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one of the great historical brands in the video game industry is Atari the company was right there at the outset
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and is still going strong more than 50 years later I had a chance to speak with Wade Rosen who is the CEO of Atari and
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we talked about a variety of topics including the areas that he's focused on
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right now so that Atari can be successful the three main ones are games hardware and
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Licensing both through organic and inorganic growth what about the hardware side of it that obviously that's a
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that's an important component uh for any company especially in this industry yeah well the hardware for us
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uh is a little bit different than most because um for example the 2600 plus which we just announced uh about a month
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ago is a uh a new 2600 that plays both 2600 and 7,800 games uh it's digital output HDMI compatible nothing really
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existed like that that and it plays the original cartridges so that would be an example of a hardware project that we're
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pursuing today that I think is is an interesting component is is bringing in some of the Legacy games that people of
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my age know and bringing them forward to what you want to have today what's that
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process like well it depends it depends on if we're remastering the games uh like like
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we do in our recharge series if we're reimagining them like we do in our upcoming up lunar lander Beyond or if
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we're displaying them in historical context like in Atari 50 um but in the case of the 2600 plus it's really just
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making them accessible I think a lot of people had Atari carts sitting in their in their attic or in a closet somewhere
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and it was a pretty common refrain that people would say oh I'd love to be able
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to play those but it was nearly impossible to get an old console working so in this case it's just allowing
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people to play what they already have do you see an element of of parents passing
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this Legacy down to their to their kids as you move forward here yeah I hope so I mean that's certainly a big part of
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the intent I always joke that you know Nintendo's the they're the Masters
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because I pay them for the privilege to uh teach my daughter about Mario and Zelda and so you know her like she loves
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Mario because I love Mario and it would be amazing if something like that also were to happen with parents and I and I
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think there certainly is some of that and we're trying to increase the opportunities for people to do that so
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obviously it's not just only a console World obviously with smartphones and other devices out there how much do you
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focus on that side of the industry either now or in the future yeah I think mobile for a long
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time um was really dominated by freeo play it was hard to find much um there wasn't a lot on the premium side there
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and we primarily make premium games we do have one uh very successful mobile game called called Roller Coaster Tycoon
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touch that we continue and is always uh new content coming out for but I I think
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that's changed a little bit too thanks to players like apple Netflix Crunchyroll they're providing content
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for mobile phones but it's introduced more in a premium fashion so I would say
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up until recently we've been pretty limited but uh um I'm really intrigued
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by where Mobile's heading I think it's it's having a rebirth one of the things
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those platforms one of the things we've talked a lot about uh on our Show recently is about brand and the strength
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of Brands and certainly for people in this industry Atari is such a a brand that they remember how much do you focus
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on the brand and the strength of it as as a component of continuing to build the company out uh here in 2023 and
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Beyond uh as much as we possibly can I think I think part of what is so intriguing about Atari and one of the
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reasons I think a lot of us are here is the brand it's the name there's really
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um you know it's it's in one of the the logos is one of the top 10 recognizable
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logos in the world uh the brand is very resonant it feels at home in both the past in a retro sense but also on
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skyscrapers and Blade Runner and so yeah I think the brand is incredibly Timeless
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and we try to incorporate it in everything that we do as long as it doesn't become obnoxious what does that
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mean for you as the CEO of the company is there an element that impacts you know how you think about where the
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company is going and your thought process of of leading this company um yeah I think I think to some
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degree I think the history it's impossible to fully ignore the history of the company I mean it's so it's such
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a uh like a historic and and you know I think the biggest thing for us is is that it's not you know there was the
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rise and fall with Atari and so for everybody here you know it's it's fun
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because it's an Underdog Story we get to try and rebuild something back that has
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never been able to really emerge back um in a in a meaningful way and and I've
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also never had the opportunity to be a part of a company where everyone's rooting for you I mean it really is
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especially in like pop culture uh people just want to see Atari they want to see
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it succeed and I and it's really fun to read the comments section after you introduce a new product and just realize
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like oh man this is people have a very emotional tangible connection with this and and we get to be a part of it it
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feels really cool and so how then do you approach trying to build that connection
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obviously in this world of of of digital and social media there's certainly a lot
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of opportunities out there to try and continue to build that uh that connection I think I think we try and do
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it all you know I mean certainly digital and press releases but it even you know
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some of our larger releases get go through more traditional channels um radio obviously and uh and then you know
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trade shows uh big exhibits we we just recently um did packs and we're gonna we
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were at Gamescom and we're going to be going to pretty much all the major trade
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shows throughout the year and I think that's where we get to interact the most
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in the most personal way with fans yeah I would imagine that a lot of the your people that go to those shows uh end up
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having stories of connections with people coming up and say I remember when Atari you know you know those stories
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toally they get passed on from generation to generation yeah in fact I think my favorite example is at the last one
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there was a woman who uh took one of the 2600 cards and gave it to her daughter was like this is what Mom wants for
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Christmas and yes that's that's exactly that's exactly what we're going for
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there so where do you see then the path for Atari moving forward in the next few
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years what where do you have to focus and I guess to what level are are you looking to build this company out as
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you go forward yeah I think I mean the first thing to understand is the macro video
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game environment is challenged right now um much like technology you know over overgrowth during coid there's been a
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pullback after Co so what works is when you can find something that you can do better than anyone else if you can and I
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think that's what we always challenge ourselves like what should Atari what can Atari do that's better than anyone
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else the 2600 plus is obviously an example of that um our recent uh acquisition of night dive Studios which
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focuses on remasters of classic games is another example of that and I think we're just going to continue to focus on
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where we can be the most meaningful company and at this point in time that's
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an Innovative retro Hardware software licensing anything in that space that's
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really where we're going to put our our time and energy will it grow beyond that
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will it be more than that someday I'd love to say it would but you know for now it's it's enough to just be great at
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what you at this like little niche that we play in is it interesting to use the word retro when you're talking about the
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video game industry because I mean there is such a great history of all different
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companies and game but so much is you know in the here and now as well yeah yeah it is it is
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interesting um I think with Atari you can't avoid it I think Atari I think Atari is uh it will always
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have one foot in the past and one foot in the future and so it just feels very natural for us but it's it's more retro
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isn't just releasing old games I think that's where we get into into trouble
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like the the best example would be a guari 5050 which was a title we put out last year it it was designed to give
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context to all these games so it's actually a historical document it's as
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much of a it's as much of a documentary as it is a game you see video footage
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the developers talk about the titles and then you can dive in and play asteroids
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so it it it's not just playing a classic game you're also understanding everything that went into it and getting
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to see it I think that's really where that's going I think people want to want
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context around these old titles one of the other areas I know that in just kind of watching this from the outside uh is
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that you get a lot of companies within this industry that want to connect with another Big Brand uh you know something
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that's very successful in the entertainment sector in fact I think if I remember correctly the old Atari did
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that back in the day uh does that factor into your thinking not maybe not now but
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down the road as well oh absolutely I mean for example we did a collaboration with Lego this year
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for the uh 2600 uh set which was amazing that's like a a really uh awesome thing
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to do we've done collaborations with luxury Brands but we're constantly working on that and that's a big part of
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the the licensing part of the business and a lot more to come on that front for sure what are you most excited about
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right now for for what this company is doing I think I mean what what most excites me is the team that we have I
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think they're amazing um it's just this this really talented passionate group of people who
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care deeply and there's so much room to run that uh yeah I'm I think that's what
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excites me the most is is the team that I get to work with every day I know that's a little cliche but but it's the
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truth no that's that that's absolutely the case and so does also you factor in
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things like AR VR and AI as you're moving down the road as well oh absolutely you know we we released a
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VR game this year called pixel ripped which is uh you get to not only like go in these large Virtual Worlds but you're
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a developer at Atari and pixel ripped and pixel RI 1979 and um uh I think I think VR it's
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one of those things that will continue to evolve and it'll get better and better and I think people will I think
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it'll become a larger part of gaming as as the technology becomes simpler and
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simpler this is uh obviously a an amazing time in terms of your industry I think when you think about uh just the
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the connection that we have in the digital space and and big tech and and the growth of of of where we were even
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maybe just a decade ago uh with the uh video game industry how much bigger do you think this industry can get as we
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move forward I mean you you know if you were to look at a if you were to look at a
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chart of where the industry is today versus where it was in 2019 it's if you pull out Co it's on the
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exact trend line that was predicted where we were in 2019 so it has grown pretty significantly since 2019 I think
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where it gets into trouble is you know Co kind of reset the bar a little bit um but I think in terms of the size of the
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industry I think it'll continue to have you know pretty strong compounding growth year after year but I think the
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real change is like when games start to merge into social when they start to merge into other things you know that
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the cliche is the Ready Player One analogy but it'll probably come to some degree or another and I think that's
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that's when it makes the next big leap but up until then I think it can it can
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continue to grow pretty steadily year after year but I I think the idea of it growing 15% a year or something like
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that just probably isn't that feasible anymore given the maturity of the industry so what do you think will be
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kind of the lasting memory of the of the time of Co when you think about the the
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video game industry and obviously everybody being in and playing more video games how will that be looked back
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on do you think I I think we'll look back holistically on CO as a as a time of overinvestment um I think it was the
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end of cheap money and at the same time of rise in demand on a lot of goods and and even some services but mostly goods
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and and video games being one of those so you put those two together it kind of creates a a
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uh a a very small window of explosive growth in certain sectors that is not sustainable so I think we'll look back
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at at Co and kind of the the learnings from it will be obvious even though nobody was saying it during or not many
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people were saying it during coid you know like and we already see that with technology with a lot of media companies
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and with video games and and the same thing is hitting is hitting all of them it sounds like the reception from the
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consumer base in general has been very positive uh for you and for Atari uh as you're working moving forward here oh
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yeah I mean that that is the best part of the job is that you know the fans want Atari to succeed and and just
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general pop culture wants it to succeed so when you're there there's never a
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question if you should be there or not there it's more of like where have you
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been and why why weren't you here sooner that that's you know what that's
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and again as somebody who's in my mid-50s I could say you know what it is interesting to see how we have seen that
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and I saw the growth of some of these companies you know 30 40 years ago and it felt like maybe there was a little
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bit of a dip at some point going back to maybe the time of the financial recession through
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2019 but now it seems like it's it's full speed ahead right now with this
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industry with video games specifically yeah exactly well I'm glad it comes off that
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way it certainly isn't the case in the industry in fact it the industry is kind
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of in Retreat a little bit just in terms of of growth because again many companies doubled or tripled head count
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during coid so everything is still up significantly over 2019 but from where we were in 2021 or 2022 um most
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companies have pulled back uh layoffs and sometimes Studio closures sometimes companies shutting down um I
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actually think the industry is going through a little bit of a right sizing uh just holistically at the moment Wade
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pleasure to meet you uh it sounds like you guys are doing fantastic things as Atari builds the brand back up again
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thank you sir thank you so much for having me you got it Wade Rosen who is the CEO of
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Atari