Atari logo

Atari

United States Founded 1972

The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, California, in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles, and home computers. The company's products, such as Pong and the Atari 2600, helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. Negotiating until close to midnight on July 1, 1984, Jack Tramiel purchased the home computing and game console divisions of Atari for $240 million in promissory notes and stocks. Warner gained a 20% stake in Tramel Technologies, which was renamed Atari Corporation. Warner retained the arcade division, continuing it under the name Atari Games, but sold it to Namco in 1985. Warner also sold the Ataritel division to Mitsubishi.

Atari at a Glance

Atari stands as one of the most significant names in gaming history, having operated continuously from 1971 through at least 2026. Founded in Sunnyvale, California, by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, the company helped define the electronic entertainment industry during the 1970s and mid-1980s with products like Pong and the Atari 2600. The organization has a massive catalog on PlayPile containing 214 titles, split between 175 as a publisher and 161 as a developer. Their work spans over five decades, though their output volume fluctuated wildly. They released 92 games in the 1970s and 72 more in the 1980s. Activity dropped sharply in the 1990s with only three titles. The company saw a slight resurgence in the 2000s with 20 games, followed by a quiet period in the 2010s with just seven releases. Recent years show a small increase, with ten games released so far in the 2020s. Their genre focus is heavily rooted in Arcade work, which accounts for 125 of their total entries. Shooter games make up 53 titles, while Sport and Racing genres follow with 41 and 28 games respectively. They also have a presence in Simulator, Puzzle, Adventure, Strategy, Platform, and Indie categories. Platform support is dominated by legacy systems. Atari has 92 arcade releases and 83 for the Atari 2600. Modern platforms like PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch each host nine titles, while PC and other older consoles hold fewer entries. Quality across their catalog is mixed to poor. Out of 69 rated titles on PlayPile, the average IGDB score sits at 56 out of 100. Only two games achieved a great rating above 80. The majority fall into the mixed category with 32 titles scoring between 40 and 59, and 11 titles are considered poor with scores below 40. High points include Adventure of Samsara from 2025, which holds a 90/100 rating. Classic hits like Asteroids from 1979 (81.6), Pong from 1972 (78.9), and Battlezone from 1980 (78.3) also maintain strong scores. Recent releases include Breakout Beyond in March 2025, which scored 76.5, and Golden Tee Arcade Classics in July 2025 with a 75 score. Upcoming projects scheduled for 2025 and 2026 include Bubsy 3D: ReFurBished and Bubsy 4D.

217
Total Games
56.7
Avg Rating
1971
First Release
2026
Latest Release

Genre Breakdown

Arcade
37%
Shooter
15%
Sport
12%
Racing
8%
Simulator
6%

Platform Spread

Arcade
92
Atari 2600
83
PC (Microsoft Windows)
22
Atari 8-bit
13
Atari 5200
12

Release Timeline

1970s
92
1980s
72
1990s
3
2000s
20
2010s
7
2020s
13

Rating Distribution

3
80-100
25
60-79
32
40-59
11
0-39
Centipede game cover
Rating 7.1

Centipede

1981·Arcade, browser
Asteroids Deluxe game cover
Rating 5.9

Asteroids Deluxe

1981·Arcade, Atari-ST, bbcmicro
Adventure game cover
Rating 7.6

Adventure

1980·Atari2600
Crazy Climber game cover
Rating 4.8

Crazy Climber

1980·Wii, Arcade, famicom +3
Warlords game cover
Rating 5.3

Warlords

1980·Arcade
Dodge 'Em game cover
Rating 5.1

Dodge 'Em

1980·Atari2600
Golf game cover
Rating 4.4

Golf

1980·Atari2600
Video Pinball game cover
Rating 4.3

Video Pinball

1980·Atari2600
Red Baron game cover
Rating 7.2

Red Baron

1980·Arcade
Maze Craze: A Game of Cops 'n Robbers game cover
Rating 5.9

Maze Craze: A Game of Cops 'n Robbers

1980·Atari2600
Championship Soccer game cover

Championship Soccer

1980·Atari2600
Pelé's Soccer game cover

Pelé's Soccer

1980·Atari2600
Scram game cover

Scram

1980·Atari8bit
Video Checkers game cover

Video Checkers

1980·Atari2600
Battlezone game cover
Rating 7.8

Battlezone

1980·Arcade, DOS, Atari-ST +6
Missile Command game cover
Rating 7.4

Missile Command

1980·Arcade, Atari-ST, C64
Monte Carlo game cover

Monte Carlo

1980·Arcade
Atari Soccer game cover

Atari Soccer

1980·Arcade
Star Raiders game cover
Rating 2.5

Star Raiders

1980·Atari-ST, Atari8bit, Atari5200
Superman game cover
Rating 3.1

Superman

1979·Atari2600
3-D Tic-Tac-Toe game cover
Rating 5.1

3-D Tic-Tac-Toe

1979·Atari2600, Atari8bit, TRS-80
Bowling game cover
Rating 5.4

Bowling

1979·Atari2600
Miniature Golf game cover
Rating 4.1

Miniature Golf

1979·Atari2600
Video Chess game cover
Rating 4.3

Video Chess

1979·Atari2600
Music Composer game cover

Music Composer

1979·Atari8bit
Basic Programming game cover

Basic Programming

1979·Atari2600
Slot Machine game cover

Slot Machine

1979·Atari2600
Backgammon game cover

Backgammon

1979·Atari2600
Sprint 4 game cover

Sprint 4

1979·Arcade
Asteroids game cover
Rating 8.2

Asteroids

1979·Arcade, Apple][
Atari Baseball game cover

Atari Baseball

1979·Arcade
Atari Basketball game cover

Atari Basketball

1979·Arcade
Atari 4 Player Football game cover

Atari 4 Player Football

1979·Arcade
Basketball game cover
Rating 6.0

Basketball

1978·Atari2600, Atari8bit
Human Cannonball game cover
Rating 3.8

Human Cannonball

1978·Atari2600
Hangman game cover
Rating 4.0

Hangman

1978·Atari2600
Sky Diver game cover
Rating 5.7

Sky Diver

1978·Arcade
Home Run game cover
Rating 4.2

Home Run

1978·Atari2600
Casino game cover
Rating 3.5

Casino

1978·Atari2600
Slot Racers game cover
Rating 3.7

Slot Racers

1978·Atari2600
Flag Capture game cover
Rating 3.9

Flag Capture

1978·Atari2600
Video Pinball game cover

Video Pinball

1978·Arcade
Football game cover

Football

1978·Atari2600
Brain Games game cover

Brain Games

1978·Atari2600
A Game of Concentration game cover

A Game of Concentration

1978·Atari2600
Sky Raider game cover

Sky Raider

1978·Arcade
Atari Football game cover

Atari Football

1978·Arcade
Super Breakout game cover
Rating 6.5

Super Breakout

1978·Arcade