Atari and Activision reunite for 39-game physical collection

MUMBAI: Talk about a blast from the cartridge past. Atari and Activision are bringing nearly five decades of gaming history back to life with the Atari x Activision Collection, a new physical game collaboration that reunites the two companies after almost 50 years.

The collection will feature 39 classic Activision games on working physical cartridges, including Pitfall!, River Raid and Kaboom!. Atari is offering the collection in three formats, giving nostalgic gamers several ways to turn back the clock.

The first option is a Standard Edition range of 12 games, priced at $35 each and scheduled to launch from November. The titles are Pitfall!, River Raid, Megamania, Enduro, Kaboom!, H.E.R.O., Pressure Cooker, Private Eye, River Raid II, Keystone Kapers, The Activision Decathlon and Pitfall II: Lost Caverns.

Each Standard Edition comes with full packaging and a printed colour manual inspired by the original releases. The cartridges will work with Atari 2600+ and Atari 7800+ consoles, as well as original Atari 2600 and 7800 hardware.

For collectors wanting the full retro haul, Atari will also offer four box sets, named Treasure, Speed, Secrets and Victory. Together, the sets will expand the collection to all 39 games. The first box set is due in late November, with the other three arriving across the first three quarters of 2027.

The box sets will be available through pre-orders for $250 each, while a complete 39-game collection will cost $1,000. The full collection will also include a yet-to-be-announced collectible item.

The collaboration reaches back to 1979, when Atari programmers helped establish a model that allowed independent creators to develop games for its platform. Activision went on to become one of the industry’s most influential early third-party game publishers.

“The Atari x Activision Collection brings that legacy to life through the games themselves,” said Matt Burnett, Atari’s vice president of hardware, describing the project as an opportunity for fans to experience and preserve the work of developers who helped shape the video game industry.

The revival comes at an interesting time for physical gaming. While digital distribution continues to dominate the modern market, Atari and Activision are betting that there is still a sizeable appetite for something considerably more tangible, a cartridge you can actually hold, collect and plug into a console.

In an industry increasingly moving away from physical media, the Atari x Activision Collection is taking the decidedly old-school route: less download, more rewind.