Gameplay[edit]Broderbund Software, Inc. (stylized as Brøderbund) was an American maker of video games, educational software, and productivity tools. Broderbund is best known for the 8-bit video game hits Choplifter, Lode Runner, Karateka, and Prince of Persia (all of which originated on the Apple II), as well as The Print Shop—originally for printing signs and banners on dot matrix printers—and the Myst and Carmen Sandiego games. The company was founded in Eugene, Oregon, and moved to San Rafael, California, then later to Novato, California.[1] Brøderbund was purchased by SoftKey in 1998.
Many of Broderbund's software titles, such as The Print Shop, PrintMaster, and Mavis Beacon, are still published under the name "Brøderbund". Games released by the revived Broderbund are distributed by Encore, Inc. Brøderbund is now the brand name for Riverdeep's graphic design, productivity, and edutainment titles such as The Print Shop, Carmen Sandiego, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, the Living Books series, and Reader Rabbit titles, in addition to publishing software for other companies, notably Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm.
The company would often release school editions of their games, which contained extra features to allow teachers to use the software to facilitate students' learning.[2]
Etymology[edit]
The word "brøderbund" is not an actual word in any language but is a somewhat loose translation of "band of brothers" into a mixture of Danish, Dutch, German, and Swedish.[3] The "ø" in "brøderbund" was used partially as a play on the letter ø from the Dano-Norwegian alphabet but was mainly referencing the slashed zero found in mainframes, terminals, and early personal computers.[4] The three crowns above the logo are also a reference to the lesser national coat of arms of Sweden.[citation needed]
The company's name is pronounced /ˈbruːdərbʌnd/[5] instead of the popularly used /ˈbroʊdərbʌnd/.
History[edit]
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Brøderbund was founded by brothers Doug and Gary Carlston in 1980[6] for the purpose of marketing Galactic Empire,[7] a strategy computer game that Doug Carlston had created in 1979. Before founding the company, Doug was a lawyer and Gary had held several jobs, including teaching Swedish at an American college. Their sister Cathy joined the company a year later from Lord & Taylor.[8] Galactic Empire had many names taken from African languages; a group of merchants was named Broederbond, Afrikaans for "association of brothers". To emphasize its family origin while avoiding a connection with the ethnonationalist Afrikaner organization of the same name, the Carlstons altered the spelling when naming their company "Brøderbund".[9]
By 1982, Brøderbund produced arcade games which, the company told Jerry Pournelle, sold much better than strategy games.[10] Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co. invested in the company that year.[8] In 1983, the Carlstons publicly discussed their plans to emphasize home utility software (Bank Street Writer and other "Bank Street" applications), computer literacy with The Jim Henson Company, and edutainment.[11] By early 1984 InfoWorld estimated that Brøderbund was tied with Human Engineered Software as the world's tenth-largest microcomputer-software company and largest entertainment-software company, with $13 million in 1983 sales.[12] That year it took over the assets of the well-regarded but financially troubled Synapse Software. Although intending to keep it running as a business, they were unable to make money from Synapse's products, and closed it down after a year.[13]
Brøderbund's The Print Shop software produced signs and greeting cards. Brøderbund started discussions with Unison World about creating an MS-DOS version. The two companies could not agree on a contract, but Unison World developed a product with similar function and a similar user interface. Broderbund sued for infringement of their copyright. Brøderbund v. Unison (1986) became a landmark case in establishing that the look and feel of a software product could be subject to copyright protection.[14]
Sierra On-Line and Broderbund ended merger discussions in March 1991.[15] By that year Brøderbund had about $50 million in revenue, and 25% share of the education market. Carmen Sandiego had been its first internally developed product, but the company now developed most of its software; Doug Carlston stated that Brøderbund needed "to control our own sources, to control our future". After an unsuccessful initial public offering in 1987, the company executed a private placement for 20% of shares with Jostens.[16] Broderbund became a public company in November 1991 with the NASDAQ symbol BROD.[17][18] When it went public The Print Shop comprised 33% of total revenue, and the Carmen Sandiego series 26%.[19] Brøderbund stock price and market capitalization climbed to $72.50 per share in September 1995,[5] and then fell steadily because of continued losses for several years.
The early and mid-1990s saw a video game industry trend of consolidation of development and publishing companies, as rising development costs and pressure from large retailers put pressure on smaller companies.[20][21] Brøderbund acquired PC Globe in July 1992.[22] It attempted to purchase The Learning Company in 1995,[23][24] but was outbid by SoftKey, who purchased The Learning Company for US$606 million in cash and then adopted its name.[6]
Acquisition[edit]
On June 22, 1998, The Learning Company bought Brøderbund for about US$420 million in stock.[6] The acquisition was structured as a stock swap, with The Learning Company issuing 0.80 shares for each share of Brøderbund's, with the purchasing price set at about 21 percent higher than Brøderbund's valuation according to its stock price.[20][25] The Learning Company then fired five hundred employees at Brøderbund the same year, representing 42% of the company's workforce.[26] Doug Carlston explained that in a bid to roll up Brøderbund, SoftKey used their previous acquisitions to weaken the company's position in the industry. They allegedly gave a rebate to Mindscape's PrintMaster, a direct competitor to Brøderbund's Print Shop, that was more than the product was worth.[27]
In 1998, Brøderbund inked a deal with Nickelodeon to develop CD-ROM games based on its animated cartoons, such as Rugrats.[28]
In 1999, the combined company was purchased by Mattel for $3.6 billion.[29] Mattel reeled from the financial impact of this transaction, and Jill E. Barad, the CEO, ended up being forced out in a climate of investor outrage.[30][31] Mattel sold their game division Mattel Interactive as well as all its assets in September 2000 to Gores Technology Group, a private acquisitions firm, for a share of whatever Gores could obtain by selling the company. During this time, Brøderbund products were owned by The Learning Company Deutschland GmbH, located in Oberhaching, Germany. Headed by Jean-Pierre Nordmann, the company was a subsidiary of The Learning Company (formerly SoftKey), which itself was a wholly owned subsidiary of Gores Technology Group.[32] The company published games under two logos: Blue (Brøderbund) and Red (The Learning Company). The "Brøderbund" label was used for "high-quality infotainment, design and lifestyle titles such as Cosmopolitan My Style 2 and PrintMaster", while "The Learning Company" label was used for children's software.[33]
In 2001, Gores sold The Learning Company's entertainment holdings to Ubi Soft, and most of the other holdings, including the Brøderbund name, to Irish company Riverdeep.[34] Many of Brøderbund's games, such as the Myst series, are published by Ubisoft. The Brøderbund line of products is published by Encore, Inc. under license from Riverdeep.[35][36] Under the terms of the agreement, Encore now manages the Broderbund family of products as well as Brøderbund's direct to consumer business. In May 2010 Encore acquired the assets of Punch! Software.[37]
In 2014, Doug Carlston donated a collection of Brøderbund's business records, software, and a collection of games that includes Myst, Prince of Persia, and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? to The Strong National Museum of Play. The Strong National Museum of Play forwarded the collection to the ICHEG museum for preservation.[38]
As of 2017, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is offering the Brøderbund, The Print Shop, Calendar Creator, and ClickArt brands for licensing.[39]
Products[edit]
Brøderbund scored an early hit with the game Galactic Empire, written by Doug Carlston for the TRS-80. The company's first title for the Apple II, Tank Command, was written by the third Carlston brother, Professor Donal Carlston.
The company became a powerhouse in the educational and entertainment software markets with titles like Fantavision, Choplifter, Apple Panic, Lode Runner, Karateka, Wings of Fury, Prince of Persia, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, The Guardian Legend, Logical Journey of the Zoombinis, and Myst, which stayed the highest grossing home video game for years. Brøderbund became one of the most dominant publishers in the computer market of the 1980s, releasing video games for virtually all major computer systems in the United States.[40] Like most early computer gaming developers, Brøderbund began as an Apple II-focused company and began expanding to other platforms as time went along. They released IBM PC ports of a few games very early on, however, it was not until after 1985 that Broderbund would seriously develop for PC compatibles. Due to their strong focus on education titles, they were one of a few developers to actively support the Apple IIGS in the late 1980s. Some of the more popular Broderbund titles were licensed to Western European and Japanese developers and ported to systems in those regions. During the 1990s, Brøderbund mostly concentrated on educational titles for PCs and Macintoshes with a few forays into RPGs and strategy games.
Brøderbund published the Print Shop series of desktop publishing making programs;[41] Family Tree Maker[42] (a genealogy program supported by hundreds of CDs of public genealogy data); 3D Home Architect,[43] a program for designing and visualizing family homes; and Banner Mania, a program for designing and printing multi-page banners. By the end of the 1980s, games represented only a few percent of Broderbund's annual sales, which by then were heavily focused in the productivity arena and early education and learning areas.
Just before being acquired by The Learning Company (formerly SoftKey), Brøderbund spun off its Living Books series by forming a joint venture with Random House Publishing.[44] Despite the success and quality of the Living Books series, the joint venture was only marginally successful and was dissolved with The Learning Company deal.
For a brief time, Brøderbund was involved in the video game console market when it published a few games for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) through its New Ventures Division.[45] All of Brøderbund's games for the NES, including the port of its own franchises Lode Runner, Spelunker, and Raid on Bungeling Bay, were developed by third-party Japanese companies. Brøderbund published some titles that were produced by companies that didn't have a North American subsidiary, such as Irem's Deadly Towers, Compile's The Guardian Legend, Imagineer's The Battle of Olympus, and Legacy of the Wizard, the fourth installment in Nihon Falcom's Dragon Slayer series. Brøderbund also developed and marketed an ill-fated motion sensitive NES controller device called the U-Force, which was operated without direct physical contact between the player and the device.[46] Broderbund also served as distributing agent of Irem's North American NES release of Sqoon, because Irem didn't yet have its own American operation.[47] In 1990, Broderbund sold its New Ventures Division, including manufacturing equipment, inventory, and assets, to then-fledgling company THQ.[45][48]
Brøderbund released in the United States Arsys Software's 1986 third-person action RPG shooter WiBArm.[49]
Brøderbund briefly had a board game division, which published Don Carlston's Personal Preference, along with several board game versions of its video games.
Operation Whirlwind is a game in which Northern France is the setting for this battalion level strategy game.[2]
Reception[edit]
Mark J. Bausman reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World and stated, "Although not as complex as some computer wargames, this game provides the elements of a good tactical duel."[2] Softline found the approachability to be a plus: "For people who have avoided the mammoth games by Strategic Simulations and Avalon Hill simply because each game swallows hours of one's life and there's so much information to keep track of, Operation Whirlwind is a godsend." The reviewer also complimented the writing quality of the manual.[3]
Operation Whirlwind (Croatian: Operacija Vihor)[1] was a failed Croatian Army (HV) offensive in the Banovina region of Croatia, fought from 11–13 December 1991, during the early stages of the Croatian War of Independence. The offensive employed a single infantry brigade as the main attacking force, supported by a bridging unit and a handful of tanks and armoured personnel carriers. Although the offensive met hardly any resistance in its initial stage, achieving tactical surprise, the operation was poorly planned, supported and executed as a result of limited training and combat experience. The offensive established a short-lived bridgehead, evacuated in panic two days after the operation commenced, under tank and mortar fire from the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) deployed north of Glina.
The operation was criticised for its poor planning and execution, insufficient preparation, reconnaissance and training, and inappropriate command and control methods applied by the Sisak Operational Group in charge of the offensive. It also lacked clear objectives. Afterwards, Croatian military authorities investigated the offensive, but found that there was very little written documentation, including written unit-level orders, pertaining to the operation. That led Admiral Davor Domazet-Lošo to conclude that the offensive was not formally authorised. The formal investigation did not specifically charge anyone with the failures, simply specifying the problems observed instead.
Background[edit]
In 1990, following the electoral defeat of the government of the Socialist Republic of Croatia, ethnic tensions worsened. The Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija – JNA) confiscated Croatia's Territorial Defence (Teritorijalna obrana - TO) weapons to minimize resistance.[2] On 17 August, the tensions escalated into an open revolt by Croatian Serbs,[3] centred on the predominantly Serb-populated areas of the Dalmatian hinterland around Knin,[4] parts of the Lika, Kordun, Banovina and eastern Croatia.[5] This was followed by two unsuccessful attempts by Serbia, supported by Montenegro and Serbia's provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo to obtain the Yugoslav Presidency's approval for a JNA operation to disarm Croatian security forces in January 1991.[6]
After a bloodless skirmish between Serb insurgents and Croatian special police in March,[7] the JNA itself, supported by Serbia and its allies, asked the Federal Presidency to give it wartime authorities and declare a state of emergency. The request was denied on 15 March, and the JNA came under the control of Serbian President Slobodan Milošević. Milošević, preferring a campaign to expand Serbia rather than to preserve Yugoslavia, publicly threatened to replace the JNA with a Serbian army and declared that he no longer recognized the authority of the Federal Presidency.[8] By the end of the month, the conflict had escalated into the Croatian War of Independence.[9] The JNA stepped in, increasingly supporting the Croatian Serb insurgents, and preventing Croatian police from intervening.[8] In early April, the leaders of the Croatian Serb revolt declared their intention to integrate the area under their control, known as SAO Krajina, with Serbia. The Government of Croatia viewed this declaration as an attempt to secede.[10]
In May, the Croatian government responded by forming the Croatian National Guard (Zbor narodne garde - ZNG),[11] but its development was hampered by a United Nations (UN) arms embargo introduced in September.[12] On 8 October, Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia,[13] and a month later the ZNG was renamed the Croatian Army (Hrvatska vojska - HV).[11] Late 1991 saw the fiercest fighting of the war, as the 1991 Yugoslav campaign in Croatia culminated in the Siege of Dubrovnik,[14] and the Battle of Vukovar.[15] In western Slavonia, the HV managed to push back the JNA at several points, and secure Papuk Mountain in early December in Operation Otkos 10.[16]
Order of battle[edit]
The principal force committed to the offensive, planned by the HV Sisak Operational Group (OG), was the 102nd Infantry Brigade,[17] attached to the Sisak OG by the Zagreb Operational Zone command, as the single combat unit deployed as a reserve in the Sisak OG area of responsibility (AOR).[18]
Besides the 102nd Brigade, commanded by Captain Franc Ferenčak,[19] the Zagreb Operational Zone deployed an armoured-mechanised unit, attached directly to the Zagreb Operational Zone, into the Sisak OG AOR.[20] The unit consisted of eight tanks and two armoured personnel carriers.[21]
The Sisak OG assigned the 10th Brigade of the Croatian TO to support the right flank of the 102nd Infantry Brigade.[22] Protection of the left flank was assigned to the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Guards Brigade,[23] supported by the 2nd Battalion of the 144th Infantry Brigade.[22]
To reinforce the 102nd Infantry Bridade and the independent armoured-mechanised unit, ten soldiers from the Glina Battalion were attached to each battalion of the 10th and 102nd brigades; two soldiers were assigned to serve as guides for each tank. In addition, the Glina Battalion was tasked with reconnaissance, harassment of JNA's rear and securing captured infrastructure.[22]
Sisak special police were assigned to support the Glina Battalion, and indirectly the main offensive force. The 36th Engineering-Pontoon Battalion was tasked with the Kupa River crossing by the 102nd Infantry Brigade.[24] The Sisak OG was commanded by Major General Božo Budimir.[25]
The Croatian Serb TO and JNA defences immediately west of the city of Sisak and north of Glina were positioned along the right (southern) bank of the Kupa River, largely consisting of the JNA 592nd and the 622nd Mechanised Brigades. On the opposite bank, the HV 100th Infantry Brigade held positions west of Sisak, flanked by the 145th Infantry Brigade to its right, and the 10th brigade of the Croatian TO further to the west.[18] The planned main axis of the Operation Whirlwind extended across the 592nd Mechanised Brigade AOR, commanded by Colonel Boško Džombić.[26]
Timeline[edit]
The HV 102nd Infantry Brigade arrived at the Sisak OG AOR on 11 December 1992, and was ordered to undertake the offensive on the same evening, at about 20:00, leaving no time for any preparation or reconnaissance. A reconnaissance–sabotage detachment of the HV Glina Battalion and the special police force were ferried across the Kupa River on the night of 11/12 December, capturing the village of Stankovac and preparing to support the 102nd Infantry Brigade at the river crossing. The 36th Engineering-Pontoon Battalion completed a crossing point in the village of Šišinec by 4:00 and the lead elements of the 102nd Infantry Brigade crossed the Kupa River a half-hour later.[27]
The river crossing was unopposed until 08:00, when the defending force launched a mortar attack against the crossing point. Nonetheless, the 1st Battalion of the 102nd Infantry Brigade cleared the river by 09:00 that morning and reached Stankovac.[21]
After spending three hours crossing the Kupa River, by 13:00 the independent armoured-mechanised unit was headed for Mala Solina, 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) to the south. However, the unit was intercepted by JNA armour and forced to turn back to Stankovac. To further complicate the situation for the HV, the 10th Brigade did not even start to move south, while the 2nd Battalion of the 102nd Independent Brigade would not cross Kupa before its commander joined the unit at 16:00.[21]
The 3rd Battalion of the 102nd Infantry Brigade reached the village of Vratečko on the right (southern) bank of the Kupa River, but was unable to join the force south of Kupa. A bridge separating the battalion from the rest of the brigade remained out of HV's control.[21]
By the evening, the 2nd Battalion was ordered to separate from the main axis of the offensive and protect the right flank of the 1st Battalion of the 102nd Brigade—performing the task originally assigned to the 10th Brigade of the Croatian TO. At the same time, the 10th Brigade commanding officer was relieved of duty for failure to advance. Regardless, the unit remained inactive. The HV units that managed to cross the river on 12 December surprised the JNA and reported inflicting considerable casualties.[21]
On the night of 12/13 December, the air temperature dropped to −15 °C (5 °F), and HV troops sought shelter in Stankovac until the morning—shrinking the bridgehead held by the 102nd Infantry Brigade. In addition, the 36th Engineering-Platoon Battalion removed engineering equipment from the Kupa crossing, leaving behind only four to six boats. The command post of the 102nd Infantry Brigade remained in Farkašić, detached from the main offensive force in Stankovac.[28]
On 13 December, at approximately 07:00, the independent HV armoured-mechanised unit advanced northwest along the Kupa, towards Gračanica. During the advance, one of the tanks was captured and its crew killed after the capture. Nearly simultaneously, the JNA commenced a tank and mortar attack against Stankovac and the river crossing at Šišinec. The HV armoured-mechanised unit and the 1st Battalion of the 102nd Infantry Brigade panicked, believing the crossing point was lost, and started to fall back to Šišinec in disarray, sustaining considerable casualties. Since there was no way to transport the remaining HV armour across the Kupa River, the tanks were destroyed by one of the force's own tanks. That tank was then destroyed with explosives to prevent its capture. As there were too few boats at the river crossing to allow a quick retreat, some of the troops swam across the river, causing several to drown in very cold water. The command post of the brigade fell back to Galdovo, while the troops started to retreat to Zagreb. The entire brigade was back in Zagreb by 15 December.[29]
Aftermath[edit]
While the JNA's casualties are not known, the HV sustained a loss of 18 killed and 18 wounded,[30] as well as a loss of eight tanks, two armoured personnel carriers and seven boats.[31] The 2,011-strong 102nd Infantry Brigade alone suffered 13 dead. Their names were later inscribed on a memorial plaque in Šišinec, at the Kupa River crossing point. In the aftermath of the offensive, there were speculations in Croatia that the casualties were much higher,[30] possibly as many as 60 killed and 200 wounded.[32]
A Croatian Serb paramilitary unit, "Šiltovi", based in Glina, is suspected of killing HV troops taken as prisoners of war during the retreat.[33] In addition, Croatian Serb forces killed 21 civilians in the Joševica massacre as retribution for the HV offensive.[34] The killing was investigated by SAO Krajina authorities, which concluded that the killings were in revenge for the deaths of 21 Serb paramilitaries in the village of Gračenica in Operation Whirlwind.[35] In 2010, Croatian authorities charged six individuals with war crimes committed in the village of Joševica.[34]
The failed offensive was investigated by the HV in 1991 and researched later by retired HV Brigadier Vlado Hodalj.[30] He concluded that the offensive failed because of overall poor planning and preparation, specifically citing the lack of reconnaissance and reserves.[36] Furthermore, Hodalj cited inadequate leadership by the Sisak OG as a cause of the failure, pointing to inaction in respect of the 10th Brigade's failure to advance and improper employment of the 2nd Guards Brigade in an auxiliary role,[37] protecting the flank of an inexperienced brigade that was committed to the offensive with little, if any, training.[38] Finally, the offensive itself had no clear goal.[39] Croatian Admiral Davor Domazet-Lošo also criticised the offensive as an unnecessary, purely tactical and politically counterproductive move, likely unauthorised by appropriate authorities.[40]
Hodalj praised the Sisak OG command for managing to keep the operation a secret until it was launched, making sure it would surprise the JNA. The secrecy was reflected in the apparent last-minute rerouting of the 102nd Infantry Brigade to the offensive, although the Zagreb Operational Zone deployed it to Sunja, to the east of Sisak. Still, the Sisak OG failed to prepare detailed river crossing plans, or even issue maps and written brigade-level commands for the crossings—relying on oral commands instead.[41] Likewise, the troops were not equipped to endure the cold weather in the open, limiting their effectiveness.[42] Hodalj concluded that the offensive exceeded needs and capabilities of the Sisak OG. Even though the 1991 HV investigation concluded that the offensive was prepared for ten days and was approved by Zagreb Operational Zone command, there are no documents pertaining to the preparations other than those issued by the Sisak OG itself.[43] Regardless of the poor preparation of the offensive, the 102nd Infantry Brigade was subject to public criticism in Croatia for fleeing the battlefield in the aftermath of Operation Whirlwind.[44]
Atari (/əˈtɑːri/) is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive.[1][2][3] The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, California, USA in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles, and home computers. The company's products, such as Pong and the Atari 2600, helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s.
In 1984, as a result of the video game crash of 1983, the home console and computer divisions of the original Atari Inc. were sold off to Jack Tramiel's Tramel Technology Ltd., which then renamed itself to Atari Corporation.[4][5] Atari, Inc. was renamed Atari Games Inc.[6] Atari Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text "Games" on arcade games. The rights to Atari, Inc.'s game properties were shared between the two companies, with Atari Corporation receiving the trademarks and the home rights.[7] In 1996, Atari Corporation reverse-merged with disk-drive manufacturer JT Storage (JTS),[8] becoming a division within the company. In 1998, Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari Corporation–related properties from JTS,[9] creating a new subsidiary, Atari Interactive.[10]
Infogrames Entertainment (IESA) bought Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and renamed it Infogrames Interactive, which intermittently published Atari-branded titles. In 2003, it renamed the division Atari Interactive. Another IESA division, Infogrames Inc.,[11] changed its name to Atari, Inc. the same year, licensing the Atari name and logo from its fellow subsidiary.[2][12][13] In 2008, IESA completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc.'s outstanding stock, making it a wholly owned subsidiary.[14] IESA renamed itself Atari SA in 2009. It sought bankruptcy protection under French law in January 2013.
As of 2023, the current Atari's focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and blockchain".[15]
History[edit]
Logotype[edit]
The name comes from the Japanese term atari, used while playing the ancient board game Go. The word atari means "to hit a target" in Japanese and is associated with good fortune; in Go, it indicates a situation where a player will be able to capture one or more stones of the opponent in the next move.[16]
The Atari logo was designed by George Opperman, who was Atari's first in-house graphic designer and drawn by Evelyn Seto.[17] The design is known as "Fuji" for its resemblance to the Japanese mountain, although the logo's origins are unrelated to it. Opperman designed the logo intending for the silhouette to look like the letter A as in Atari and for its three "prongs" to resemble players and the midline of the "court" in the company's first hit game, Pong.[18]
Atari Inc. (1972–1984)[edit]
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In 1971, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded a small engineering company, Syzygy Engineering,[19] that designed Computer Space, the world's first commercially available arcade video game, for Nutting Associates. On June 27, 1972, the two incorporated Atari, Inc. and soon hired Al Alcorn as their first design engineer. Bushnell asked Alcorn to produce an arcade version of the Magnavox Odyssey's Tennis game,[20] which would be named Pong. While Bushnell incorporated Atari in June 1972, Syzygy Company was never formally incorporated. Before Atari's incorporation, Bushnell considered various terms from the game Go, eventually choosing atari, referencing a position in the game when a group of stones is imminently in danger of being taken by one's opponent. Atari was incorporated in the state of California on June 27, 1972.[21]
In 1973, Atari secretly spawned a competitor called Kee Games, headed by Nolan's next-door neighbor Joe Keenan, to circumvent pinball distributors' insistence on exclusive distribution deals; both Atari and Kee could market nearly the same game to different distributors, each getting an "exclusive" deal. Joe Keenan's management of the subsidiary led to his appointment as president of Atari when Kee was absorbed into the company in 1974.[22]
In 1975, Atari's Grass Valley, California subsidiary Cyan Engineering started the development of a flexible console that was capable of playing the four existing Atari games. The result was the Atari Video Computer System, or VCS (later renamed 2600 when the 5200 was released). The introductory price of $199 (equivalent to $1,023 in 2022) included a console, two joysticks, a pair of paddles, and the Combat game cartridge.[23] Bushnell knew he had another potential hit on his hands but bringing the machine to market would be extremely expensive. Looking for outside investors, Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications in 1976 for $28 million. Nolan continued to have disagreements with Warner Management over the direction of the company, the discontinuation of the pinball division, and most importantly, the notion of discontinuing the 2600. In 1978, Kee Games was disbanded.[24] In December of that year, Bushnell was fired following an argument with Manny Gerard. "[W]e started fighting like cats and dogs. And then the wheels came off that fall. Warner claimed they fired me", recalled Bushnell. "I say I quit. It was a mutual separation."[25]
The development of a successor to the 2600 started as soon as it shipped. The original team estimated the 2600 had a lifespan of about three years; it then set forth to build the most powerful machine possible within that time frame. Mid-way into their effort the home computer revolution took off, leading to the addition of a keyboard and features to produce the Atari 800 and its smaller sibling, the 400. The new machines had some success when they finally became available in quantity in 1980. From this platform Atari released their next-generation game console in 1982, the Atari 5200. It was unsuccessful due to incompatibility with the 2600 game library, a small quantity of dedicated games, and notoriously unreliable controllers. Porting arcade games to home systems with inferior hardware was difficult. The ported version of Pac-Man for Atari 2600 omitted many of the visual features of the original to compensate for the lack of ROM space and the hardware struggled when multiple ghosts appeared on the screen creating a flickering effect.[26]
Under Warner and Atari's chairman and CEO, Raymond Kassar, the company achieved its greatest success, selling millions of 2600s and computers. At its peak, Atari accounted for a third of Warner's annual income and was the fastest-growing company in US history at the time. It ran into problems in the early 1980s. Faced with fierce competition and price wars in the game console and home computer markets, Atari was never able to duplicate the success of the 2600.
These problems were followed by the video game crash of 1983, with losses that totaled more than $500 million. Warner's stock price slid from $60 to $20, and the company began searching for a buyer for its troubled division. In 1983, Ray Kassar resigned. Financial problems continued to mount and Kassar's successor, James J. Morgan, had less than a year in which to tackle the company's problems. He began a massive restructuring of the company and worked with Warner Communications in May 1984 to create "NATCO" (an acronym for New Atari Company). NATCO further streamlined the company's facilities, personnel, and spending. Unknown to James Morgan and the senior management of Atari, Warner had been in talks with Tramel Technology to buy Atari's consumer electronics and home computer divisions. Negotiating until close to midnight on July 1, 1984, Jack Tramiel purchased the home computing and game console divisions of Atari for $240 million in promissory notes and stocks. Warner gained a 20% stake in Tramel Technologies, which was renamed Atari Corporation.[27] Warner retained the arcade division, continuing it under the name Atari Games, but sold it to Namco in 1985. Warner also sold the Ataritel division to Mitsubishi.
Atari Corporation (1984–1996)[edit]
Under Tramiel's ownership, Atari Corp. used the remaining stock of game console inventory to keep the company afloat while they finished development on a 16/32-bit computer system, the Atari ST. ("ST" stands for "sixteen/thirty-two", referring to the machines' 16-bit bus and 32-bit processor core.) In April 1985, they released an update to the 8-bit computer line, the Atari 65XE, the first in the Atari XE series. June 1985 saw the release of the Atari 130XE; Atari User Groups received early sneak-preview samples of the new Atari 520ST's, and major retailer shipments hit store shelves in September 1985 of Atari's new 32-bit Atari ST computers. In 1986, Atari launched two consoles designed under Warner — the Atari 2600jr and the Atari 7800 console (which saw limited release in 1984). Atari rebounded, earning a $25 million profit that year.
In 1987, Atari acquired the Federated Group for $67.3 million, securing shelf space in over 60 stores in California, Arizona, Texas and Kansas[28] at a time when major American electronics outlets were reluctant to carry Atari-branded computers, and two-thirds of Atari's PC production was sold in Europe.[29] The Federated Group (not related to Federated Department Stores) was sold to Silo in 1989.[30]
In 1988, the company unveiled the 1040STF and the Mega ST with a bit image manipulator chip, and launched its first parallel computer. The ATW-800 Transputer was based on the Inmos T800 CPU, which had a 32/64-bit architecture, ran at 15 million instructions per second (MIPS) and housed a Charity videochip that supported 16 million colors. The company continued to experiment with parallel computing aiming at B2B customers and graphic designers, but the transputer line failed to achieve commercial success.
In 1989, Atari released the Atari Lynx, a handheld console with color graphics, to much fanfare. A shortage of parts kept the system from being released nationwide for the 1989 Christmas season, and the Lynx lost market share to Nintendo's Game Boy, which, despite only having a black and white display, was cheaper, had better battery life and had much higher availability. Tramiel emphasized computers over game consoles but Atari's proprietary computer architecture and operating system fell victim to the success of the Wintel platform while the game market revived. In 1989, Atari Corp. sued Nintendo for $250 million, alleging it had an illegal monopoly.[31] Atari eventually lost the case when it was rejected by a US district court in 1992.[32]
In 1991, Atari released its PCs ABC386SXII and ABC386DXII based on Intel's i386 chip.[33]
In 1993, Atari positioned its Jaguar as the only 64-bit interactive media entertainment system available, but it sold poorly. It would be the last home console to be produced by Atari and the last to be produced by an American manufacturer until Microsoft's introduction of the Xbox in 2001.
By 1996, a series of successful lawsuits[34] had left Atari with millions of dollars in the bank, but the failure of the Lynx and Jaguar left Atari without a product to sell. Tramiel and his family also wanted out of the business. The result was a rapid succession of changes in ownership. In July 1996, Atari merged with JTS Inc., a short-lived maker of hard disk drives, to form JTS Corp.[35][36][37][38] Atari's role in the new company largely became that of holder for the Atari properties and minor support, and consequently the name largely disappeared from the market.
Atari Games (1984–1999)[edit]
After the sale of the consumer electronics and computer divisions to Jack Tramiel, Atari was renamed Atari Games Corporation. Atari Games retained most of the same employees and managers from the coin-operated games division and continued many of the divisions projects from before the transition. In 1985, a controlling interest in the coin-operated games division was sold to Namco, which also took the Atari Games name. Warner renamed Atari Games to Atari Holdings, which continued as a non-operating subsidiary until 1992. Meanwhile, Namco later lost interest in operating Atari Games. In 1987, Namco sold 33% of its shares to a group of employees led by then-president Hideyuki Nakajima.[39] He had been the president of Atari Games since 1985. Atari Ireland was a subsidiary of Atari Games that manufactured their games for the European market; while under Namco, Atari Ireland also manufactured Sega's Hang-On (1985) for the European market.[40]
Atari Games continued to manufacture arcade games and units, and starting in 1988, also sold cartridges for the Nintendo Entertainment System under the Tengen brand name, including a version of Tetris. The companies exchanged a number of lawsuits in the late 1980s related to disputes over the rights to Tetris and Tengen's circumvention of Nintendo's lockout chip, which prevented third parties from creating unauthorized games. The suit finally reached a settlement in 1994, with Atari Games paying Nintendo cash damages and use of several patent licenses.[41]
In April 1996, after an unsuccessful bid by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, the company was sold to WMS Industries, owners of the Williams, Bally and Midway arcade brands, which restored the use of the Atari Games name.[42][43] On November 19, 1999, Atari Games Corporation was renamed Midway Games West Inc.,[44][45] resulting in the Atari Games name no longer being used.
Hasbro Interactive (1998–2000)[edit]
On March 13, 1998, JTS sold the Atari name and assets to Hasbro Interactive for $5 million, less than a fifth of what Warner Communications had paid 22 years earlier.[46][47] This transaction primarily involved the brand and intellectual property, which now fell under the Atari Interactive division of Hasbro Interactive. The brand name changed hands again in December 2000 when French software publisher Infogrames took over Hasbro Interactive.[48][49][50][51][52]
Atari SA (2001–present)[edit]
In October 2001, Infogrames Entertainment SA (IESA, now Atari SA) announced that it was "reinventing" the Atari brand with the launch of three new games featuring a prominent Atari branding on their boxarts: Splashdown, MX Rider and TransWorld Surf.[53] Infogrames used Atari as a brand name for games aimed at 18–34 year olds. Other Infogrames games under the Atari name included V-Rally 3, Neverwinter Nights, Stuntman and Enter the Matrix.
On May 8, 2003, IESA had its majority-owned, but discrete US subsidiary Infogrames, Inc. officially renamed Atari, Inc.,[54] renamed its European operations to Atari Europe but kept the original name of the main company Infogrames Entertainment. The original Atari holdings division purchased from Hasbro, Hasbro Interactive, was also made a separate corporate entity renamed as Atari Interactive.
Between 2004 and 2011, Atari produced and marketed Atari Flashback retro consoles, reminiscent of the Atari 2600 design. Since 2011, these consoles have been produced by AtGames under the license from Atari. Atari Flashback Portable is a handheld game console sold since 2016. In April 2011, Atari re-released their back catalogue of arcade and Atari 2600 games to be played on mobile devices.[55]
On March 6, 2008, IESA made an offer to Atari, Inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value of $1.68 per share, or $11 million total.[56] The offer would make IESA sole owner of Atari, Inc., thus making it a privately held company.[57] On April 30, 2008, Atari, Inc. announced its intentions to accept Infogrames' buyout offer and to merge with Infogrames.[58][59] On October 8, 2008, IESA completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary.[14][60]
On December 9, 2008, Atari announced that it had acquired Cryptic Studios, a MMORPG developer.[61]
Namco Bandai purchased a 34% stake in Atari Europe on May 14, 2009, paving the way for its acquisition from IESA.[62] Atari had significant financial issues for several years prior, with losses in the tens of millions since 2005.[63]
In May 2009, Infogrames Entertainment SA, the parent company of Atari, and Atari Interactive, announced it would change its name to Atari SA.
In April 2010, Atari SA board member and former CEO David Gardner resigned. Original Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell joined the board as a representative for Blubay holdings.[64]
As of March 31, 2011, the board of directors consisted of Frank Dangeard, Jim Wilson, Tom Virden, Gene Davis and Alexandra Fichelson.[3]
On January 21, 2013, the four related companies Atari, Atari Interactive, Humongous, and California US Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.[65] All three Ataris emerged from bankruptcy one year later and the entering of the social casino gaming industry with Atari Casino.[66] Frederic Chesnais, who now heads all three companies, stated that their entire operations consist of a staff of 10 people.[67]
On June 22, 2014, Atari announced a new corporate strategy that would include a focus on "new audiences", specifically "LGBT, social casinos, real-money gambling, and YouTube".[68]
On June 8, 2017, a short teaser video was released, promoting a new product;[69] and the following week Chesnais confirmed the company was developing a new game console – the hardware was stated to be based on PC technology, and still under development.[70] In mid July 2017 an Atari press release confirmed the existence of the aforementioned new hardware, referred to as the "Ataribox". The box design was derived from early Atari designs (e.g. 2600) with a ribbed top surface, and a rise at the back of the console; two versions were announced: one with a traditional wood veneer front, and the other with a glass front. Connectivity options were revealed, including HDMI, USB (x4), and SD card – the console was said to support both classic and current games.[71] Also, according to an official company statement of June 22, 2017, the product was to be initially launched via a crowdfunding campaign in order to minimize any financial risk to the parent company.[72]
On September 26, 2017, Atari sent out a press release about the new "Atari VCS", which confirmed more details about the console. It will run a Linux operating system, with full access to the underlying OS, but it will have a custom interface designed for the TV.[73]
On January 27, 2020, Atari announced a deal with GSD Group to build Atari Hotels, with the first breaking ground in Phoenix in mid-2020. Additional hotels were also planned in Las Vegas, Denver, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, and San Jose. The company plans to make the hotel experience immersive and accessible to all ages. Hotels are planned to include virtual and augmented reality technologies.[74][75][76]
On December 16, 2020, Atari shipped the first units of the Atari VCS exclusive to backers of the systems crowdfunding campaign. Atari urged the backers to give feedback on the system so that the company could make changes to improve the product on its official launch.[77]
In 2020, Atari launched its decentralized cryptocurrency Atari Token in equal partnership with the ICICB Group.[78][79][80][81][82][83] Atari Group announced in March 2020 that it granted ICICB a non-exclusive license to run a cryptocurrency online casino on Atari's website, based on the Atari Token.[84]
The group partnering with Atari opened a new company in Gibraltar called Atari Chain LTD.[85][86][87]
In March 2021, Atari extended its partnership with ICICB Group for the development of Atari branded hotels,[88][89][90] and the first hotels will be constructed at selected locations outside the United States, with Dubai, Gibraltar and Spain.[91][92][93][94]
On 18 April 2022, Atari announced the termination of all license agreements with ICICB Group and its subsidiaries ("ICICB"). The license agreements between Atari and ICICB, including the Atari Chain Limited license (the "Joint Venture") and the related licenses including hotel and casino licenses, have been terminated effective 18 April 2022. ICICB is not authorized to represent Atari or its brands in any manner.[95][better source ne