Las Vegas Could be Game for Atari-Themed Casino Resort

Posted on: January 17, 2024, 03:28h. 

Last updated on: January 18, 2024, 12:09h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas.

Las Vegas may be getting an Atari-themed resort. It’s an idea that’s been paddled around since 2020, and the game isn’t over yet. A spokesperson for the videogame pioneer told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Wednesday that the company is “in talks with land partners for potential Las Vegas sites, but have not made a final decision.”

Rendering imagines the Las Vegas Atari Hotel with the Strat on the right
An ambitious 2020 rendering imagines the Las Vegas Atari Hotel, with the Strat on the right. (Image: Atari Hotels)

The spokesperson said the legacy business is looking for 5 to 7 acres near the Las Vegas Strip to build a resort that “possibly” could include a casino.

“A series of project announcements is coming in the first half of 2024,” the spokesperson told the newspaper.

Project In the Making

In January 2020, two months before COVID and 37 years after Atari’s last best-selling video game, the company announced a licensing deal with development partners True North Studio and GSD Group to construct 400-room, Atari-branded hotels in Las Vegas and seven other U.S. cities. A year later, project renderings were drawn up by San Diego-based architecture firm Gensler.

According to the website atarihotels.com, the resort would be “a modern hospitality experience inspired by gaming culture” that “celebrates the past while defining the future.”

The resort would offer experiences inspired by 1977’s Space Invaders, 1978’s Breakout, 1979’s Adventure,1980’s Missile Command, 1981’s Pitfall!, 1982’s Pac-Man and the company’s final best-selling cartridge game, 1982’s Mario Bros.

Atari 101

Atari was founded in Sunnyvale, Calif., in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Its genius team, which in 1974 included Steve Jobs, who worked as a technician, built arcade games and home consoles that dominated and shaped the fledgling industry.

Atari underwent several ownership changes before it was purchased in 2008 by the French company Infogrames. The new owner seems eager to revive the brand by tapping into the burgeoning retro-gaming market.

Though Nintendo, Sony Playstation, and Microsoft Xbox long ago eclipsed Atari in technology and sales, Gen-Xers — 67% of whom still play video games — never lost their fondness for the Atari brand of their youths.

In December, Atari rereleased its classic 2600 console, which sold 30 million units before being discontinued in 1992. The new version, the 2600+, connects to modern hi-def TVs and features 2,600 new and updated cartridge games.

Sales figures for the new unit have not yet been released.

Would you like to see an Atari Resort in Las Vegas? Tell us in the comments!