Atari to acquire Nightdive, deal expected to be completed in April

[taufan99]

Surprised nobody made a thread on this before here, but here ya go.

It's a rather short read, I know, but here's the TL;DR if you're the type not to want to support game journos by directly clicking on their link(s).

Quote

Atari will acquire Nightdive for $10m, half in cash and half in Atari shares.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this? I've heard Atari isn't quite a good company nowadays, but don't want to jump to conclusion as of now.

Edited March 23, 2023 by taufan99

[HavoX]

I'm not sure what to make of this, but I'd feel pretty bad if @Kaiser, @Edward850 and/or @Quasar get laid off due to this. I doubt it though...

[DNSKILL5]

Hopefully everyone at night dive’s job is secure with such an acquisition. 

[Gez]

32 minutes ago, taufan99 said:

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this? I've heard Atari isn't quite a good company nowadays, but don't want to jump to conclusion as of now.

It's actually surprising that it's not Embracer Group. Or Microsoft.

 

Atari has done a lot of dumb shit in the somewhat-recent past. It got bankrupt in 2013, went into cryptocoins, gambling, and luxury hotels, tried to break into the console market again with a neo-VCS... I dunno. Not a company I'd have a lot of faith in for the future.

 

But besides that, they certainly have a very large catalog of old games that can be remastered, to the point that one could wonder whether Nightdive will still get to work on third-party titles (stuff that doesn't belong to Atari or one of its subsidiaries, like Doom 64 for example) or whether they'll be restricted to Atari's back catalog...

 

Anyways, does this mean that Blood Fresh Supply will get an update? :p

 

[PsychEyeball]

Ugh, can't say I like this. I don't trust Atari in the slighest to serve Night Dive right. Plus I fear that with Night Dive no longer being a neutral party, this will likely diminish the versatility of projects they can take on. You think we would have got stuff like a proper System Shock 2 rerelease or Doom 64 with an Atari-owned Night Dive? I don't believe so.

 

Hopefully this is just me being pessimistic but I ain't getting good vibes out of this.

 

14 minutes ago, Gez said:

Anyways, does this mean that Blood Fresh Supply will get an update? :p

 

Even better. We'll get a Blood 2 rerelease. With everything fixed and working as it should be.

Edited March 23, 2023 by PsychEyeball
Blood 2 baby!

[Guff dotD]

I sure hope this means that ROTT: Ludicrous Edition isn't canceled.

 

That would be a huge bummer (and worst case scenario, Nightdive is restricted to Atari's IP's.)

[inkoalawetrust]

You know I already knew that Atari is still around. But it's still shocking to me to hear that they are actually doing much of anything.

 

Also, half the acquisition will be payed with Atari shares ? Lmfao, what are those even worth ? Might as well pay Nightdive with 5 million Robux, as those probably have a better conversion rate to USD than shares to a company that was last relevant when my mom was younger than me.

Edited March 23, 2023 by inkoalawetrust

[Noiser]

Another recent news is that Atari acquired the license of Berzerk and other arcade titles from the same period. Berzerk is known as a major influence on games like Doom, being one of the first titles where you go through mazes shooting stuff.

Putting on a timeline, you can trace some DNA here:
Berzerk - Gauntlet - Catacomb - Catacomb 3D - Wolfenstein 3D - Doom

I wonder if the Nightdive acquision have something to do with this (probably not, but I can dream).

Edited March 23, 2023 by Noiser

[MFG38]

Not sure how I feel about this. Guess I'll just wait and see how things turn out.

[Metal_Slayer]

2 hours ago, HavoX said:

I'm not sure what to make of this, but I'd feel pretty bad if @Kaiser, @Edward850 and/or @Quasar get laid off due to this. I doubt it though...

Atari has been remastering a lot of their Arcade/2600 games, I don't think they would lay off some of Nightdive's best developers.

[DNSKILL5]

They likely cannot speak on the matter publicly at this time beyond information that is already public knowledge. 

Edited March 23, 2023 by DNSKILL5

[Artman2004]

Do companies getting bought out willingly do so, or is it out of their control?

[Rudolph]

Was Nightdive hurting for cash or what? Why are all these independent companies allowing themselves to be absorbed like that?

 

Oops, @Artman2004 beat me to it with a similar question!

Edited March 23, 2023 by Rudolph

[Mr Masker]

Your daily reminder that Atari still exists kinda.

[DNSKILL5]

11 minutes ago, Artman2004 said:

Do companies getting bought out willingly do so, or is it out of their control?

I think it is a case by case basis sort of thing, meaning the answer to that question varies. 

[Quasar]

The usual disclaimers: Stuff below is either based on public knowledge (ie. even just read the Atari wikipedia article) or is based on my opinions/personal understandings of the situation.

 

The most important thing to note is that the Atari company has dramatically shifted direction since around this time last year. The crypto stuff is either already discontinued or is on the way out and was separated into a different division than any of the games stuff a while back. The guy who was previously CEO and was in charge of that stuff is no longer part of the organization at all. Controversial projects like the VCS and the speaker hats pre-dated the current leadership or originated before it was in full effect. The hotels were already shut down a while back.

 

The guy at Atari leading this acquisition was previously the main investor in Nightdive. So from his POV he's expecting the company to continue doing what it has been doing, just with more resources at hand. Part of the buyout deal is even predicated on this continuing. The main reason for this was that growing the company any further with only Stephen's resources was becoming too difficult and it turns out that you can't throw enough people at the number of games waiting to get remastered right now.

 

There will not be any restrictions on what gets worked on, other than who in terms of game companies is willing to work with Nightdive, as always. The obvious hope is that having a publicly traded company behind the brand opens some doors that weren't previously budging.

 

In the short term, literally nothing should change. Long-term is as always "who knows" when it comes to business. Anything could have happened to NDS without a buyout; tomorrow is never guaranteed. If anything, this should make at least the next 5-ish years more of a lock-in.

Edited March 23, 2023 by Quasar

[Gifty]

Atari still exists?

[Panzermann11]

On 3/24/2023 at 12:25 AM, Gifty said:

Atari still exists?

Yes, and no. The Atari we know today isn't the 2600-Jaguar-era Atari, the current-day Atari used to be Infogrames and its U.S. branch GT Interactive back then. Yes, the same GT Interactive who used to publish plenty of old FPS games.

Edited January 23, 2024 by Panzermann11

[Gez]

2 hours ago, Quasar said:

The most important thing to note is that the Atari company has dramatically shifted direction since around this time last year. The crypto stuff is either already discontinued or is on the way out and was separated into a different division than any of the games stuff a while back. The guy who was previously CEO and was in charge of that stuff is no longer part of the organization at all. Controversial projects like the VCS and the speaker hats pre-dated the current leadership or originated before it was in full effect. The hotels were already shut down a while back.

Okay, that's reassuring.

2 hours ago, Quasar said:

The guy at Atari leading this acquisition was previously the main investor in Nightdive. So from his POV he's expecting the company to continue doing what it has been doing, just with more resources at hand. Part of the buyout deal is even predicated on this continuing. The main reason for this was that growing the company any further with only Stephen's resources was becoming too difficult and it turns out that you can't throw enough people at the number of games waiting to get remastered right now.

And that makes sense.

 

Well, we can only hope for the best.

[CrocMagnum]

4 hours ago, Noiser said:

Another recent news is that Atari acquired the license of Berzerk and other arcade titles from the same period. Berzerk is known as a major influence on games like Doom, being one of the first titles where you go through mazes shooting stuff.

Putting on a timeline, you can trace some DNA here:
Berzerk - Gauntlet - Catacomb - Catacomb 3D - Wolfenstein 3D - Doom

I wonder if the Nightdive acquision have something to do with this (probably not, but I can dream).

Just to say Gauntlet is not in hands of Atari anymore, today it's Warner Bros who owns the franchise. 

On a sidenote I quite enjoyed Gauntlet Slayer Edition (2015) and would love to play a sequel. 

 

Concerning Nightdive and Atari, it's ok with me. I would have been concerned if it was Epic, EA or Square Enix who bought them. ^^

[Biz!]

5 hours ago, Noiser said:

Another recent news is that Atari acquired the license of Berzerk and other arcade titles from the same period.

 

Berzerk three when

[taufan99]

6 hours ago, Noiser said:

Putting on a timeline, you can trace some DNA here:
Berzerk - Gauntlet - Catacomb - Catacomb 3D - Wolfenstein 3D - Doom

Fun fact: the automap in Classic Doom was originally to have its own Asteroids-like minigame, which sadly never got implemented. Had that actually happened, the genealogy would've gone as far as Asteroids.

[indigotyrian]

Atari has a pretty long history of being scumbags. I'd like to be more optimistic but I just can't. Hopefully things work out for Night Dive but I can't help but just think "ripperoni lol"

Edited March 23, 2023 by segfault

[Edward850]

8 minutes ago, segfault said:

Atari has a pretty long history of being scumbags. I'd like to be more optimistic but I just can't. Hopefully things work out for Night Dive but I can't help but just think "ripperoni lol"

Please read Quasar's post above.

[indigotyrian]

1 minute ago, Edward850 said:

Please read Quasar's post above.

 

I did! I really want to be wrong and I want Quasar to be right but I just can't find the confidence to believe that.

[Edward850]

23 minutes ago, segfault said:

 

I did! I really want to be wrong and I want Quasar to be right but I just can't find the confidence to believe that.

It's literally not even the same people. Every variable has changed. Here, read this: https://venturebeat.com/games/how-atari-is-leveraging-50-years-of-nostalgia-wade-rosen-interview/

Edited March 23, 2023 by Edward850

[indigotyrian]

8 minutes ago, Edward850 said:

It's literally not even the same people. Every variable has changed. Here, read this: https://venturebeat.com/games/how-atari-is-leveraging-50-years-of-nostalgia-wade-rosen-interview/

 

I'm hopeful that things will work out and that Night Dive can keep making awesome stuff!

[DNSKILL5]

It’s fair for people to be somewhat concerned until they see what comes next. As Quasar said, tomorrow is never guaranteed but I feel things will work out great for NDS and Atari, and the fans will benefit from this too. 

[Individualised]

(nevermind)

Edited March 23, 2023 by Individualised

[DNSKILL5]

1 minute ago, Individualised said:

And Catacomb 3D is a first person game that takes place inside a tank... just like Battlezone.

Close, but not quite. You’re thinking of Hover Tank 3D. Catacomb 3D you play as a mage in a fantasy setting. 

Edited March 23, 2023 by DNSKILL5