Video game console company Atari is opening video-game themed hotels

• Online game firm Atari introduced plans to open eight gaming-themed resorts across the US beginning in 2022.
• Insider spoke with Napoleon Smith III, managing accomplice of the GSD Group, a resort administration firm working with Atari on the design.
• He mentioned the resorts purpose to merge nostalgia with cutting-edge expertise.
• The resorts could have gaming arcades, digital paneling that can replicate individuals’s avatars as an alternative of their reflection, Esports multiplexes, and pop-culture-themed bars and immersive eating places.
• Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Pong, Centipede, RollerCoaster Tycoon: You may bear in mind these Atari video games out of your childhood — or on the very least from binge-watching “Stranger Things” on Netflix.

The well-known online game firm now desires to take you again to the long run and has announced plans to open eight nostalgic however futuristic video game-themed Atari Resorts throughout the US.

The primary resort is about to open in Las Vegas in 2022, in accordance with Napoleon Smith III, managing accomplice of the GSD Group, a resort administration firm working with Atari.

A second resort is slated to open shortly after in Phoenix, adopted by extra resorts in Chicago; Denver; Seattle; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; and San Jose, California.

Smith advised Insider that he credit Atari with first getting individuals to immerse themselves in leisure, reasonably than simply watch it, and recalled whole households of all generations taking part in along with Atari consoles.

That nostalgia is what the resorts purpose to faucet into — however with cutting-edge expertise.

Smith described the Atari Resorts design as “the nostalgia to the place you’ll be able to virtually really feel at dwelling, however a house from the long run, ‘Jetsons’ type,” and mentioned the resort’s vibe will likely be “cyberpunk and retro-cool. We wish the long run, however like what the Eighties considered the long run.”

Smith mentioned that the gaming trade is huge — larger than music and TV — however that there is nonetheless no way of life house for players 

The worldwide video video games market is projected to grow to $293 billion by 2027. 

“Gaming is a way of life, and players don’t have any approach of actually experiencing their way of life after they’re exterior their dwelling,” Smith advised Insider.

He famous that Comedian-Con sells out so shortly yearly, which reveals him that thirst for this kind of house exists. 

“It is a place the place nerds can let their nerd flag fly,” he mentioned.

Lodge rooms may have all of the video games, hookups, and consoles a gamer may need

As to learn how to get players off of their very own couches and right into a resort, Smith in contrast taking part in video video games at dwelling to fishing in a pond and taking part in at an Atari resort to deep-sea fishing.

He mentioned that Atari resorts will present the entire top-of-the-line tools a gamer may probably want.

“We’ll have the expertise,” he mentioned, citing high-speed bandwidth, a number of low-latency TV screens, and even lighting setups for Twitch.

Nonetheless, the Atari resorts aren’t trying to appeal to solely players — Smith mentioned the rooms will enchantment to everybody — nor do they need players to remain of their rooms all day.

Atari resorts will likely be interactive and immersive of their entirety

“We wish you to come back in and really feel such as you’re seeing the world that you simply see within the motion pictures and seeing the world you see in video video games,” Smith mentioned.

He cited interactive and immersive experiences all through resorts, comparable to gaming arcades, digital paneling that can replicate individuals’s avatars as an alternative of their reflection, go-kart tracks that appear to be they’re straight out of a online game, and an Esports multiplex.

For adults, Smith mentioned there will likely be nightclubs, speakeasies, and pop-culture-themed bars, but in addition immersive eating places for the entire household just like a Chuck E. Cheese.

“It is undoubtedly a spot for players, but it surely’s additionally for households. We all the time imagine {that a} household that performs collectively stays collectively,” he mentioned, citing a dearth of really family-friendly spots in Vegas. “We actually need to deliver some stuff that you simply solely see in video games to life.”

He mentioned the resorts are going for a “artificial actuality” vibe, which he described because the blurring of the traces between video games and actuality. In keeping with Smith, the resorts are working with Meow Wolf, an organization that creates immersive artwork installations, to make each a part of the resort experiential in a roundabout way. 

“As you are strolling by means of the house, all the pieces goes to have some type of gamification and enjoyable to it,” he mentioned.

“I believe we [as a society] went too far digital in our leisure, and now persons are clamoring for one thing tactile, one thing that they’ll contact and be part of,” he mentioned, attributing this to the preliminary success of sights comparable to these created by Meow Wolf.

Not like most resorts which have eating places and leisure on the underside flooring and lodging in the remaining, Smith mentioned Atari resorts may have leisure throughout flooring

Constructed to have two towers framing a kind of gulf, just like a cruise ship, he mentioned the center will likely be the place a lot of the motion is concentrated and predicts that visitors will choose rooms dealing with inwards.

He in contrast the design to “The Fifth Factor” film, describing “a metropolis inside” with a “very dystopian, future-modern ‘Blade Runner’ type of enjoyable look.”

“We need to see how a lot enjoyable we are able to make one place for households and individuals who simply need to really feel that child at coronary heart that they’ve forgotten for some time,” Smith mentioned. “I believe it is type of wanted, particularly after what we have gone by means of this previous yr.”