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Atari Partners With Coinbase to Bring Asteroids and Breakout to the Blockchain
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Atari is bringing its classic games Asteroids and Breakout to the blockchain in partnership with Coinbase.
The games will be part of a celebration of Onchain Summer and the new Onchain Arcade, where players can compete for a spot on the leaderboard and earn rewards. Proceeds from Mint go directly to the creators who helped bring these games to life.
Atari and Coinbase have argued that today’s Internet needs an upgrade, as the corporate Internet often crushes creators with arbitrary rules, censorship, digital theft, middlemen, and transaction fees. That’s why Coinbase and Base have collaborated with Atari, Stack and a handful of creators to launch Onchain Arcade, bringing beloved Atari classics including Asteroids and Breakout to the blockchain.
Tyler Drewitz, director of Atari Club and Atari X, said in an interview with GamesBeat that Coinbase has more than 100 million users for its cryptocurrency wallets and services.
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Drewitz said Atari has been involved in blockchain and cryptocurrency for a while. Former CEO Fred Chesnais was a big fan of blockchain games and launched several initiatives. After that left in 2021 (and the board of directors in 2022), Atari has sheared off many of its previous blockchain gaming efforts. But it has warmed up again and launched Web3 projects with The sandbox and Polycade in 2022.
“We started with licensing and now we’re in the creation and partnering with people who are doing really cool things in the space,” Drewitz said. “We’re also launching our own projects.”
Drewitz said Web3 is a good fit with Atari because it likes to offer services and rewards to people who interact with the Atari brand.
“That’s where Atari Club came from. We’re developing it, and it’s like a reimagining of the Atari Club from the ’80s, being able to reward people for engaging with the community and developing it in a very native and fun way,” Drewitz said. “We love this partnership. And we’ve done it and are doing it for the second year in a row as part of Onchain Summer. So last year was a test. We saw if we could create a cool experience and a cool summer camp party atmosphere, and a couple of exclusive items.”
This summer collaboration by Onchain ensures that proceeds from game sales are automatically and fairly distributed to the creators (artists, game developers, and more) who brought these beloved games and works of art to life. This addresses the issue of creators receiving only a small share of the revenue generated by their content and allows them to gain more control and fair compensation for their work, the companies said.
Starting now, you can relive your childhood memories with Atari classics in the new Onchain Arcade. Players can prove they are the best and receive exciting rewards, including Atari 2600+, merchandise, game codes, and more. Weekly rewards will be available until 8/30.
“For over 50 years, Atari has been known for innovation in the video game industry, and our early adoption of Web3 technology is no different,” said Drewitz. “We’ve found that blockchain technology helps us engage with our community in a myriad of ways, from collaborating on new products and social activations, to creating competitive leaderboards and rewarding members for participating. This is our second year participating in Onchain Summer, and we’re excited to delight both new and longtime fans with the classic Atari games Asteroids and Breakout as part of Onchain Arcade.”
Start playing
Players can mint every match, play, and compete for a spot in the onchain leaderboards Asteroid (available today) and Breakout (coming soon).
To do so, players must visit a link, connect or create a cryptocurrency wallet, mint the game for $5, and then try to get into the leaderboard and win prizes.
Onchain Summer offers special mints, unique experiences, and a loyalty game that rewards players with free Onchain avatars, prizes, and more.
Onchain technology gives anyone the ability to build and create experiences onchain, and then get paid directly every time someone mints their work. This Onchain Summer, Atari and Coinbase are encouraging anyone to become a builder, and users can now visit the Onchain Summer page to see the most popular and featured mintages.
Players can explore the latest and previous releases, including those from Adidas, Team Liquid, Doodles, and onchain creators like Clement Cases x Bendito, on onchainsummer.xyz.
Moving to blockchain light
Drewitz said the team chose Atari’s Asteroids and Breakout because they are very accessible and fun to use to spark competition on leaderboards where prizes are up for grabs. Drewitz thinks of Atari’s approach here as “blockchain light,” with a focus on Base.
“You’ll be able to buy one of these games with a credit card in a super easy way. It’s very low friction,” he said.
As for public acceptance of blockchain, Drewitz said it has evolved.
“The more meaningful experiences and fun or interactive games there are in the chain, the better it will be overall,” Drewitz said.
Coinbase is developing Base, which is the core of Atari’s approach.
“They’re focused on onboarding and showing people the value,” Drewitz said. “There’s less friction overall. They’re also trying to build a quality product and really just a good product. They want people to build on the chain, and that’s what we’re supporting with this as well. As we move forward with this partnership, we hope to get more IP out there with different builders and different properties within our large IP library.”
Interoperability has come a long way in recent years, and that’s one of the goals of Coinbase Base. Drewitz said Coinbase does a good job of making it easier to play and transact across different types of Web3 games, and also integrates with Web2 platforms.
“I think this is a natural evolution where a core technology will improve the experience,” he said. “From an ease-of-use perspective, that’s where cross-chain comes in. We’re no longer talking about HTML on the Web or Web servers on the Internet. The main selling point is gaming.”
Drewitz hopes Atari can help tame Web3’s Wild West image, so people feel comfortable that playing the game is safe and fun.
“That’s what Coinbase is really experimenting with, especially with this whole Onchain Summer thing that they’re doing. And that’s what we’ve seen over the last few years. That’s why we wanted to be a part of it last year. And that’s what we’re seeing this year,” Drewitz said. “They’re making it really accessible and enjoyable. And so that’s the next step. And then once people understand that it’s not all doom and gloom, and it’s fun, and it’s easy, then they can continue to do more of it.”
Players will get benefits from blockchain purchases, like Easter eggs and exclusive items, Drewitz said. There will be some exclusive Easter eggs. Atari is running the summer camp based on old Atari computer games from the 1980s, where players were treated to retro experiences.
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