Atari is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, California, in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles and home computers. The company’s products, such as Pong and the Atari 2600, helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s.
In 1984, as a result of the video game crash of 1983, the home console and computer divisions of the original Atari Inc. were sold off, and the company was rename A-T Games Inc. Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text “Games” on arcade games. As well as rights to the original 1972–1984 arcade hardware properties. The Consumer Electronics Division properties were in turn sold to Jack Tramiel’s Tramel Technology Ltd. Which then rename itself to A-T Corporation. In 1996, Corporation reverse-merged with disk-drive manufacturer JT Storage (JTS). Becoming a division within the company. In 1998, Hasbro Interactive acquired all A-T Corporation-related properties from JTS. Creating a new subsidiary, Atari Interactive.
Infogrames Entertainment (IESA) bought Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and rename it Infogrames Interactive. Which intermittently published A-T-branded titles. In 2003, it rename the division A-T Interactive. Another IESA division, Infogrames Inc. Changed its name to A-T Inc. the same year, licensing the A-T name and logo from its fellow subsidiary.
