Page 26 - Old School Gamer Magazine Issue #38 FREE Edition

busy greasing the rungs of the ladder to grab one, this was the perfect opportunity to turn Free Fall into a platformer, so to speak. So, they started negotiating and considering all their options and examining alternatives and they found a way to say NO. Ostensibly it was because Nintendo was double dealing them when someone else (Coleco) came
out with a Donkey Kong demo. Never mind that it was an illegal, unlicensed demo and no threat. Never mind that Atari, which had made a billion in sales the year before was now losing nearly
that much. Never mind that a company desperately in need of a quick solution was being handed one with a proven track record. Atari couldn’t hear any of that.
All Atari knew was they weren’t going to let anyone take advantage of them. (Why Atari had such an enormous sensitivity to being taken advantage of is a topic for another column)
The simple truth is they knew they were being played and they found a way to say NO. They forgot that nobody knows anything.
A YES to the NES could have changed the course of the
gaming industry. Could have forged a partnership that would have continued to evolve and revolutionize the industry. The hot new system in the industry today could have been the Nintendo Atar-Wii.
But Atari said NO.
In the twelve months after that decision Atari dumped its home gaming and home computer divisions (along with the rights
to their back library) and successfully made the transition from trailblazing entertainment technology pioneer to footnote. That was a devastating transition for a company of Atari’s success and stature to face.
And you know who got fired for making that decision? Nobody.
Which nobody was that? The one that doesn’t know anything.
I think the game industry has achieved its goal. They have indeed become a lot like Hollywood.
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OLD SCHOOL GAMER MAGAZINE • ISSUE #38