Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration launched way back in 2022, celebrating the history of Atari with documentary content and a huge collection of retro games. Late last year, the collection received 12 new games in an update. At the time, Atari and Digital Eclipse promised more content would be coming. Today, we've finally learned how that content will take shape: in the form of Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration Expanded Edition, a new edition with even more documentary content and games.
The new content will be presented chiefly in the form of two new interactive timelines (documentary sections). Here's what we know so far:
The Wider World of Atari timeline, which includes 19 playable games and eight video segments, takes a series of deep dives into stories from Atari history, showing how Atari continued to influence creators and fans over the decades. New interviews, vintage ads, historical artifacts, and more have all been researched and presented with Digital Eclipse’s signature style. Highlights from the new timeline include a deep dive into Stern Electronics' robot-blasting Berzerk; unusual and underappreciated innovations and hidden gems from the late 1980s; a spotlight on the artist Evelyn Seto, who helped create the iconic “Fuji” Atari logo; Pong creator Al Alcorn explaining the birth of Breakout; and an exploration of the fan base’s role in discovering unreleased prototypes, creating “homebrew” games, and preserving Atari history.
The First Console War timeline, which includes 20 playable games and half-dozen video segments, tells the story of the first major console war in the gaming industry between the Atari 2600 and Mattel’s Intellivision. The team at Digital Eclipse curates an exploration of the rivalry, including Mattel’s quixotic decision to create games for the competing Atari 2600. Highlights include a selection of M Network games, including some fan-favorites; a mix of Atari and M Network sports games, and some rare Atari 2600 and 5200 prototypes. New interview features include former Intellivision game director Don Daglow, M Network programmer Jane Terjung, Activision’s David Crane and Garry Kitchen, homebrew programmer Dennis Debro, and historians Leonard Herman and Mike Mika.
Space Duel co-op (already included in Atari 50)
The new games themselves have yet to be shared. It sounds like they won't be Atari Lynx or Jaguar games, but we can still hope.
The upcoming Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration Expanded Edition will be offered as both a separate release and as downloadable content for Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. It's the same style of release as Sonic Origins Plus, a way of bundling DLC with the original game in order to sell a new physical edition. While you wait for the new edition, read our co-op review to learn what Atari 50 has to offer!
Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration (the original edition) sells for $39.99 on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and Steam. Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration Expanded Edition is coming to the same platforms on October 25. Physical editions will be released for PlayStation 5 and Switch for $39.99, and the Steelbook edition will cost $49.99.