AUSTIN, Texas — Atari – yes, that Atari – is branching out into the hospitality business.
This week, the iconic video game company announced that they have concluded a licensing agreement with real estate developer True North Studio and GSD Group, an innovation and strategy agency, to develop Atari-branded hotels in eight U.S. cities – including Austin.
According to a press release, Atari hotels will feature common areas "with a focus on the video game universe and the Atari brand." The hotels will feature things like Atari gaming playgrounds, meeting and event rooms, co-working spaces, restaurants, bars, gyms and movie theaters. Select hotels will also feature state-of-the-art venues and studios for esports events. According to Atari, the hotels will be targeted at family and business travelers.
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Atari said Monday that hotel development and design is being led by GSD Group, the producer of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" film franchise reboot. True North Studio, a Phoenix-based real estate developer, alongside GSD Group and the Woz Innovation Foundation, will develop the first Atari-branded hotel in Phoenix. Groundbreaking for that hotel is scheduled for this year.
"When creating this brand-new hotel concept, we knew that Atari would be the perfect way to give guests the 'nostalgic and retro meets modern' look and feel we were going for," GSD Group's Napoleon Smith III said. "Let's face it, how cool will it be to stay inside an Atari?"
"Atari Hotels will be the first of their kind in the U.S., offering gamers of all ages the ultimate in immersive entertainment and in every aspect of gaming," Shelly Murphy, GSD Group's founder, said.
The other cities Atari is planning to build hotels in are Chicago; Denver; Las Vegas; San Francisco; San Jose, California; and Seattle.
At this time, it's not known where in Austin the Atari Hotel will be built or when development is scheduled to begin.
According to Atari, more than 2.5 billion gamers across the world spent more than $152.1 billion on games in 2019 alone.
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