Atari recently made a great move and a huge step forward for the Atari VCS and their mobile gaming. Atari announced today that the VCS manufacturing plant has opened back up in China amidst the Coronavirus outbreak, and the team is assessing production.
Meanwhile, they have been working on additional aspects of the Atari VCS, such as software tweaks, etc. One such development announced today is an agreement with Wonder, a mobile technology company, that has been developing the mobile gaming platform WonderOS for the past four years. Early looks at the WonderOS show that this agreement between Atari and Wonder appears to be a huge leap for Atari, to differentiate the Atari VCS from other consoles. They now have something unique to bring to the Atari VCS which compliments an already great looking console.
WonderOS is an Android-based hybrid mobile gaming platform that turns your smartphone into a console experience with a combination of software and accessories, that allow users to play any kind of game, locally or through the cloud, on a mobile device. As part of the agreement, Atari has been granted an exclusive 10-year license for WonderOS and all related technology, in exchange for future royalty payments dependent on the commercial success of the technology. At any time during this period, Atari can obtain the definitive transfer of ownership of the Wonder IP and assets, provided that royalties continue being paid over this 10-year period.
Wonder was founded in 2016 by CEO Andy Kleinman, a former executive of Disney and mobile game companies Scopely and Zynga. Wonder has a diverse roster of media and entertainment industry investors.
The deal again shows the nature of Atari in being pioneers within the gaming and entertainment industry. The strong talent pool at Wonder is made up of a team from many of the top technology companies including Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Disney, Activision, Apple, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Amazon among others.
Atari anticipates integrating WonderOS into future versions of the Atari VCS and making it available across third-party mobile devices, which will further expand the capabilities and reach of the home gaming and entertainment system. The strategy is to make mobile gaming and content streaming persistent and pervasive for consumers. As Atari continues to grow its mobile game business and with the launch of the new Atari VCS, the WonderOS and mobile IP will prove to be important assets in the coming years.
“As a life-long gamer and fan of the brand, I can’t imagine a better company than Atari to be moving forward with,” said Kleinman. “I am convinced that Atari is the right partner to bring Wonder’s promising technology to market.”
“Atari has a strong mobile gaming business and deep experience as a publisher,” said Atari CEO Frédéric Chesnais. “Adding Wonder’s exciting technology will accelerate mobile integration within the Atari VCS platform, while better positioning Atari to capitalize on the promise offered by 5G digital cellular networks.” Regarding the Atari VCS supply chain, Atari is in close contact with its manufacturing partner in China. The local team is reviewing the full supply chain, taking into account the impact of the coronavirus and the situation of each respective sub-contractor. Atari will provide further updates as appropriate.
