As a company fundamental to gaming history, Atari was unwilling to let web3 slip through its fingers, after lying dormant for decades beneath the surface of the industry it helped pioneer.
Today, the gaming brand is innovating with its web3 launch, building a web3-native community with thousands of followers on Discord, and building on its previous work to establish a new brand loyalty platform inspired by the company’s history.
After months of testing with community members who hold Atari Redemption Certificate (ARC) NFTs, Atari Club recently launched its public beta in February 2024, with more services to come for Atari fans in the future.
Atari’s first steps towards web3
Atari began to pay attention to blockchain technology as early as 2018, first announcing a partnership with leading web3 venture studio Animoca Brands to create blockchain-based games in the Rollercoaster Tycoon series and the Goon Squad mobile game.
Since that first foray, the Atari team has licensed its brand to various web3 operators, including virtual sneaker and collectibles brand RTFKT and blockchain-enabled party game Blankos Block Party, launched the “Sunnyvale” experience in The Sandbox, and officially brought all blockchain work under the Atari X division in May 2022.
It’s safe to say that the Atari team fully believes in the potential of web3 technology and has a long-term focus on this space.
After building its reputation in web3 through a series of collaborations, the company took the lead in launching its own NFTs in September 2022 with the launch of the 50 Years of Atari (50YOA) series, collaborating with Brazilian artist Butcher Billy to launch 2,600 NFTs including artwork inspired by classic Atari games such as Crystal Castles and Swordquest, all to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Atari’s founding in 1972.
“Atari X’s 50th anniversary was a success,” Atari X Director Tyler Drewitz told OpenSea. “We found that there are a lot of Atari fans, young and old, who want to see more from us and the brand, and Butcher Billy is an amazing artist who helped us capture their attention and really engage them in the projects we are building.”
Reviving the Atari Club
Nearly a year after the launch of 50YOA, the Atari X team is ready to plant the seeds for the revival of one of Atari’s signature projects: The Atari Club, a membership for Atari fans that launched in the early 1980s and sent its members exclusive copies of Atari Age magazine.
"We might take some inspiration from the past," Drewitz said. "There was a very famous promotion based on the Swordquest game that was never completed, and we might see some kind of conclusion to that adventure in the new Atari Clubhouse."
The prototype of the new online Atari Club was ready and needed membership, so the Atari X team launched another NFT series that anyone with 50YOA NFTs could mint for free. This new series was called Atari Redemption Certificates, and it allowed the holder to access an early version of the Atari Club.
Nearly 700 people collected ARCs and lined up to see what the new reinvention of the Atari Club had to offer, with members having the opportunity to purchase exclusive merchandise and unique gaming experiences based on Atari history and gaming lore.
The Future of Atari Club
The Atari X team sees a bright future for Club, a new way to engage fans of the Atari brand across channels and reward them for their participation, and with the launch of the beta, Atari Club is moving towards reaching a wider audience and making it easier to join.
Using a “Web 2.5” approach that mixes web2 and web3 methods, members can log in via email and are not required to connect their wallet, but can still do so if they wish.
But that doesn’t mean 50YOA and ARC holders will be flooded with arcade machines.
“We’re building this community for the long term — it’s the foundation for Atari Club and everything that’s going to happen,” Drewitz said. “We launched a navy jacket as part of our members-only collaboration late last year, and we’ve got more to come.”
Drewitz foresees Atari Club becoming a next-generation loyalty platform that seamlessly integrates web3 dynamics and delivers brands to the masses in every possible form.
“What’s old is new again,” Drewitz said. “Atari pioneered third-party game development decades ago, and now we’re going to embrace third parties through the Atari Club, whether that’s UGC from fans, supporting developers making games, or continuing to curate the cool things our partners are doing in the space.”
Atari Club has already launched a community voting campaign, with more to come, and gaming fans looking for nostalgic games filtered through new platforms and formats should check out Atari Club, as it’s well-positioned to change the way modern gaming fandom operates.
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