Atari has announced it's investing €4.5 million into SteamWorld publisher Thunderful, which sees it now own 82% of the company's shares.
The acquisition sees Atari take ownership of five video game development studios and more than 20 IPs, which include Lost in Random and ISLANDERS alongside the aforementioned SteamWorld series.
As part of a press release, Atari's chairman and chief executive officer Wade Rosen called the deal the next milestone in the publisher's efforts to expand its capabilities.
Rosen continued: "Thunderful is recognized for publishing and developing critically acclaimed games, and with the announced transformation plan, as well as the quality and commitment of Thunderful’s teams, we are confident that Thunderful will be returning to a profitable growth path while helping to further develop Atari operations in Europe."
The investment comes after it was confirmed this morning that Thunderful will undergo a restructuring to improve cash flow. Lost in Random: The Eternal Die launched to "weaker sales than expected". Thunderful chairman Patrick Svensk added: "It is unfortunate to have to implement further operational measures that affect some of our colleagues."
"At the same time, I am convinced that this is the right path for Thunderful to create an efficient organization within the publishing business where our announced release pipeline remains intact."
[source gematsu.com]
Comments 9
Sort of mad to see Atari making purchases when they were in the gutter not too long ago. That being said, I’ve really enjoyed their more recent revivals of retro properties and especially Atari 50. Digital Eclipse and Nightdive are two of the best teams out there if you’re a retro fan so they’ve made some shrewd investments.
Dang Atari must be making pretty good profit to keep buying things.
Hopefully this is one of the more successful acquisitions of recent times for all parties.
@nessisonett yeah I’m double on this. On the one hand I don’t want Atari gobling up indie devs because of Atari’s past. On the other hand Atari has been treating their studios really well and they’re kinda an indie publisher atm seeing how small they are and what they make.
Yea this is going to destroy them they made really nice games i want developers to stay independ.
Steamworld games and Islanders are all great little games, hopefully they keep it up.
Atari has been making a lot of moves the past few years. 🤔
This is just me being pedantic but, that's not the proper Atari logo. It's the one that Infogrames used many years ago.
Ok, I’m going to ramble.
First off, this is exciting for Atari. I love Atari, and I really hope they thrive. That said, I hope they don’t overextend themselves like Embracer did. The good news is Thunderful makes great games, so Atari is getting good quality. For that reason, this acquisition looks like a good investment, and their strategy makes good sense: Acquire good developers that were available at a reasonable price…developers who have made really good games but ones that financially under-performed.
As for Thunderful, Lost in Random is a really good game with a cool art style. My only complaint is that it took too long to get the point where you can finally roll Dicey. If you can get the game on sale for $5-6, it’s a great buy. (Even at $19.99, Lost in Random is a good game. Its quirky art style, interesting story, and cool gameplay mechanics make for a good time.)
I’ve enjoyed many of Atari’s recent remakes and iterations of old IP. If they’re on sale at $5-6, they’re great! For $19.99, though, they’re just ok. I own Asteroids, Black Widow, Berzerk, Yars Recharged, Beyond Breakout, Atarimania, Pixel Ripped ‘89 and ‘95, and Centipede. That said, many of those games could be way better with a just a few more features and enhancements. Don’t get me wrong; the nostalgia factor is there on all of ‘em: The graphics are always clean, the sound is crisp and clear, and the arcadey fun factor is good in small playtime bursts. The “missions” are good; they make these “no real end, shoot for a high score” games have a clear, specific objective—my ADD appreciates goals.
Of all those Atari games I listed, Black Widow is the most surprisingly good game, followed by Yars Recharged and Asteroids; Berzerk is the one that had the most promise but is disappointing because of how much better it could’ve been. If it had adopted more of a Smash TV look and feel…or if they’d thrown in some cool sound effects and features like those in Hyper Parasite, the new Berzerk game could’ve been awesome.
Anyway, it’d be great to see Thunderful do an Adventure remake. And, if Atari has more money, I’d love to see ‘em acquire a company like Drinkbox Studios. Guacamelee, About a Blob, Severed, Nobody Saves the World…all great retro-inspired games that have lots of meat on their bones. That’s the direction Atari needs to go with their classic IPs: Retro-inspired classics revisited with lots of meat on their bones. The current new Atari games are still a bit shallow, and that’s a bummer.
Finally, Atari needs to incorporate a simple theme song that plays when their games load, a la Sega’s logo flash with voices that sing “Sayyyy…gaaah!” or EA Sports’ “EA…it’s in the game!” for their sports titles. Carve out that unique identity, Atari! Make it yours.
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