Atari Buys Longtime Competitor Intellivision

(RTTNews) - Atari has announced it has acquired Intellivision brand along with several games from Intellivision Entertainment LLC, putting an end to the 45-year console war.

"Atari has been a valuable partner and we have every confidence they will be a responsible steward of the storied Intellivision brand," said Intellivision CEO Phil Adam. "We look forward to our expanded collaboration and the prospect of bringing a broad array of new titles to the Amico family gaming platform."

Through the acquisition, the gaming company expects to "expand digital and physical distribution of legacy Intellivision games, potentially create new games, and explore brand and licensing opportunities".

Meanwhile, Intellivision Entertainment LLC will rebrand itself and continue to develop and distribute Amico brand game console. It will seek licensing rights from Atari to continue to distribute new versions of the Intellivision games on the Amico console.

"Uniting Atari and Intellivision after 45 years ends the longest-running console war in history," said Mike Mika, Studio Head at Atari's subsidiary Digital Eclipse.

The rivalry between the two companies began when Mattel Electronics launched its first Intellivision home console in 1979 and sold around 5 million units through 1990, threatening the popularity of Atari 2600.