The New Republic has a must read article on the recent bankruptcy of Atari and why its successor are well on their way to suffering the same fate. Here is an excerpt.
The article goes into great detail the issues facing the video game industry today are the same Atari faced back in the 1980's. Furthermore, the article shows how quickly these issues can turn giants once thought to be invincible into just mere memories.For those of us born in the 1970s, last week’s news of Atari’s demise came as a sentimental shockwave. Atari was our first video game console. It introduced us to Space Invaders and Missile Command and Pitfall. More importantly, it taught us how to play electronically, forming our habits and blistering our thumbs. To see it filing for bankruptcy was to see a part of our past wither: Atari was like a childhood bedroom we no longer occupied, but whose mere existence comforted us.
The real tragedy here, though, isn’t about the past. It’s about the future. Many of the large corporations currently leading the video game industry are making all of the same mistakes that toppled Atari some three decades ago, consigning it to oblivion. That is, what we’re witnessing now is not only Atari’s requiem, but a reminder that the ailments that weakened and finally killed Atari are still rampant.
No comments:
Post a Comment