The Atari VCS team knows how important the marriage between games and hardware is. The original Atari 2600 console literally launched the in-home video gaming revolution that still powers the home entertainment industry today. We also know that we have spent a lot of time focusing on the new Atari VCS hardware and peripherals in our updates, in the press and at events; but we’ve never lost sight of the reasons why we were building them: games!
Today, we are taking the wraps off a huge new partnership with Antstream Arcade, a leading provider of on-demand retro-gaming content. This partnership means that when the Atari VCS lands in people’s hands and homes in late 2019/early 2020, there will be plenty of classic Atari games to play, plus thousands of other fully-licensed favorites from the heyday of classic console, desktop, and arcade gaming. Our partnership with Antstream is designed to give Atari VCS owners the most games and the most comprehensive version of Antstream Arcade available when it launches. The service is in addition to the 100+ games already included in the free copy of Atari Vault that comes with every VCS.
When Atari VCS users log in or subscribe to the Antstream service using their Atari VCS, it will immediately unlock an exclusive and enhanced version of the Antstream app engineered specifically for the Atari VCS. The Atari VCS Edition of the app will house the largest collection of Atari games available anywhere and ready for immediate play. This enhanced collection will be exclusive to the Atari VCS at launch and will not be available on other Antstream platforms without an Atari VCS account.
For this partnership, Atari has authorized its complete library of more than 300 different classic home and arcade games and collections to appear on the Antstream on-demand service. Our plan is for the Atari VCS Antstream app to debut with at least fifty (50) Atari home and arcade titles, plus the full Antstream lineup of licensed retro classics, curated from a huge collection of classic games from other legendary consoles including Sega MegaDrive/Genesis, Commodore 64, Atari 2600, Atari ST, PC, Atari 5200, Sega Master System, NeoGeo, Intellivision and many more, plus arcade classics.
Not only does Antstream give Atari VCS users access to thousands of classic games, but the service also has a global leaderboard and entertains players with a regular diet of fun “snackable” social challenges with friends or foes.
Making things even more interesting for Atari VCS users will be full compatibility with the all-new Atari Classic Joystick and Atari Modern Controllers!
Antstream Arcade is backed by Tencent and Hambro Perks and was founded by Steve Cottam in 2013 in London. It has grown to be the premium place to find and play retro classics on-demand. Atari is thrilled to be partnered with Antstream and we think Atari VCS users will be even more so. There’s a lot going on and we will have a lot more to say about this initiative and other games and content partnerships over the coming months.
Last but not least, for those of you who might miss our hardware-oriented updates, here’s a sneak peek at one of the actual Atari VCS pre-production boards, hot off the presses.
Everything is going great and continues to move forward, with more exciting news to come from the hardware team. Stay tuned!
— The Atari VCS Team
PS — Please head over to AtariVCS.com to learn more about the Atari VCS and peripherals, or to participate in the ongoing Official Atari VCS Presale happening now at AtariVCS.com, GameStop.com and Walmart.com. There’s never been a better time to get in on the fun!
