Atari partners with the Litecoin Foundation

Atari, founded in 1972, owns and/or manages a portfolio of more than 200 games and franchises, including Asteroids, Breakout, and Centipede. With this portfolio of intellectual properties, the company delivers games for smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices. Atari also develops and distributes interactive entertainment for Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo game consoles.

In February 2018, in line with the end of the 2017 crypto bull run, Atari announced that it would launch a cryptocurrency called the “Atari Token.” The first use cases will be in the domains where the Group is already active: casinos using cryptocurrencies, video games, or blockchain games.

To achieve this objective Atari has announced a few partnerships, including the grant of a non-exclusive license to the ICICB Group to launch an online casino that will, in due course, offer Atari games and utilize the Atari Token among other cryptocurrencies.

The Atari Token will be issued by Atari Chain Ltd a company registered in Gibraltar, which is equally owned by Atari and the ICICB Group. The agreement states that the Atari Group is entitled to 35% of the revenue derived from the sales of the Atari Token.

Atari subsequently announced a partnership with Animoca Brands, in December 2018, to make blockchain versions of the Atari games RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch and Goon Squad. Animoca Brands is a developer and publisher of blockchain-based games such as The Sandbox, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes, they are also the exclusive China distributor of CryptoKitties.

The Atari Token will also be used in the Animoca Brands game The Sandbox. Atari Group has granted a license to TSB Gaming, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands for the creation of an Atari-themed metaverse inside The Sandbox, creating a metaverse where gamers will be able to use the Atari Token.

Yat Siu, the co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands, stated: “This deal marks a special moment for me because I started my career working with Atari and using Atari computers. The RollerCoaster Tycoon franchise is, like many of Atari’s properties, a true evergreen, having been around for two decades. Given the strategic and commercial elements of this incredibly fun simulation, it is a perfect candidate for blockchain adaptation.”

The partnership with the Litecoin Foundation will provide users with the ability to use Litecoin in a variety of ways throughout the Atari ecosystem. Litecoin will become an option for purchasing the new Atari VCS game console at a discount. The VCS is Atari’s all-new PC/console hybrid, that will allow users to not only play hundreds of modern and classic video games and stream 4K video, but also create and upload their own games and apps for others to enjoy.

The partnership will also allow potential investors to purchase the Atari Token with Litecoin during a pre-sale. “We are pleased to have Litecoin as a means of payment for the Atari Token sales,” said Fred Chesnais, CEO of Atari. “Litecoin’s ease-of-use and low transaction costs make it a perfect fit for use alongside the Atari Token and other projects.”

The first round of the presale for the Atari Token started on the 30th of March 2020 and at its close closing, 74.19 BTC were transacted on the platform, corresponding to US$514K at a price per Atari Token of US$0.08. According to a press release, the majority of this round was placed with partners.

The second presale is currently underway and began on the 17th of April 2020. This round will close ten days after the launch of an exchange platform that Atari is currently developing, which will allow users to purchase and sell the token. The public sale is scheduled for the summer of 2020.

Late last week Atari also announced a new partnership with Arkane Network, a global monetization platform and provider of multichain blockchain APIs and wallets. As part of the agreement, Arkane will integrate the Atari Token in its offering and will support Atari’s strategic objective to boost the adoption of the Atari Token throughout the interactive entertainment ecosystem and its blockchain initiatives.

Arkane provides companies with an all-in-one solution to build and launch products powered with blockchain technology. The company is a member of the Blockchain Game Alliance along with game studios such as Ubisoft and provides a service for content creators and game developers to create, monetize and secure digital assets and make them publicly available.