Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million

Atari has completed an acquisition of long-running video game database MobyGames for $1.5 million.

The move was first mentioned in November 2021 when Atari announced that it was investing half a million dollars into UK-based retro streaming platform Antstream.

A press release at the time stated that Atari was making a number of “strategic investments”, including an option to buy the assets of MobyGames at a price of $1.5 million, which “may be concluded by the end of March 2022”.

The deal has now been done, and Atari now has full ownership of the renowned database, which has been active since 1999.

In a new statement, Atari CEO Wade Rosen stated that the company was keen to allow MobyGames to continue to provide the service the site has been known for.

“The MobyGames community has played a sustained and important role in the documentation, celebration, and preservation of video games, and supporting MobyGames allows us to give back to the community and contribute to its growth and success,” Rosen said.

“It’s important to Atari that MobyGames retains every bit of its integrity, and we’re committed to supporting the site in ways that improve the experience for both contributors and users.”

Atari also confirmed that MobyGames’ general manager Jeremiah Freyholtz (better known to users as Reed), who has been running the site since 2013, will stay on in his existing role.

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In a separate statement on the MobyGames site, Freyholtz said: “Atari understands how important our project is for the gaming community and they’re well aligned with our plans to improve the database and tools. In fact, Atari’s new CEO is a retro gamer/collector and long time fan of the site.

“We will now be investing in full-time development (we’ve been operating with part-time dev) to complete the new site that’s been in the works the past few years, which will replace our 20+ year old codebase and tools. It’s currently in beta testing with our admins and approvers. We’ll be expanding the beta as development gets ramped up.”