Fred Chesnais interview: On blockchain bets, Atari hotels, and shipping the VCS console

Under CEO Fred Chesnais, Atari is a company with just 28 employees. That’s pretty small for the oldest brand in video games. But during the pandemic, Atari’s small size helped it operate with a lot fewer risks than other companies.

Chesnais bought Atari out of bankruptcy in 2013, when the company’s revenues had sunk to just $1.2 million and the company carried a debt of $34 million. For the year ended March 31, 2020, Atari reported a profit of $2.4 million on revenue of $29.4 million. Much of that revival comes from the success of the Rollercoaster Tycoon brand on multiple game platforms. That license will expire in a couple of years, but Atari has made the most of it in generating revenues that have helped the company with its comeback.