Atari is one of the biggest household names in gaming. Just ask anyone if they’ve ever heard of Atari and chances are they’ll answer yes, some maybe more emphatically than others. Atari’s biggest problem though is that they’ve failed to establish new IP’s in the new gaming world filled with Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed games that sell big. Unfortunately this led to them filing bankruptcy just last January, and the bounceback is only truly beginning now. Anyone who knows business knows that bankruptcy isn’t the end, sometimes it’s actually the best thing for a company as they get to start fresh with new ideas without the burden of old problems. This means that Atari is going to be pushing mobile gaming in its next big wave of changes, and that’s going to start with bringing some of its biggest classics to the Android world.
This wave of games will start with the uber classic Asteroids and there’s no telling where it could end. Atari’s games are generally super simple, as the main input for the system at the time was a joystick and a single button. This sort of control scheme works perfectly for mobile devices which generally feature no buttons at all for any kind of gaming input, and thus require simple controls to keep gamers from being frustrated. Atari isn’t just stopping with smartphones and tablets though, they’ve made a commitment to “ramified hardware and wearable devices” as well, meaning that you may just be playing Pole Position on your Google Glass in the near future too.
Atari hasn’t released an official list of games they are planning on reviving, nor have they even given any kind of exact date other than “soon.” We’re also wondering if we’ll be getting the full HD remake treatment or if Atari just plans on straight porting its classic titles over to our favorite new touch devices. With the resurgence of classic gaming, 2D gaming and in general a more simple approach to gaming through indie developer channels like Steam, Atari has never been in a better position to make a resurgence like this. Let’s just hope they do it right this time so these classic IP’s don’t end up in the sands of New Mexico forever.