Is ATARIBOX Going to Make It?

How Can Atari Sell Ataribox If Nobody Knows What Games Will Be Played In The Console?

New Atari Console - Credit by Atari

New Atari Console – Credit by Atari

While Nintendo is having a huge hit on their hands by its New retro micro-console: Atari has also made a buzz before its first modern console comes out. Ataribox By ATARI is the most anticipated retro-console in the past years. Atari introduced it in 2017.  There have been some questionable moves by the company recently, that should leave retro gamers skeptical of this future console. In the latest news we have got from the Ataribox production we know it is based on AMD hardware platform and a linux based firmware. But other than that the there have been very little news and updates about ataribox. And that makes you think if everything is going on as it should with Ataribox production?

Recently notbookcheck reported that with all the buzz atari made out of making the new retro-console Ataribox, they have major four red flags that Ataribox has to address sometime and somehow and they have not done that yet: Lack of information, Lack of games, Lack of funding, Lack of a physical prototype. While now consumers are now pre-ordering ataribox until the actual release date, we had a news about some delays in releasing the console because of needing more time for games and preparation.

Ataribox was announced in June 2017 as Atari’s response to the booming retro gaming  trend. The Ataribox said to be a small console that can play classic Atari 2600 games as well as new AAA titles. It will run a Linux and will be powered by a custom AMD CPU and GPU. It will come in either a black and red color scheme or a black shell with real wood panels. At the end, users will have access to the operating system, but default interface is designed for TV. The company announced that the Ataribox would be up for preorder on December 14th, although they have since had to push preorders back to an unknown date.

The No-Game Problem in Ataribox

Atari has said that the Ataribox will be able to support “killer retro games” and “hot new Indie titles” but has not defined what exactly they mean by that. Are they the same games seen on the original Atari 2600 and is it something to be terribly excited about? As for the hot new Indie titles, Atari will have to secure exclusive games from Indie developers, and they will need to be desirable. The chances of an Indie game exploding in popularity on any platform are extremely slim and while Atari may sell common Indie titles like Terraria and Minecraft, these are hardly console sellers at this point.

This point is made based on the fact that Atari has failed to reveal any titles coming to the Ataribox. Each console has its own killer app and games that advertises before coming out. The Playstation 4 has the Uncharted series; the Xbox One has Forza Motorsport and Halo; the Switch has Mario and Zelda. We don’t have any idea about what may Ataribox has in hands. And this is a good question that atari should be asking themselves: How can Atari sell Ataribox if nobody knows what games are going to actually be played in the console?

Tags: technology, console, atari, ataribox, ataribox preorder, ataribox release date, ataribox 2018, ataribox games

Mohsen Daemi
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