Room 133
Image: Atari

Atari has announced another NFT collection to coincide with its 50th anniversary happening this year (as spotted by TechRaptor).

The iconic gaming brand previously released the Atari Capsule Collection in April 2021 which included 3D models based on Centipede and Pong. It then followed this up in January 2022 with another collection that essentially combined NFTs with loot boxes. Now it seems that the company is taking no notice of the backlash it received to any of those announcements, revealing another set, this time in collaboration with the Brazilian artist Butcher Billy.

The collection will apparently include 2600 unique NFTs based on 15 pieces by Billy. And in addition to NFTs, the company is also promising a "free metaverse experience", which is essentially an explorable room designed to look like an old Atari office. This will apparently contain clues about the upcoming NFT collection and other Atari collaborations.

Of course, this opens up the question, why does any of this need to be NFT-related? For this collab, Atari is also seemingly bringing back hotlines, with those who want to participate being able to call 1-888-ATARI50 to receive clues on how to navigate this room.

NFTs have become something of a hot topic in the games industry over the last year. Back in October 2021, Valve made a stand by banning NFTs from its digital distribution platform Steam. Then, in February 2022, the indie storefront itch.io called NFTs a scam in a statement to its followers on Twitter.

Atari X
Image: Atari

It's not just digital platforms pushing back against NFTs either. In January, the Game Developer Conference's annual State of the Game Industry Report revealed that 70% of a group of 2700 developers were "Not Interested" in implementing NFTs in their games. And commenters are quick to make their feelings heard, as was the case with Atari's previous collections.

As a user named Aaron & the Shibas puts it on Twitter, there is some good news for Atari at the end of all this though: "At least you don't need to bury NFTs in a landfill."

What do you make of this recent announcement? Let us know your own thoughts in the comments!

[source twitter.com, via techraptor.net]