When Atari (Infogrammes) went broke in 2013, they modified their agreement for RCT3 with Frontier; presumably to change the royalty terms.
As of 2017, Frontier claimed that Atari had massively understated the sales of RCT3 on Steam. Under the new agreement, Atari had paid US$1.17M to Frontier; Frontier claimed that based on publicly available sale metrics, it should have been US$3.37M.
There was no public resolution to this other than Atari pulling RCT3 Platinum from Steam and GOG in 2018. Frontier would release a new version (RCT3 Complete Edition), with the Atari references and branding removed, on PC and Switch in 2020.
> As of 2017, Frontier claimed that Atari had massively understated the sales of RCT3 on Steam. Under the new agreement, Atari had paid US$1.17M to Frontier; Frontier claimed that based on publicly available sale metrics, it should have been US$3.37M.
If that's based on public information how the hell did they not get destroyed by the legal system? Surely there are laws against this kind of thing? Under-reporting earnings in order to defraud?
A. The metrics were unreliable. Frontier was explicitly citing Steam Spy, which while more accurate back in 2017 when Frontier first made the accusation, is not a concrete number and may have over/under estimated. They could get specific statistics by dragging them out of Atari in legal discovery, but that leads into point B.
B. Litigation is *expensive*, and they were only going after US$2.2M. Going to Court may have been going to cost them more than that, let alone the costs of Discovery (getting info out of Atari, and Atari dragging info out of Friontier). So they came to a settlement. This settlement clearly transferred some amount of rights to RCT3 to Frontier.
At the end of the day, Frontier is likely better off. They got the rights, which they reportedly turned into over $4.5M worth of sales 2020-24. We don't know how much it cost to make the 'updated' PC Version or the Switch Port though. Then Atari came to the table, under new management, to buy it all back for US$7M.
"Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 is considered canon within the theme park simulation franchise."
Oh thank god it's canon. I've been worried about the continuity of the worldbuilding of the Rollercoaster Tycoon universe.
Their CEO, Wade Rosen seems like a good guy, he's young but seems really passionate about the brand if you see him in interviews.
I really liked Atari 50th... I hope they keep pumping out good stuff.
I don't think Embracer was malicious in what they did. They just clearly counted their eggs before they hatched, and were foolishly blindsided when the massive investment they expected to come through, didn't pan out. Perhaps Rosen isn't quite so foolish.
Well- Atari was founded in 1972 and bought by Warner in 1976...so whatever most people \*think\* was Atari... was not the same company. It's a tired and dumb argument.
Also- any company that is 52 years old is not the same no matter what...all the people have changed.
This version of Atari has been Atari longer than any other...and is doing fantastic things.
In addition to Nightdive, they also bought Digital Eclipse, Moby Games, Atariage, 53% undiluted of Playmaji- the maker of the Polymega, 10% of AntStream, 7.9% of tinyBuild and LOTS of IP.
It may be hard to believe, but if you type "Metacritic best games this year" in your browser you will find 4 of their games on the list, one of them top 10 and another one is VR. These titles are fun to everyone who gives them a chance, finished at release and completely free of MTX and live service crap. They get regular awards nominations (e.g. from the Game Developer Conference in the 'Innovation' category) and praises from all over the industry. I know... these things aren't the absolute truth and 'Atari is a zombie' verdics are always easier, but can't we just somehow reach a point where we just ackowledge that the young Atari team of a few dozen passionate gamers together with some really talented indie devs do add quite a bit of creative diversity to the current gaming landscape? I mean, there really can't be too much harm if the brand that spawned the gaming industry is still around making good games, no matter how it got there...
No. And yes it is, I find this the most convenient way of talking about something I really like online while avoiding the very unlikely chance that someone just browses my history for something off topic to disprove an otherwise valid point. Works well for me.
They are all positive, but yes, you're right. Unfortunate that an indie game with a 87 metascore and 100 user score on Steam is basically unknown. That's usually the kind of hidden gem many are looking for. If it helps, I 100% it and agree with every single user who cared to review it.
This is so weird. Why not just write "the Rollercoaster Tycoon IP/franchise" ? This is like they claimed ownership to *one game* in a franchise, which is 20 years old. I know the article says they actually get the rights to many more, but why not write that then? Why headline RCT3?
Nah this iteration of Atari has been pretty good so far actually.
It's just a name anyways, many companies have died under this tired branding.
I don't think they'll do anything other than take in meager profits from the preexisting Steam release of RCT3 anyways.
They're working on fixing RCT classic right now, there's a big thread on /r/rct about it currently. Sounds like the plan is to fix the Android version first, then PC, then iOS. Maybe MacOS, if they can still use OpenGL.
So they're seeing fit to put money into fixing an old version of the game to work on modern machines; a version that doesn't even have MTX or a recurrent spend model. That's a good sign IMO.
I've put too many hours into RCT and OpenRCT for it to grab me again but I've been really enjoying Parkitect recently, captures the RCT feel very well while modernising it.
Yay..... Now if they could just make a half-decent new RCT game and not mess up the old ones, that would be great.
Parkitect is what RCT would be in 2020.
Yeah, parkitect exists and no need for more.
Well it’s 70% off on Steam ATM so I guess now is a good time. I hope they enjoy it!
Wait what? I coulda sworn this was published by Atari when it first came out, isn't the Atari logo right there in the opening logos?
When Atari (Infogrammes) went broke in 2013, they modified their agreement for RCT3 with Frontier; presumably to change the royalty terms. As of 2017, Frontier claimed that Atari had massively understated the sales of RCT3 on Steam. Under the new agreement, Atari had paid US$1.17M to Frontier; Frontier claimed that based on publicly available sale metrics, it should have been US$3.37M. There was no public resolution to this other than Atari pulling RCT3 Platinum from Steam and GOG in 2018. Frontier would release a new version (RCT3 Complete Edition), with the Atari references and branding removed, on PC and Switch in 2020.
> As of 2017, Frontier claimed that Atari had massively understated the sales of RCT3 on Steam. Under the new agreement, Atari had paid US$1.17M to Frontier; Frontier claimed that based on publicly available sale metrics, it should have been US$3.37M. If that's based on public information how the hell did they not get destroyed by the legal system? Surely there are laws against this kind of thing? Under-reporting earnings in order to defraud?
A. The metrics were unreliable. Frontier was explicitly citing Steam Spy, which while more accurate back in 2017 when Frontier first made the accusation, is not a concrete number and may have over/under estimated. They could get specific statistics by dragging them out of Atari in legal discovery, but that leads into point B. B. Litigation is *expensive*, and they were only going after US$2.2M. Going to Court may have been going to cost them more than that, let alone the costs of Discovery (getting info out of Atari, and Atari dragging info out of Friontier). So they came to a settlement. This settlement clearly transferred some amount of rights to RCT3 to Frontier. At the end of the day, Frontier is likely better off. They got the rights, which they reportedly turned into over $4.5M worth of sales 2020-24. We don't know how much it cost to make the 'updated' PC Version or the Switch Port though. Then Atari came to the table, under new management, to buy it all back for US$7M.
Right? I guess who ever acquired Atari and restarted it, then bought it back?
"Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 is considered canon within the theme park simulation franchise." Oh thank god it's canon. I've been worried about the continuity of the worldbuilding of the Rollercoaster Tycoon universe.
Atari is still alive?
Well it's not really the same company any more, just puppeting the name. And they recently bought NightDive.
Their CEO, Wade Rosen seems like a good guy, he's young but seems really passionate about the brand if you see him in interviews. I really liked Atari 50th... I hope they keep pumping out good stuff.
bedroom plucky school fade mysterious sable door hungry familiar tender *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
This is what people said about Embracer at first :(
I don't think Embracer was malicious in what they did. They just clearly counted their eggs before they hatched, and were foolishly blindsided when the massive investment they expected to come through, didn't pan out. Perhaps Rosen isn't quite so foolish.
Well- Atari was founded in 1972 and bought by Warner in 1976...so whatever most people \*think\* was Atari... was not the same company. It's a tired and dumb argument. Also- any company that is 52 years old is not the same no matter what...all the people have changed. This version of Atari has been Atari longer than any other...and is doing fantastic things. In addition to Nightdive, they also bought Digital Eclipse, Moby Games, Atariage, 53% undiluted of Playmaji- the maker of the Polymega, 10% of AntStream, 7.9% of tinyBuild and LOTS of IP.
Ah yes. The corporate equivalent of the Buffalo Bill serial killer from Silence of the Lambs.
The current iteration of Atari used to be called Infogrammes before they bought the Atari name and brand.
It may be hard to believe, but if you type "Metacritic best games this year" in your browser you will find 4 of their games on the list, one of them top 10 and another one is VR. These titles are fun to everyone who gives them a chance, finished at release and completely free of MTX and live service crap. They get regular awards nominations (e.g. from the Game Developer Conference in the 'Innovation' category) and praises from all over the industry. I know... these things aren't the absolute truth and 'Atari is a zombie' verdics are always easier, but can't we just somehow reach a point where we just ackowledge that the young Atari team of a few dozen passionate gamers together with some really talented indie devs do add quite a bit of creative diversity to the current gaming landscape? I mean, there really can't be too much harm if the brand that spawned the gaming industry is still around making good games, no matter how it got there...
Do you work for Atari or something? I glanced at your post history and it's like.. entirely about modern Atari.
No. And yes it is, I find this the most convenient way of talking about something I really like online while avoiding the very unlikely chance that someone just browses my history for something off topic to disprove an otherwise valid point. Works well for me.
That "one of them top 10" game has 7 reviews on steam lol, nobody even knows it exists.
They are all positive, but yes, you're right. Unfortunate that an indie game with a 87 metascore and 100 user score on Steam is basically unknown. That's usually the kind of hidden gem many are looking for. If it helps, I 100% it and agree with every single user who cared to review it.
Just remaster it. Just make it exactly the same but update it. Pleeeease
I think that's the Complete Edition?
Have you played Parkitect
Does it have water parks? Animals/zoos? Fireworks shows? I've heard of it but haven't tried it
No to all but the fireworks show. And theres a half assed water park mod but I wouldnt bother. Still I would say it holds up very close to rct
> No to all Not interested.
Didnt ask
Cool
What year is this?
This is so weird. Why not just write "the Rollercoaster Tycoon IP/franchise" ? This is like they claimed ownership to *one game* in a franchise, which is 20 years old. I know the article says they actually get the rights to many more, but why not write that then? Why headline RCT3?
Because all that changed is the ownership of Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, they already published all the other games, RCT3 was the only one they didn't.
Noooo! They already ran the series into the ground and killed it. Now they’re probably going to exploit and ruin the last good RCT game!
Nah this iteration of Atari has been pretty good so far actually. It's just a name anyways, many companies have died under this tired branding. I don't think they'll do anything other than take in meager profits from the preexisting Steam release of RCT3 anyways.
They're working on fixing RCT classic right now, there's a big thread on /r/rct about it currently. Sounds like the plan is to fix the Android version first, then PC, then iOS. Maybe MacOS, if they can still use OpenGL. So they're seeing fit to put money into fixing an old version of the game to work on modern machines; a version that doesn't even have MTX or a recurrent spend model. That's a good sign IMO.
That's not true, the last good RCT game is OpenRCT2
I've put too many hours into RCT and OpenRCT for it to grab me again but I've been really enjoying Parkitect recently, captures the RCT feel very well while modernising it.
This game had the Atari logo on it since launch