Atari is preparing to launch new hardware
The "Ataribox" is "years in the making" and will be based on PC technology
Atari is preparing to launch a new piece of hardware, currently known only as "Ataribox".
The Ataribox has been teased in a video showing a product with a retro-style wood finish. On its YouTube channel, the "brand new Atari product" is described as "years in the making."
That lines up with comments made by CEO Frederic Chesnais three years ago. At that point, just a few months after Atari filed for bankruptcy in December 2013, Chesnais said "I didn't buy the company to make T-shirts and stuff like that," and that he saw the company as "a hardware brand."
Chesnais specified that he didn't see "a new console" as part of Atari's hardware strategy, offering instead the example of a "gamified watch" as the kind of smaller hardware product the company would consider. In light of the huge interest in Nintendo's now discontinued NES Classic, it may be that Atari is working on a similar product that draws on its own rich history.
Speaking to Venturebeat about the Ataribox, Chesnais reiterated that Atari was "back in the hardware business", and that the new hardware would be based on "PC technology."
