “minority investment,” and now we can see that came at the price tag of €4.6 million
As someone who only really heard of Polymega back in July – which is a bit embarrassing for someone so deeply invested in retro games – unraveling what has gone on with it in the past few years is rather difficult. The basic idea is a modular retro console that allows you to upload (or rip) your game collection as a unified console to play them. Press reviews for the console happened way back in 2020, but it seems that they have yet to fulfill preordered units.
To be more specific, according to the document, “Atari holds a non-controlling stake of 53% on a non-diluted basis and 49% on a fully diluted basis.”
In a recent interview with gameindustry.biz, Atari CEO Wade Rosen addressed the issues and intentions. He said, “For most of our projects we’ve done and probably the ones we will do going forward, we look for best-in-class partners who know how to do those things, have access to supply chains and distribution chains… In the case of the Polymega, the investment really was for them to clear that up. The investment was really to help them get back on track on those things and work out from that backlog.”
Rosen goes on to say that a lot of the problems with the production of the Playmega was with COVID and the resultant chip shortage that made components for the console extremely expensive. While this may be an unsatisfactory excuse for customers, it is maybe worth remembering that the chip shortage affected a lot of industries, and we’re still recovering from it.
However, right now, there are reports on Twitter that Japanese customers who ordered through Amazon are now receiving their units. According to my source, units have also arrived in the US and may begin distribution soon.
While acquisitions within the industry have been common, especially throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Atari’s seems unique from my perspective. While other publishers seem to be seeking to gain high-value IPs wherever possible, Atari seems focused on making a business out of the retro market and is seeking partners with established knowledge on the subject.
While I’m not sold on the Polymega (damn, that’s pricey), gaming’s history is important to me, so it’s interesting to watch a company make such moves in regards to it.
