Atari claims “no news is good news” after months of Atari VCS silence

The Atari VCS console may be the legacy gaming company’s “next big thing”, but months of silence have fans worried.

In an attempt to ease the minds of the project’s many IndieGoGo backers, Atari has released a written Q&A article.

As a sort of PR interview with Atari COO Michael Artz, the article doesn’t do much to alleviate backer worries about the retro-styled console. In fact, the interview seems more worried about Atari stakeholders than actual fans.

“We understand that all of our stakeholders would like to know where things stand every day and want immediate answers to their individual posts and messages,” Artz writes. “I respectfully ask them to please understand that, as a public company, we must follow specific protocols that are in place.

According to the company, the Atari VCS is “progressing according to the updated schedule of March 2020”.

“In addition, because we also must always consider the needs and wishes of our various partners, we do not always have full control over the pace or timing of our communications,” claims Artz. “We aim to make periodic updates to our community with complete transparency.”

According to Artz, this problematic lack of communication that was admitted to just one line ago is not a problem whatsoever. In fact, Artz claims that “no news is good news” when it comes to the controversial title.

However, Atari also attempts to push back against the VCS’ negative controversies by, well, essentially blaming their fans.

“The Atari brand generates a lot of passion,” Artz says. “It is only natural that we will attract interest and speculation, especially in the quiet periods heading into a major product launch like this one. Building a complex product like the Atari VCS from scratch takes time and care, and with any gaming and video platform, content in particular involves extensive discussions and cooperation with third-party partners. As tempting as it might be, we can’t comment publicly on confidential partnerships and licensing discussions while they are in progress. As you can imagine, we are talking about some large brands that have rigorous confidentiality guidelines.”

Atari has attempted a resurgence in recent years. From retro game compilations to all-new games, it’s nice to see a legacy company coming back to life.