Thought the move to Steam would make a big change to Atari’s business? Not according to them. That doesn’t mean they don’t like it, as UK Managing Director Jeremy Wigmore said, “The online business will be very exciting”. He goes on to remind us that Atari is a publisher, saying, “But what we can’t forget is the distribution strength we have around the world – and the boxed game reputation we enjoy as a publisher.”
That makes sense. They get lots of business from the disc stamping that we all expect to die in the near future. It’s not like the music, movie and PC gaming industries are doing great because of piracy, downloads off iTunes or Amazon’s Unbox, and good ol’ streaming. And with 500GB machines going out like they’re free, I can’t say that Atari’s going in for the long run with this endevour. But they may make something in the short run. Ahh, economics.
