Atari eyes online and mobile gaming markets

Fred Chesnais (42), the new CEO at the ‘seventies-famous games and IT equipment supplier Atari, has big plans for the company following its emergence from bankruptcy proceedings last year…and they include participation in the social gambling sector, according to Wired Magazine.

Chesnais told the publication this week that his plans include licensing the famous brand to suitable gaming development companies in tune with today’s mobile and online audience.

Atari is a shadow of its former self with just ten employees but Chesnais, in his second crack at the top job with the company, is determined to drive it to success again, focusing on gaming software rather than hardware, and developing new versions of its popular and classic games, which will be especially suited to the social gambling market in Europe.

The company has already launched four of these, and has more lined up.

Juniper Research estimates that the social gaming sector will have around 164 million players by 2018 on mobile gambling games alone, and Chesnais intends to be there, partnering with two gaming startups already working in the gambling game space.

FlowPlay, the company behind the game Vegas World, will work with the company to build Atari Casino, a social casino game in which players can play for virtual money, while another startup called Pariplay will build a game of the same name where players bet with real money.

Other projects will involve the harnessing of Youtube audiences.