As of July 1, Atari's board of directors voted to refocus "resources on the market for premium games with higher added value […] after conducting an in-depth review of the assets and opportunities of the Atari Gaming division." What this means for certain is that Atari's cryptocurrency-based online gambling site, Atari Casino, will cease operation, but what this means for Atari's hotel and crypto divisions remains unclear.
You might not have heard about this, but Atari made a slew of announcements last year that didn’t have a whole lot to do with gaming. The first was a brand new Atari hotel chain that was going to break ground all across America. Billed as a gamer’s paradise, the hotels would serve as entertainment centers complete with VR arcades.
The first Atari Hotel was supposed to be based in Las Vegas, where it was certain to have a ground-floor casino like every other hotel in Vegas. On top of that, Atari also announced an online casino where gamblers could use cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Now it seems plans for both have been kiboshed.
”Our intent with any gaming experience is to provide accessible and joyful moments of meaningful play. That’s the core of Atari and what binds our history with our future,” said Atari CEO Wade J. Rosen in a prepared statement. “To that end, we feel that premium gaming is better representative of this type of gaming experience and the Atari DNA. Despite this new focus on premium gaming, we remain committed to growing and expanding our successful free-to-play games that we have in the market."
Related: Atari VCS Coming To US Retailers On June 15
In addition to closing down Atari Casino, Atari will also sell or discontinue five of its free-to-play games, including RCT Stories, Crystal Castles, Castles & Catapults, Ninja Golf, Atari Combat: Tank Fury. "Successful games with a loyal user base are not affected," Atari added.
As a result of this pivot, Atari will take a $5 million Euro writeoff for the financial year ending March 31, 2021. This has resulted in the company withdrawing its positive net results guidance for the 2020/2021 financial year, with annual results to be posted no later than July 31, 2021.
On the positive side, Atari mentioned that the first of those premium console/PC games should arrive later this year, so we won't have to wait long to see what this refocused Atari looks like.
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