Atari Corporation was a manufacturer of computers and video game consoles from 1984 to 1996. Atari Corp. was founded in July 1984 when
Warner CommunicationsWarner Communications was established in 1972 when Kinney National Company spun off its non-entertainment assets, due to a financial scandal over its parking operations and changed its name....
sold the home computing and game console divisions of Atari to
Jack TramielJack Tramiel is a businessman, best known for founding Commodore International - manufacturer of the Commodore PET, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Commodore Amiga, and other Commodore models of home computers...
, the then-recently ousted founder of Atari competitor Commodore International; Warner sold the divisions for $240 million in stocks under the new company.
Under Tramiel's ownership,
Atari Corp. used the remaining stock of game console inventory to keep the company afloat while they finished development of their 16-bit computer system, the
Atari STThe Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially available from 1985 to the early 1990s. It was released by Atari Corporation in 1985...
.
Atari Corporation was a manufacturer of computers and video game consoles from 1984 to 1996. Atari Corp. was founded in July 1984 when
Warner CommunicationsWarner Communications was established in 1972 when Kinney National Company spun off its non-entertainment assets, due to a financial scandal over its parking operations and changed its name....
sold the home computing and game console divisions of Atari to
Jack TramielJack Tramiel is a businessman, best known for founding Commodore International - manufacturer of the Commodore PET, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Commodore Amiga, and other Commodore models of home computers...
, the then-recently ousted founder of Atari competitor Commodore International; Warner sold the divisions for $240 million in stocks under the new company.
History
Under Tramiel's ownership,
Atari Corp. used the remaining stock of game console inventory to keep the company afloat while they finished development of their 16-bit computer system, the
Atari STThe Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially available from 1985 to the early 1990s. It was released by Atari Corporation in 1985...
. In 1985, they released their update to the 8-bit computer line, the Atari XE series, as well as the 16-bit
Atari STThe Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially available from 1985 to the early 1990s. It was released by Atari Corporation in 1985...
line. Then, in 1986, Atari Corp. launched two consoles designed under the Warner Atari — Atari 2600 Jr and the
Atari 7800The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a video game console re-released by Atari Corporation in June 1986. The original release had occurred two years earlier under Atari Inc. The 7800 was designed to replace Atari Inc.'s unsuccessful Atari 5200 and later to re-establish Atari...
console (which saw limited release in 1984). Atari Corp. rebounded, producing a $25 million profit that year. The Atari ST line proved very successful (but mostly in Europe, not the U.S.), ultimately selling more than 4 million units. It was especially popular among musicians, as it had built in MIDI ports. Still, its closest competitor in the marketplace, the Commodore Amiga, outsold it 3 to 2. Atari eventually released a line of inexpensive
IBM PC compatibleIBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
s as well as an MS-DOS compatible palm computer called the Atari Portfolio.
In 1989, Atari Corp. also released the Atari Lynx, a handheld console with color graphics, to critical acclaim. However, a shortage of parts kept the system from being released nationwide for the 1989 Christmas season. As a result, the Lynx lost market share to Nintendo's
Game BoyThe is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America on , and in Europe on . In Southern Asia, it is known as the "Tata Game Boy" It is the first handheld console in the Game Boy line...
, which had only a black and white display but was widely available. Also in 1989, Atari Corp. sued Nintendo for $250 million, alleging it had an illegal monopoly. Atari lost.
As the fortunes of Atari Corporation's ST and PC compatible computers faded, consoles and software again became the company's main focus. In 1993, Atari Corp. released its last console, the
Atari JaguarThe Atari Jaguar was a video game console, released by Atari Corporation in . It was designed to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in processing power. It was in competition with 3DO and later consoles that made up the Fifth generation of video game...
. After a period of initial success, it, too, failed to meet expectations. It was not nearly as powerful as
Sony Computer Entertainment'sis a video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a full subsidiary of Sony. The company was established on November 16, 1987 in Tokyo, Japan prior to the launch of the original PlayStation video game system...
PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
or
Sega'sis a multinational video game software and hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan...
SaturnThe is a 32-bit video game console that was first released on November 22 1994 in Japan, May 11 1995 in North America, and July 8 1995 in Europe...
and lacked the extensive third party support its Japanese competitors had easily secured for their consoles.
Atari Corp.'s reverse merger with JT Storage Inc.
By 1996, a series of successful lawsuits followed by profitable investments had left Atari with millions of dollars in the bank, but the failure of the Lynx and Jaguar left Atari without any products to sell. In addition, Tramiel and his family wanted out. The result was a rapid succession of changes in ownership. In July 1996, Atari merged with
JTS Inc.JT Storage was a maker of inexpensive IDE hard drives for personal computers based in San Jose, California...
,a short-lived maker of hard disk drives, to form JTS Corp. Atari's role in the new company largely became a holder for the Atari properties and minor support, consequently the name largely disappeared from the market.
In March 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. This transaction primarily involved the
brandA brand is a name or trademark connected with a product or producer. Brands have become increasingly important components of culture and the economy, now being described as "cultural accessories and personal philosophies".-Concepts:...
and
intellectual propertyIntellectual property is a number of distinct types of legal monopolies over creations of the mind, both artistic and commercial, and the corresponding fields of law...
, which now fell under the Atari Interactive division of Hasbro Interactive. The brand name changed hands again in December 2000, when French software publisher
InfogramesInfogrames Entertainment SA is an international French holding company headquartered in Villeurbanne, Lyon, France. It is the owner of Atari, Inc., headquartered in New York City, and Atari Europe. It was founded in 1983 by Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet using the proceeds from an...
took over
Hasbro InteractiveHasbro Interactive was an American video game production and publishing subsidiary of Hasbro, the large game and toy company.Hasbro Interactive was formed late in 1995 in order to compete in the computer and video game arena. Several Hasbro properties, such as Monopoly and Scrabble, had already...
.
Major products
- Atari 7800
The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a video game console re-released by Atari Corporation in June 1986. The original release had occurred two years earlier under Atari Inc. The 7800 was designed to replace Atari Inc.'s unsuccessful Atari 5200 and later to re-establish Atari...
- Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
jr
- Atari 65XE
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips, giving them the most powerful graphics of any 8 bit computers of their time...
, Atari 130XEThe Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips, giving them the most powerful graphics of any 8 bit computers of their time...
- Atari XE Game System
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips, giving them the most powerful graphics of any 8 bit computers of their time...
- Atari Lynx
- Atari Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar was a video game console, released by Atari Corporation in . It was designed to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in processing power. It was in competition with 3DO and later consoles that made up the Fifth generation of video game...
- Atari Jaguar CD
The Atari Jaguar CD or Jag CD was a CD-ROM peripheral for the Atari Jaguar video game console.Late in the life span of the company, Atari released this long-promised CD-ROM unit. The unit hit shelves in mid-1995 and retailed for $149.95. The device sat atop the Jaguar console, plugging into the...
- Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially available from 1985 to the early 1990s. It was released by Atari Corporation in 1985...
, Atari STE
- Atari Stacy, ST BOOK
The ST BOOK , vastly more portable than the STacy, but sacrificing several features in order to achieve this - notably the backlight, and internal floppy disc drive. It was first released in 1991....
portables
- Atari MEGA ST, Atari MEGA STE
The Atari Mega STE was Atari Corporation's last ST series personal computer, first released in 1991. Taking something from all the 680x0-based machines they had produced, they had the idea to create a more business-like version of their main machine using the new features of the STE, the actual...
professional line
- Atari TT
- Atari Falcon
-History:The Atari Falcon was Atari Corporation's final computer product, more specifically named the Atari Falcon030 Computer System. Codenamed Sparrow, the machine was based on a Motorola 68030 main CPU, and had a Motorola 56000 digital signal processor .The Falcon was released in late 1992 and...
- Atari Transputer Workstation
The Atari Transputer Workstation was a workstation class computer released by Atari Corporation in the late 1980s. Based on the INMOS transputer, the machine was considerably more powerful than anything available on the market at the time...
- Atari Portfolio
The Atari Portfolio is the first PC-compatible palmtop computer, and was released by Atari Corporation in 1989. The Portfolio was licenced from Distributed Information Processing based in Guildford, Surrey, England...
palmtop computer
External links