Atari details revenue splits, engine partnerships ahead of Atari VCS 2020 launch

Atari aims to entice developers to create games for its upcoming Atari VCS console through a duo of competitive revenue splits. While it’s offering a more enticing deal for devs that opt to go Atari VCS exclusive with a launch, even its lower-tier beats out the near-industry-standard 70/30 split, though how either pays off for devs will depend on how well the VCS sells to begin with.

The company dives into a handful of other developer specific tidbits in a longer blog post shared this week. On the topic of royalties, devs that sign on to create a game exclusively for the Atari VCS get a slightly better revenue split, and one in-line with what stores like the Epic Games Store have led with already. Launching an exclusive on the Atari VCS yields an 88/12 split, while launching a non-exclusive game on the Atari VCS grabs devs an 80/20 split.

Atari says that the console, which takes visual cues from the classic Atari 2600 but is internally on par with more modern systems, already has tools out there for devs working in Unity and Linux as well and it is currently in talks with other engines to expand that reach down the line.

The Atari VCS itself, due out in early 2020 (despite the occasional reports of a turbulent development). As Atari calls out in the full post, developers interested in the platform won’t need a special dev kit to try their hand with the VCS as any of the console’s variations.