The Other Atari

Corporate confusions! When Harvest Moon developer Natsume decided to found a pachinko company a few years back, it could’ve picked any name for the new company. Natsume didn’t and instead gave the pachinko company a corporate game moniker we all know: Atari. Here’s what the CEO of Atari Inc. says about the company’s name on its English page:

When naming our new company, we desire to maintain these objectives. We also thought of a Japanese word, “atari”, used in the expression such as: A World of Hit business is counted by “How much you earn if you hit atari”; Pachinko is a game to aim “atari”; and thus in such a world by working hard We want to come up with big atari (big hit) machine!!. So, summing all up, we decided a company name, “Atari Inc.”
Participating in all the business areas and projects, our top rated development staffs are aiming to reach literally the Biggest Atari by collecting all their wisdoms and ideas.

I know the 2600 was never big in Japan, but don’t these guys know? Or Care? Maybe that’s a good conversation starter. “No, we’re the other Atari.”

Greetings [ATARI Inc via Insert Credit]