Plug Pulled on Atari-Branded Las Vegas Hotel

It’s game over for the a videogame-branded Las Vegas hotel. Atari has officially abandoned its plans to build a 400-room Strip property — “possibly” with a casino — on the Strip.

Pitfall!

Atari first announced the project in January 2020, two months before COVID and 37 years after its last best-selling video game, 1982’s Mario Bros. It even announced a licensing deal with development partners True North Studio and GSD Group to construct Atari-branded hotels in Vegas and seven other US cities.

A year later, project renderings were drawn up by San Diego-based architecture firm Gensler.

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

It was to have offered experiences inspired by 1977’s Space Invaders, 1978’s Breakout, 1979’s Adventure,1980’s Missile Command, 1981’s Pitfall!, and 1982’s Pac-Man and Mario Bros.

As late as January 2024, the company was still trying to attract potential land partners in helping them locate and purchase 5 to 7 acres near the Strip.

Waka Waka Shame

On Friday, January 16, a spokesperson for the videogame pioneer told KVVU-TV/Las Vegas that it is “not actively pursuing a project in Las Vegas at this time.” Now that Vegas is officially off the board, the team is focusing on its first confirmed build, in Phoenix, scheduled to open in 2028.

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.

The brand 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.