Atari is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and with it the spark that launched the modern video game industry. It has been five decades since a small team in Silicon Valley combined their creativity, curiosity and passion into making video games and hardware. The result of their efforts was Atari, one of the most recognizable and enduring entertainment and pop culture brands in the world.

Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is an interactive journey through 50 years of video games through interviews with designers, developers and industry leaders, documentary footage, product design documents, and of course, more than 80 playable games.

At the heart of the 50th Anniversary Collection is a curated list of over 80 games that span seven different hardware platforms – a true feat of emulation by the team at Digital Eclipse. Behind every game are the stories of Atari, what was happening at the company, what went into the creation of the games and the hardware they ran on … told by the people who were there. It is a rare opportunity to get a rich, behind the scenes look at the history of video games.

Publisher Atari and developer Digital Eclipse are delighted to announce the second DLC for Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. Titled The First Console War, this new expansion showcases the saga of Atari’s first major competitor in the video game console space–Mattel’s Intellivision.

This second DLC is another major expansion to Atari 50’s catalog of content and includes 19 additional playable games and eight video segments that tell the story of Atari’s first major rivalry in the console market. Told through video interviews with M Network programmer Jane Terjung, video game historians Leonard Hermand and Mike Mika, and more, The First Console War delves deep into the video game console market’s landscape of the era and ultimately explains how and why Mattel made the decision to create games for its biggest competitor.

The DLC will be available on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Series X|S, and PlayStation 4 and 5. Owners of the original game on the Atari VCS will receive the DLC content for free in an update to the game in early 2025.

The First Console War games list includes:

Air Raiders - 2600 M Network
Antbear - 2600 M Network (unreleased, based on Stern IP)
Armor Ambush - 2600 M Network
Astroblast - 2600 M Network
Frogs & Flies - 2600 M Network
International Soccer - 2600 M Network
Dark Cavern - 2600 M Network
Star Strike - 2600 M Network
Super Challenge Baseball - 2600 M Network
Super Challenge Football - 2600 M Network
Swordfight - 2600 M Network (rare, unreleased)
Sea Battle - 2600 M Network (rare, unreleased)
Tower of Mystery (unreleased prototype, recently rescued)
Video Pinball - 2600
Basketball - 2600
Hardball - Atari 8-bit (XE)
Final Legacy (prototype) - 5200
Xari Arena - Atari 8-bit 
Desert Falcon - 7800

Here’s what to expect in the second DLC expansion: 

• Video interviews with M Network programmer Jane Terjung, Activision’s David Crane & Garry Kitchen (worked on/published for both platforms), homebrew programmer Dennis Debro, and historians Leonard Herman & Mike Mika
• A brand new timeline explaining the challenge to Atari’s VCS by Mattel’s Intellivision–the first major rivalry in console games
• 19 more Atari arcade classics, including rescued prototypes like Tower of Mystery and rare, unreleased M-Network titles like Swordfight, Anteater, and more

The First Console War DLC features additional interviews, more vintage ads, and even more never-before-seen historical artifacts, all interwoven to reveal the previously untold story of Atari and Mattel’s intense rivalry. Highlights from the timeline include unique and often overlooked innovations and hidden gems from the late 1980s, video interviews with industry professionals like Activison’s David Crane and Garry Kitchen, and much more!

The First Console War launches globally on November 8, in concert with the physical release of Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration Expanded Edition on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 for $39.99. The physical release contains the original game and both DLCs. 

A Steelbook version for Nintendo Switch, which will include Atari 2600 art cards, miniature arcade marquee signs, and an Al Alcorn Replica Syzygy Co. business card, will retail for $49.99 USD.

Key Features:

• 80+ classic games lovingly presented with best-in-class emulation and modern quality-of-life enhancements – and the ability to play classic games that have not been available for ages.
• 6 reenvisioned Atari Classics
  • Airworld – yes, the team at Digital Eclipse created the fourth chapter of the never finished Swordquest series: Airworld.
  • Haunted House – a modern 3D isometric adventure based on the classic original.
  • Vctr Sctr – a celebration of the vector era of gaming which combines gameplay from a variety of vector arcade classics into a single challenge.
  • Neo Breakout – an amazing and addictive two player competition that combines the best parts of Breakout and Pong.
  • Yars Revenge Reimagined – Modern graphics the best-selling first-party Atari 2600 game of all time.
• Discover the brand that launched the modern video game industry and the creative individuals behind it through interviews, archival images, special source material and behind-the-scenes content within an interactive timeline.
• Emulation of games created for six hardware platforms: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800,
  Atari ST, Atari Jaguar, Atari Lynx.
• Over 60 minutes of exclusive interviews with key players in the games industry – from early Atari designers and engineers and other luminaries of the gaming world -- as they discuss Atari’s enduring impact on the video entertainment landscape.
• A retrospective on gaming history that is a must-own for collectors and fans of video games.

And, as fitting for the brand so closely associated with the development of the Easter Egg, you can unlock hours of additional content and games as you progress through the collection.

Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is available for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Series X|S, PS4, PS5 and PC (Steam / Epic Games) at $39.99.