Talk:Atari, Inc. (1993–present)

Start with "The n^th incarnation of Atari, Inc. [...]"

I liked the idea of mentioning it explicitly like that in the lead sentence, because both companies shared the exact same name and worked in the exact same business. Both leads only drop that there was a prior/later Atari, Inc. further on in the next paragraph, @IceWelder. There is the hatnote, but I figured more people read the lead sentence before the hatnote. —I'llbeyourbeach (talk) 20:10, 16 August 2022 (UTC)

The article title is already indicative of there being multiple topics of the exact same name, and the respective other entity should already be mentioned somewhere in the lead. An explicit "first/second incarnation" feels a bit superfluous, and nothing comparable is being done in other projects as far as I am aware. It should also be noted that "incarnation" is a bit misleading since the companies having nothing to do with each other than the current company's parent having purchased the former company's trademarks and some IPs. IceWelder [✉] 08:52, 17 August 2022 (UTC)

Splitting (and then rename) proposal

I propose to split the GT Interactive (pre-Atari) content into GT Interactive Software. This has been discussed on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Video games as the current set up (and the '1993' year in the title) makes it unnecessarily confusing in the context of Atari's history. GT Interactive is also notable enough and has the sources to be its own page, as already here in the History section.

Subsequently, this article will have to be renamed as '1993' would no longer apply. I propose renaming to Atari, Inc. (2003-present), as this is the current entity and Atari in use since that year. Sceeegt (talk) 19:07, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

Seems like a rather arbitrary split, no? It was just a name change at that point, the company had already been under Infogrames (which took a few more years to rename itself) for quite some time and the business remained largely unchanged long after the rename. I'd rather see this article kept at the current scope but renamed to better represent when it had the Atari name (i.e. your name proposal). IceWelder [✉] 19:44, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

Copying over the relevant parts of my larger post at WT:VG:

This is a mess of an article, but I don't think it needs to be split or renamed. GT Interactive was founded in 1993, was bought by Infogrames in two phases in 1999-2000 and renamed to Infogrames Interactive, and was renamed to Atari, Inc. in 2003. There's a lot of Infogrames (global) merging other things in there, but in essence it's been one company from 1993-today, and its name for the last 22 years has been Atari. I wouldn't split it up unless the article was long enough to justify separate articles on the pre/post Infogrames buyout.

You say that it's "unnecessarily confusing in the context of Atari's history", but I don't think that chopping off what the company was doing before it was renamed to Atari fixes that. I think the article just needs to be more clear that it started under the name GT Interactive and has continued to date, and since 2003 it's been involved in publishing titles related to the original/prior companies named Atari. --PresN 20:33, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

I think at this point the suggestion to split off GT Interactive isn't so important anymore: the big red problem for me is that title really. We can make the article as clear as we want and note that it has been "Atari" since '03, but that title on its own ("1993-present") just doesn't do it. As User:IceWelder wrote, I think it'd be OK to keep at current scope but at the very least, the 1993 date must go from the title. (and remember, the title is also what would appear in disambiguation pages and in Google search and such so it's important that the title is not misleading before the article introduction) Sceeegt (talk) 03:23, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

I opposed this proposal at the Wikiproject discussion as well, as it lacked sufficient evidence to justify it. Sergecross73 msg me 03:24, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

@IceWelder: @PresN: I am abandoning the idea of splitting off GT Interactive content. I think what's far more important is the title. And since this has gone on too long I'll open an actual move request. --Sceeegt (talk) 22:31, 6 February 2025 (UTC)

Requested move 6 February 2025

Atari, Inc. (1993–present) → Atari, Inc. (2003–present) – As mentioned before on WP:VG, the '1993' here in the title is extremely misleading. The company has been under Atari branding since 2003; its entire history before the Infogrames purchase is unrelated to Atari. Considering Atari Corporation & Atari Games were already in existence at the time, the '1993' year only causes confusion. Sceeegt (talk) 22:31, 6 February 2025 (UTC)

@Shooterwalker, PresN, LTPHarry, Indrian, Oknazevad, and Masem: --Sceeegt (talk) 22:34, 6 February 2025 (UTC)

I do understand your issue with the title- it wasn't called Atari starting at 1993. But I think "Atari, Inc. (2003–present)" has the inverse problem, because the article covers a company that started in 1993. It fixes one problem by causing another. I don't yet have a solution, I just don't think this is the one. --PresN 03:26, 7 February 2025 (UTC)

My first thought would have been to put "Atari (GT Interactive)" or something in that vein. IceWelder [✉] 19:31, 7 February 2025 (UTC)

I concur with PresN on this. The proposal just exchanges one problem for another. oknazevad (talk) 23:26, 8 February 2025 (UTC)

I'm struggling with this one too. I understand the problem, and I think the proposal is made in good faith to address it. But it might make just as much sense to rename this GT Interactive Software, per WP:NATDIS. And the lead can simply state "GT Interactive Software (using the Atari, Inc. brand since 2003). Shooterwalker (talk) 19:19, 10 February 2025 (UTC)

I agree with PresN. As for Shooterwalker's idea: since 2003, reliable sources, however scarce they are, have not been commonly calling the company "GT Interactive" anymore, so I don't see how we could choose that name on the grounds of WP:NATDIS. I would rather go in the direction suggested by IceWelder and rename the article to "Atari, Inc. (formerly GT Interactive)". --Krótki (talk) 05:11, 13 February 2025 (UTC)