Nolan Bushnell regrets selling Atari

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell was on hand at the [a]list Summit for gaming industry marketers to speak about his experiences and what he's got his eyes on.  Bushnell managed to rejoin Atari back in April, though technically the "Atari" at that point was really a re-badged Infogrames Entertainment which counted Atari Interactive and Atari Inc. as its subsidiaries.  While Bushnell hasn't been directly associated with console or PC gaming for looong while until his re-emergence at Atari, he certainly has no intentions of presenting himself as a "retro-focused historical fossil".

While he had the good spirits to joke about how even his own kids think he's lame, Bushnell assures that he's been keeping tabs on the direction of the industry, at least in the mobile gaming scene where he's a big proponent of smartphones.  One development Bushnell is particularly excited about is "augmented reality", where virtual reality is layered over what we see in the real world through its "window".  One example of this is the "Sekai Yuusha" app, which makes extensive use of built-in smartphone cameras like the one in the iPhone to "augment" our reality with the one presented in the smartphone.  Bushnell believes this could be a powerful tool for game applications.  He's also keen on seeing companies better leverage smartphone GPS functionality.

Outside of smartphones, Bushnell remains proud of Atari's legacy, particularly during the early years when it produced gaming hardware, so much so that he absolutely regrets selling the company to Warner Communications back in the 1970's: "I was stupid.  I sold completely because I didn't understand Wall Street."  The move was originally made to raise capital at a time when he felt going public was not possible due to stock market conditions, though Bushnell admitted that he had a tendency to get "bored" with any of his ventures after five years.  In the case of Atari, he wished he hadn't acted so rashly; Bushnell would be booted out of his own company only a year after the sale.

(Image Source: BAFTA)