Atari Founder Slams Former Company, PS3

[Shawn Andrich]

Atari Founds Slams Former Company, PS3

Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Chuck E. Cheese and Atari, spoke out against Sony's upcoming PS3 and his former company.

Bushnell was dismissive of Sony's PS3, predicting dark times ahead for the company. "I think Sony shot themselves in the foot? there is a high probability [they] will fail. The price point is probably unsustainable. For years and years Sony has been a very difficult company to deal with from a developer standpoint. They could get away with their arrogance and capriciousness because they had an installed base. They have also historically had horrible software tools. You compare that to the Xbox 360 with really great authoring tools [and] additional revenue streams from Xbox live ... a first party developer would be an idiot to develop for Sony first and not the 360. People don?t buy hardware, they buy software."

He went on to suggest that Sony's success with the hugely successful Playstation brand was nothing more than a stroke of luck. "It wasn?t anything brilliant that they did. With the PS and PS2 it was timing. They had the right pricing at the right time [and were] almost the accidental winner. It would not surprise me if a year from now they?ll be struggling to sell 1 million units. [Factoring in the PS3?s price], I think in the U.S. the number of early adopters you have is actually around 300,000."

Bushnell also scoffed at the current rendition of the Atari brand. "It really isn?t a part of today?s gaming world in any meaningful way. They lost the cachet of being a leading technology company in the games space."

Finally, the Chuck E. Cheese founder applauded the Wii and Microsoft's Xbox Live as both having great potential in the future. "I?m very curious and interested in the Nintendo Wii. I think it may expand the market beyond the hardcore [18- to 24-year old]. Xbox Live is interesting because it potentially becomes the platform for the living room."

Source: Red Herring [http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=19611&hed=Atari+Founder+Likes+Xbox360%2C+Disses+PS3&sector=Industries&subsector=EntertainmentAndMedia]

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[Russ Pitts]

Ummm, why should we listen to the guy who founded Chuck E. Cheese? Why should we listen to someone who abandoned the video game industry years ago? What credibility does he have aside from being the founder of Atari more than a decade ago, and making Pong (I think)? All he has is name recognition. He has no current standing in the video game industry. Sounds like he just wants to remind everyone he's still alive or something...

I don't understand this sentiment, and completely disagree with your conclusions. His standing in the game industry is that he made it. He made it. He may have some wrong-headed ideas from time-to-time, but he's earned the right to voice them.

 

[Russ Pitts]

I respect Bushnell for the same reason I repsect Einstein, Chaplin and Hendrix. It's true that he's not making a ton of the games you see on shelves today, but without what he did make, those games wouldn't be there. A person either respects that or they don't. Apparently you don't. Fair enough.

 

[Joe]

Would you care about Chaplin's opinion of film today? Would you care what Hendrix would say about today's music industry, especially if he goes about bashing them while not doing anything to change it? Would you care if Einstein were to come back today and claim that today's science is a failure, even if he were not to be working on science anymore?

Yes, yes I would. When someone is generative of an entire school of thought or industry, their opinion always matters. Saying he doesn't have credibility is like saying your grandfather, who hasn't exactly been out of touch with you, holds just as much critical dominion over you as his buddy at the nursing home.

 

[Russ Pitts]

Joe has the right of it here. There is no statute of limitations on being influential.

 

[Graffiti Writer]

Bushnell's opinion is considerably more informed than most anyone else's in the world when it comes to selling videogame consoles. He wouldn't be saying this if he wasn't seeing repeated mistakes he learnt lessons from 25 years ago. He's not talking about the differences in technology between the age of Atari and today; he's talking about selling consoles, and about that there are few who know more.
Time might well prove him wrong but his opinion is seriously worth factoring into an expensive decision like whether or not to buy a PS3.
He is still involved in videogames, too.

 

[Russ Pitts]

Why should we think that his opinion on the snowballs current state and size matters?

For the same reason any opinion matters. And, for that matter, to the same extent.

I understand your points, but still disagree with you. Bushnells opinion on videogames matters far more to me than that of others, including yours. And mine. And Joe's for that matter. Now that's not to say that I won't disagree with him from time to time, but I'll listen to what he has to say because I respect his opinion.

Saying that his opinion doesn't matter because he hasn't made a hit game in however many years is a bit short-sighted.

 

[TomBeraha]

Why should we think that his opinion on the snowballs current state and size matters?

We should listen to his opinions on today's market because the fundamental properties of economics don't change. Just because Clinton isn't currently the president of the united states does not make his opinion on matters of foreign policy unfounded or somehow less than currently serving members of our government. There is a lot to be said for having been the person in place getting the experience. To do something is to truly know it, and he HAS done it.

Just because a worker laid the foundation of a building doesn't mean that worker has the right to comment on the the workings of the remaining building after he has left. And while Bushnell may have started rolling up that snowball that is the industry, he left.

I completely disagree with you here. A worker in a construction site with years of experience building finishes a job, he retires later and enjoys life at home. He walks by a construction site on the way to get groceries and is every bit entitled and deserving of respect if he comments on the lack of safety, or poor workmanship or failure to use good materials. His knowledge does not vanish because he's not currently working as a contractor. No - he like Bushnell has a much more educated opinion to offer, I'm not saying that he is correct. But it is foolish to ignore to words of people who have traveled the path you're on even if the undergrowth has changed over the years.

 

[Russ Pitts]

Fletcher, I'm saying that his opinion doesn't matter because he is no longer working in the industry. If he were active in the industry in some way, sure, I'll welcome his opinion. But he's not.

Fair enough. Although I think you're selling yourself short by not respecting the opinions of the current industry's forefathers. And like Tom said, the game smay have changed, but the fundamentals of making and selling them haven't.

Something to keep in mind while you're whittling your "I hate my elders" voodoo doll.

 

[Russ Pitts]

I don't hate my elders. I just don't think my tribal elders' advice about how to win wars through great swordsmanship should be taken without question when the neighboring tribes are buying guns.

That's a funny analogy, I have to hand it to you. But it misses the point. (A point which no fewer than four separate people have been making all day, mind you.) That point being, that Nolan is not talking about rendering awesome 3D graphics, or cell processing. He's talking about how innovative brands are destroyed by launching shitty consoles. And that's a subject with he is very familiar.

 

[Echolocating]

Mgsmanda, there are two levers in life... Lever A and Lever B. Sometimes you just gotta leave 'er be. ;-)

 

[Russ Pitts]

I'll let you have the last word on this if you want it, bub, but I have to point out that all of the words you've thrown up in this forum so far amount to the same thing: you don't respect the man's opinion. And I've already acknowledged that you have the right to your own on that score. So let's just call it a day on that and move on, shall we?

Besides, regardless of how one might feel about Mr. Bushnell, I for one agree with his analysis 100%. And that's what we're really all here to talk about isn't it?