No. Bushnell didn't have the kind of long-term vision for Atari that Nintendo had for video games. Nor did any of its subsequent corporate owners.
During the 2600 era, Atari was owned by Warner Communications (the predecessor to the present-day Time Warner, Inc.) Warner was interested in milking the Atari "fad" for all it was worth, and as soon as they overstepped in 1983, they bailed.
When the crash went down, Atari's arcade and consumer divisions split. The former spent its entire existence being traded back and forth between Warner, Namco, and Midway. Ironically, Time Warner again owns the games Atari produced after the game crash, which they acquired when they bought the remains of Midway's game division. The consumer half was bought by Jack Tramiel, the founder of Commodore, who believed there was absolutely no future in home consoles and tried to turn Atari into a computer manufacturer with a format to rival MS-Dos, Mac, and Commodore. By the time they realized Atari couldn't compete in that arena, Nintendo had a 95% market share of the home video game console market and had grown it to many times the size it was during the 2600 era.
Existing User Log In
New User Registration
Register for a free account to gain full access to the VGChartz Network and join our thriving community.
