Atari 50th Anniversary NFT Collection Announced, Hooray

by James · August 25, 2022

Atari has revealed it’s still very much on the NFT bandwagon by announcing a new set. The Atari 50th Anniversary NFT Collection will be a collaboration with artist Butcher Billy and will include 2,600 NFTs, as well as a “free metaverse experience” and even a phone hotline you can call.

What is this new 50th anniversary Atari NFT collection all about?

This year marks legendary game studio Atari’s 50th anniversary, and the studio has already announced a museum-style interactive game to commemorate the occasion. However, it looks like the celebrations won’t stop there, as an Atari 50th Anniversary NFT Collection has been announced. The collection is a collaboration with Brazilian graphic artist Butcher Billy, whose name you may recognize from some of the social media campaigns for the fourth season of Stranger Things.

The Atari NFT Collection will feature 2,600 unique NFTs (see what they did there?) based on 15 different works by Billy. Of course, this won’t be the first Atari NFT rodeo. The company also released a collection back in 2021 consisting of 3D models for Centipede cartridge, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, they somehow found a way to combine loot boxes and NFTs for a giveaway initiative earlier this year. This time, however, it’s not just NFTs; there is also a “free metaverse experience” that you can check out.

A retro-style poster showcasing the Atari 50th Anniversary NFT Collection, with a smaller poster in the middle and a list of things to expect from the collection, including a September mint date and an advertisement for Room 133 — Atari has put together some charming retro marketing material for the Atari 50th Anniversary NFT Collection.

In addition to the NFT collection, Atari is also offering the chance to explore a “free metaverse experience” called Room 133, which is meant to recreate an old-school Atari developer room. It’s a fully explorable virtual environment that apparently contains clues regarding the 50th anniversary Atari NFT collection, as well as information about other Atari collaborations and “perks and access to special experiences”.

If you’re so inclined, you can also call an interactive hotline (as in a real interactive telephone hotline) by dialing 1-888-ATARI50. Apparently that hotline will give you tips on how to navigate room 133 and what you’re looking for there. You also don’t need to have any kind of NFT or cryptocurrency investment to access Room 133, which is good, because the NFT market isn’t doing so hot right now (and for good reason).

So NFTs don’t disappear in games then?

Not really, no. The battle lines are arguably drawn more and more obviously with each new announcement of a developer jumping ship and sailing with the NFT crew. Recently we have had Monsoon announcement zombicide NFTs on the table side of things, as well as legendary gaming figures like Richard Garriott and Tomonobu Itagaki crossing over to the dark side.

A cast of monsters and warriors from the Tomonobu Itagaki NFT game Warrior — Tomonobu Itagaki is just one industry event that emphasizes NFTs.

At the same time, indie developers have used public conference appearances to fend off NFTs and the blockchain, and Valve has issued a blanket ban on cryptocurrency games (although certain enterprising developers seem to be finding ways around that ban). While the NFT market is definitely not in a very good place right now, that doesn’t stop the fiercest proponents of blockchain from continuing to fight in their corner, nor does it stop blockchain’s most vocal opponents from coming out against it. We’ll bring you more on Atari and NFTs as soon as we get it.