Atari Buys Intellivision Brand

Atari announced that it has acquired the Intellivision brand and certain Intellivision game titles from Intellivision Entertainment LLC.

“This was a very rare opportunity to unite former competitors and bring together fans of Atari, Intellivision, and the golden age of gaming,” Atari chairman and CEO Wade Rosen said.

“Atari has been a valuable partner, and we have every confidence they will be a responsible steward of the storied Intellivision brand,” Intellivision Entertainment CEO Phil Adam added. “We look forward to our expanded collaboration and the prospect of bringing a broad array of new titles to the Amico family gaming platform.”

Intellivision Entertainment will rebrand and continue developing and distributing the Amico game console. Under the terms of the deal, Atari will license the former Intellivision game titles so that new versions can be sold with the Amico.

As most probably know, Atari quickly dominated the original video game console market in the late 1970s and early 1980s with its VCS (Atari 2600). The Intellivision Master Component—just Intellivision to most people—was its first major competitor, offering dramatically better graphics and sound along with versatile but awkward and hardwired controllers. Both product lines succumbed to the video game crash of 1983, though both pushed forward uncertainly in different ways as well. Atari saw limited success with later computers and video game devices, while Mattel quickly sold off Intellivision and exited the market.

The company that now bears the Atari name tried to create a modern VCS console name in the late 2010s, but it’s focused now on retro gaming. It recently acquired over 100 classic Accolade, Infogrames, and Microprose games, a popular retro gaming online community, and Digital Eclipse, so the Intellivision acquisition fits in nicely with that growing stable of content.

It’s not clear which games Atari acquired from Intellivision, but it’s reportedly over 200 titles.