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Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Game-The video game company Giant Atari announced on December 18 a partnership that provides for the re-issue of two popular games with updates that will use the blockchain for their core mechanic.
According to Press release published on Tuesday, the gaming company entered into a licensing agreement with the startup blockchain company Animoca Brands, in an attempt to reintroduce two of its most popular mobile games with blockchain integration. Specifically, the agreement includes the rights to "RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch" and "Goon Squad", which will be developed and distributed by Animoca Brands globally, with the exception of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao.
In particular, RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch has accumulated over 19 million downloads, offering an avenue of exposure to a gaming fan base that may be familiar with Atari games – including the famous Tetris and Pacman – but lacks a familiarity with blockchain, cryptography or integration that can be done through the game.
Included in the release is an agreement between Atari and Animoca Brands to pursue mutual opportunities for game development and blockchain technology, providing some guidance on the direction of the gaming company in the future. While IBM, Facebook and many other family-name technology companies have launched development projects to pursue the integration of blockchain, the game still has to produce a recognizable brand association that would favor that cause.
While Atari is one of the first established gaming companies to project in the blockchain space, other cryptocurrencies have already been occupied. TRON and the TRON Foundation, the community behind the TRX currency, have been at the forefront of gaming blockchain by CEO Justin Sun announced a strategic partnership with Game.com in January 2018 to develop blockchain and encrypted game design. Given the position of TRON as a cryptocurrency platform aimed at reinventing the digital space of entertainment, gaming has been one of the most obvious courses for money growth.
With the acquisition of BitTorrent by Sun at the beginning of the year and the subsequent announcement of integration of torrent services on the TRON platform through the Project Atlas initiative, sharing and gaming focused peer to peer files may constitute another ring of the slowly increasing influence of TRON. Given the amount of usability and overlap that most have found between the technological world of cryptocurrency and blockchain, and the same consumer base of video games, video games have been seen as a low-impact fruit for the industry in which to expand. With millennials and younger adults invested more heavily in both cryptocurrency and mobile-based games, the potential of a currency like TRON exists despite the token bear market.
As for the more traditional Atari, yesterday's announcement is not the first time that the company is linked to potential encryption and blockchain developments. In February, despite the decline in coin prices, the Atari stock has climbed more than 60 percent to announce a new initiative that would involve investments in cryptocurrency. The company also launched its own currency, the Atari token.
According to the release of Animoca, the company intends to release the updated blockchain version of Atari's mobile games in the second half of 2019, with the license agreement valid until March 2022.
