Intellivision
ATARI ENDS THE WORLD’S LONGEST-RUNNING VIDEO GAME CONSOLE WAR BY PURCHASING THE INTELLIVISION BRAND
“Uniting Atari and Intellivision after 45 years ends the longest running console war in history,”
- Mike Mika, Studio Head at Digital Eclipse
With the acquisition of Intellivision and its IP, Atari is bringing a former rival console publisher back into the fold. Atari will seek to expand the legacy of Intellivision with digital and physical distribution of certain games. Atari will potentially create new games while also exploring brand and licensing opportunities as part of a brand growth strategy with the rights to more than 200 titles from the Intellivision portfolio.
“This was a very rare opportunity to unite former competitors and bring together fans of Atari, Intellivision and the golden age of gaming,” said Wade Rosen, Chairman and CEO of Atari.
the history of INTELLIVISION
The first Intellivision home video game console was released by Mattel Electronics in 1979 to compete with the Atari 2600. The console platform sold an estimated 5 million units and kicked off the first “console war” with a head-to-head advertising campaign that featured sports journalist and actor George Plimpton in a series of ads comparing the two systems.
The M Network
Mattel also launched an M Network label in 1982 to release video game titles directly for the Atari 2600, many of which were ports of existing Intellivision console games. These included games like Astroblast, Armor Ambush, Tron Deadly Discs, Super Challenge Football, and others.
a victim of The crash of 1983
The video game market crash in 1983 changed the industry and Mattel closed its software division in 1984. In 1997, former Intellivision programmer Keith Robinson and Stephen Roney acquired the rights to the brand and its games and helped develop various compilations and collections throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
