Atari’s VCS and its various blunders look to have even greater consequences in the near future, from the looks of it. Atari’s already been in a sinking ship, metaphorically speaking, and if a report from Tom’s Hardware is anything to go off of, the console may not live for much longer, if at all.
In Atari’s half-year earnings report for 2022/23, the company reported a $4.65 million revenue number, which is a 27% decrease compared to 2021/22’s half-year report If that wasn’t already telling enough, hardware sales fell off a sheer cliff, with a 92% year-over-year drop-off, landing at $212,466 (which used to be $2.44 million).
In an attempt to counteract these staggering losses, Atari began reorganizing its hardware business. Part of this reorganization involves the suspension of direct hardware manufacturing relationships when it comes to the VCS. Spoilers: the console underperformed pretty significantly.
Strangely enough, almost despite the console’s commercial failure, Atari is still pushing by starting a new strategy that focuses on the development of “new hardware complementary to the Atari VCS with partners under licensing contracts.”
As it stands now, the Atari VCS 800 All-in Bundle isn’t being sold at many stores outside of Atari’s own. Big stores like Target aren’t even selling it anymore, and it shows up nowhere on their website, which is already a bad sign. Other places like Amazon don’t have stock of it, so that’s even worse.
The hardware department is very obviously in serious trouble. For what it’s worth, the executives could very well cut their losses and stop producing the VCS and anything relating to the console soon. It certainly isn’t out of the question, as the company has a history of cutting and running. At least we still have the Atari 50 Celebration game. This story is currently developing, and we’ll provide updates on the Atari VCS’s future as they’re available.
