Atarisoft’s advertisement in the June 1984 Ahoy! lined up five competing computers beneath stacks of game boxes. The machines were a VIC-20, IBM PC, Apple II, TI-99/4A and Commodore 64. Above them, Atari offered games their owners might otherwise have associated with an arcade or an Atari machine. The business was selling software to those owners, whether or not they bought Atari hardware. (Original advertisement, back cover.)
Atarisoft was a label of Atari Inc.. John Anderson’s March 1984 Creative Computing article dates the announcement of the cross-platform venture to June 1983. Its history predates the later split between Atari Corporation and Atari Games, and the latter’s Tengen subsidiary.
One label, several origins
The name on a box did not necessarily identify the arcade game’s creator. The Ahoy! advertisement offered Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Defender, Joust and Pole Position, among others. Its small print names Nintendo, Williams, Namco and Taito rights alongside Atari’s own.
Those credits describe a network of licences. Atarisoft could publish a version of a Nintendo or Namco game for a Commodore computer. The publishing label, original game design and particular conversion were separate contributions. An Atari logo alone cannot settle who designed or programmed the game inside.
Different versions for different machines
The stacks in that advertisement are not identical. They present a catalogue by machine, with different titles under each platform heading. The text also mentions ColecoVision and Intellivision, with a qualification that Donkey Kong and Battlezone were not available for ColecoVision. Even the advertisement needed exceptions.
A contemporary COMPUTE! Winter CES report lists new Atarisoft announcements for the C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, Apple II and TI-99/4A. It gives $34.95 for disk editions and $44.95 for cartridges. Its language records what Atari announced at the show; it does not establish that every listed game reached every listed machine. (COMPUTE! 47, April 1984, p.86.)
The format mattered to the buyer. A Commodore cartridge could not be put into an Apple II and become the Apple version. Each machine needed its own program and physical edition, within its own display, memory and sound limits.
A publishing name with a specific owner
Atarisoft’s June 1984 advertisement explicitly says its products were manufactured by Atari Inc. and were not licensed or approved by the makers of the competing hardware. The arcade-game licences and the hardware companies’ approval were different questions. Keeping those relationships separate also prevents a later Tengen cartridge or an Atari Corporation product from being folded into the same catalogue because it carries part of the Atari name.
Sources
- John Anderson, “Atari”, Creative Computing 10(3), March 1984, p.51: June 1983 announcement and the move into software for competing computers. Contemporary text.
- Atari Inc., Atarisoft advertisement, Ahoy! 6, June 1984, back cover: pictured platforms, different catalogues, arcade rights notices and hardware approval disclaimer. Original issue scan.
- “The Shakeout Begins: A Watershed Winter CES”, COMPUTE! 47, April 1984, p.86: announced titles, platforms and prices. Contemporary text.