Atari acquires the Intellivision brand and ends a console war of more than 45 years

May 28. (Portaltic/EP) –

Atari has announced the purchase of the Intellivision brandthe video game and console development company that was its main competitor during the 70s and 80salthough the latter will continue to manufacture and distribute the Amico console.

The first Intellivision home video game console came to the market with the help of the company Mattel Electronics in 1979. At that moment, Atari had the popular console Atari 2600which launched two years earlier, and which is currently considered the first desktop console that really succeeded among players.

It is within this framework, during the 70s and 80s, when the use of these platforms with interchangeable cartridges began to spread, Both companies began a strong competition of market which they have referred to as “the first major console war.” However, the Intellivision console platform managed to sell approximately 5 million units until 1990.

Now, Atari has announced the purchase of the Intellivision brandas well as certain Intellivision Entertainment LLC games, ending “the longest console war in history”, after 45 years competing in the market.

This is what the video game company has shared in a statement on his blogwhere he explained that, as a result of the acquisition, Atari has obtained the rights to more than 200 titles from the Intellivision catalog and the trademarks of the developer. For its part, Intellivision Entertainment LLC will change its name.

However, Atari has also clarified that Intellivision will continue to develop and distribute the console known as Amico under a license from Atariwith which it will continue to distribute new versions of Intellivision games.

Likewise, the American company has stated that, with this purchase, it seeks expand both digital and physical distribution of legacy Intellivision games, in addition to “potentially create new games” and explore branding and licensing opportunities. All this, with the objective of fulfilling a long-term plan to “create value from Intellivision properties”, as Atari has pointed out.

The president and CEO of Atari, Wade Rosen, has spoken about this, claiming that it is an opportunity to “uniting former competitors and bringing together fans of Atari, Intellivision and the golden age of gaming.”

Likewise, the CEO of Intellivision Entertainment has shared his “full confidence” in Atari to responsibly manage “the historic Intellivision brand”, while detailing that They hope to expand the collaboration and “bring a wide range of new titles to the Amico family gaming platform.”