Atari Nightdive Studios Industry 1

As the video game industry matures, more and more emphasis is rightfully being placed on preservation and ensuring classics remain playable for future generations. One team that’s built its entire business model around bringing back some of the great releases from yesteryear is Nightdive Studios, and today it’s announced that it’ll be acquired by Atari.

It’s important to note that, while Atari has had some iffy moments over the past few decades, it’s rebounded hard recently. Titles like Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration show that it’s finally treating its catalogue with the respect it deserves, and it’s partnering with the right kind of projects, like the upcoming PSVR2 title Pixel Ripped 1978. Unexpectedly, this sounds like a good fit, then.

Nightdive Studios bigwigs Stephen Kick and Larry Kuperman certainly think so. The duo said in a press release: “Nightdive and Atari have a long history together and we know that Atari shares our passion for retro games and our focus on producing high-quality new and remastered games that do justice to the original IP. As we look to grow our business and expand our capabilities, we could think of no better long-term partner than Atari.”

For those of you who don’t know, Nightdive Studios has played a pivotal role in resurrecting releases like Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Quake, and Shadow Man. Key to its success is its proprietary KEX Engine, which enables classic games to run on modern hardware, and also allows the developer to enhance and improve aspects in order to “meet the expectations of contemporary players”.

To be honest, as long as Atari continues to assist Nightdive Studios in its existing efforts, we have no real issues with this acquisition. In fact, we reckon it could be a fruitful relationship, as Atari continues to reinvent itself as more of a retro focused publisher.