09-27-2017, 03:55 AM
The best summary I've seen of Atari's new console yet: https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/25643...-least-250
Quote:There are a few things to note before slapping down money on this platform. First, the microconsole business, which pundits once thought would drag on the PS4 and Xbox One’s sales, crashed and burned. Devices like the Ouya completely failed to catch on, while other handhelds and small consoles, like the Nvidia Shield and Nvidia TV, have been used more for video and game streaming than as an independent game platform. The PlayStation TV from Sony was canceled several years after it launched.
Then there’s the price. At $250 to $300, the Ataribox isn’t priced like a microconsole; it’s priced to compete with actual consoles. There are Xbox One S bundles from Microsoft available for as low as $250. While the Xbox One isn’t as powerful as the PS4, and neither are as powerful as a PC, does anybody seriously think Atari is going to build a custom gaming solution that can compete with even the older Xbox One for the same amount of money? The Atari of today isn’t the company that kicked off the gaming revolution 40 years ago. The engineers that drove the first arcade and home gaming era have retired or long since quit the company. Today, Atari is a licensing and trademark program, not a hardware-builder.
That’s the central problem of the Ataribox. At $50 to $70, some users might like to pick one up for the nostalgia factor. At $250 to $300, there are going to be better solutions. Atari could conceivably bring some indie games to its platform, but it’s not going to have much traction in the market at that price point.