well looks like Atari and gamesas are competing for indie games with similar programs. This is a really good business strategy for small publishers looking to regain their financial footing. I had been hoping only gamesas had picked up on this strategy.

Atari unveils indie partnership plan By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Sep 23, 2010 1:52 pm PT

Atari GO will assist outside creators with original games and remakes of publisher's retro arcade lineup; casual and online-focused endeavor will also see vintage games embedded into Web sites.

Last year, Atari's then-CEO David Gardner revealed plans to have outside developers remake some of the company's retro hits. While Gardner's tenure as CEO ended months later, that particular goal is alive and well at the company, as evidenced by today's announcement of the new Atari GO initiative.


Faeries vs. Darklings is one of the first games produced under the Atari GO initiative.
Atari GO comprises a number of programs advancing the publisher's interests in the online and mobile gaming worlds, starting with outreach to indie creators. As the name suggests, the independent developer program will see Atari work with outside studios to create original games or new titles based on the company's retro intellectual properties.

Atari online and mobile executive vice president Thom Kozik told GameSpot the arrangements will be worked out individually, with developers able to use the publisher simply for distribution or for more full-featured product support. Developers will also have influence on issues like distribution channels and pricing to suit the specific needs of each title. Whether the rights to original IP reside with the outside developers or with Atari will also be determined on a case-by-case basis.

There are more than a dozen studios working on Atari GO titles at the moment. At first, Kozik said the ratio of reimagined Atari brands to original intellectual property will favor remakes. However, he added that the initiative's output should even out starting next year, and he expects that in time the balance will tilt toward original titles.

Atari is also starting up an affiliate program in which the publisher will offer up browser-based games to other companies' Web sites. Kozik said the program is a response to the proliferation of knock-offs of Atari's arcade library that have been made for sites. By using the affiliate program, game sites will be able to offer authentic titles instead of knock-offs, and Atari will split revenues of in-game ads and microtransactions with the host site.

The Atari GO initiative will support a variety of different game types, as evidenced by its first playable products. Gamers can already see the program bearing fruit in the beta version of the browser-based match-three puzzle game Faeries vs. Darklings and the beta version of Test Drive Unlimited 2.

Would-be Atari GO partners and affiliates can find out more on the official Web site.

I wouldn't go as far as saying it's copying. All major publishers are launching similar programs, I believe the first was either EA Play or 2K Play, then there was THQ Partners, Activision Partners, etc.

Maybe Activision Value can count as the first depending on how you look at Independent game development. There are also certain publishers dedicated solely to publishing for independent studios. It wasn't something gamesas coined but really a direction that the industry is moving towards, it's good to see gamesas being an early adopter though.

In the end it will really be about each publishing label simply trying to get a hold of the most talent, similar to what we saw in the 80/90s when a lot of "publishers" left the industry simply to go into development. There was a lot of talent left over and many of the companies still publishing titles jumped at the opportunity.

Financially though I'd say Atari is in a far better state than gamesas is, for them such a program will probably be supplementary income. But I do see some overlap in terms of the direction Bushnell wants to push the company and where gamesas is currently going [digital].

Edit: Something I forgot to mention, publishers have been pushing independent products for as long as they've been in the publishing business. Opening up a label dedicated to it simply gives them some more PR and perhaps makes them seem more friendly to potential studios who might feel nervous to approach.

Edit 2: Link to the Gamespot post,

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6279092.html

Also saw the first game they're releasing under the program. Seems to be browser based so far but will be open to other mediums as well.

gamesas doesn't have an "arcade" service like PlayAtari so they might not see much direct competition for a while.