Atari-branded hotels with gaming rooms and esports studios coming to these 8 US cities

Atari announces brand partnership to launch hotels with esports studios and gaming rooms in the US. Check out pictures and details of these hotels.

Atari is expanding its brand partnership from gaming to hospitality. The game publication company already licenses its name for a number of brand partnerships in the gaming space. Now, the company has announced a licensing deal with the US real estate developer True North Studio and GSD group. The partnership will see the group build eight hotels in the US. The construction for these Atari-branded hotels will begin in Phoenix in mid-2020. They plan to bring more hotels to Austin, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle.

 

These hotels will be video-game-themed destinations and will offer gaming playgrounds. They plan to include VR and AR games as part of the gaming playground. Some locations will even have venues and studios to accommodate esports events. The famed game developer also says that these hotels will have meeting rooms, co-working spaces, restaurants, bars, a bakery, a gym and a movie theater. The hotel, with its gaming-first design, will also serve as a destination for families and business travelers.

According to The Verge, Atari will receive 5 percent of hotel revenue and has received a $6,00,000 advance for the deal. The hotel will be located close to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s Woz U university campus in Arizona. The university is also associated with the Phoenix-based GSD Group. With esports becoming the next major sporting event, it makes sense for them to have a destination. Atari’s video-game-themed destinations could make for a perfect place that brings famed brand to modern gaming experience.

There are also reports of Atari VCS retro consoles being under development. However, it has reportedly run into significant difficulties. The console’s lead architect has claimed that he had not been paid in over six months. If the company is having trouble building a console, the idea of running a hotel seems far fetched. However, the licensing could mean Atari only lending its brand name while the developers run the hotel chain. It needs to be seen how the expansion into real estate development pans out for the company.