Las Vegas Could be Game for Atari-Themed Casino Resort
Posted on: January 17, 2024, 03:28h.
Last updated on: January 17, 2024, 03:29h.
Las Vegas may be getting an Atari-themed resort. It’s an idea that’s been paddled around since 2020, and the game is apparently not over yet. A spokeperson for the videogame pioneer told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Wednesday that the company is “in talks with land partners for potential Las Vegas sites but have not made a final decision.”
The spokesperson said the legacy business is looking for 5 to 7 acres near the Las Vegas Strip, to build a resort that “possibly” could include a casino.
“A series of project announcements is coming in the first half of 2024,” the spokesperson told the newspaper.
In January 2020 — two months before COVID and 37 years after Atari’s last bestselling video game — Atari announced a licensing deal with development partners True North Studio and GSD Group to construct 400-room, Atari-branded hotels in Las Vegas and seven other U.S. cities.
A year later, project renderings were drawn up by San Diego-based architecture firm Gensler.
According to the website, atarihotels.com, the resorts would be “a modern hospitality experience inspired by gaming culture” that “celebrates the past while defining the future.”
The resort would offer experiences inspired by 1977’s “Space Invaders,” 1978’s “Breakout,” 1979’s “Adventure,”1980’s “Missile Command,” 1981’s “Pitfall!”1982’s “Pac-Man” and, the company’s final bestselling cartridge game, 1982’s “Mario Bros.”
Atari 101
Atari was founded in Sunnyvale, Calif. in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Its genius software engineers — who in 1974 included Steve Jobs – built arcade games and home consoles that dominated and shaped the fledgling industry.
Atari has gone through several ownership changes since it was purchased in 2008 by the French company formerly known as Infogrames. It is this regime that seems eager to revive the brand by tapping into the burgeoning retro-gaming market.
Though Nintendo, Sony Playstation, and Microsoft Xbox long ago eclipsed Atari in technology and sales, Gen-Xers — 67% of whom still play video games — never lost their fondness for the Atari brand of their youths.
In December, Atari rereleased its classic 2600 console, which sold 30 million units before being discontinued in 1992. The new version, the 2600+, connects to modern hi-def TVs and features 2,600 new and updated cartridge games.
Sales figures on the new unit have not yet been released yet.
Source: casino.org
