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It's official! Atari is sunsetting the Atari VCS. Initially teased during E3 2017 under the name 'Ataribox', the Linux-based "computer in a box" was the company's first console in decades and featured a design that was essentially a streamlined version of the Atari 2600. It was officially revealed the following year, during the 2018 Game Developer's Conference, with the company turning to crowdfunding to make the console a reality, raising roughly $3 million from 8,471 backers.
Delayed several times during its production, the machine eventually started shipping out to backers in December 2020, and was released in Australia, New Zealand and North America the following year. Early reviews, however, weren't exactly glowing, with the console also underperforming in terms of retail sales.
To add insult to injury, in a 2024 interview with Time Extension, Atari CEO Wade Rosen (who inherited the project from Atari's previous leadership) implied the company wouldn't have released it under its current leadership. Although Rosen insisted at the time that Atari was committed to supporting the platform into the future with new firmware updates and content for those who had invested in the console.
According to the company's website, Atari ended direct sales of the console the following year, and has since revealed plans to sunset support for the console as well, as of earlier this week.
In the statement released on the Atari Club Discord on Wednesday, October 23rd 2026, the Atari VCS team stated the VCS had "earned its rightful spot alongside the many console platforms Atari has launched over the past 50-plus years," before revealing it is planning to shut down the VCS store on February 1st, 2027.
As part of this move, it announced its intentions to release an OS update that "allows users to migrate all functionality to their local machine", removing "any dependencies on Atari infrastructure for authentication and software", and also said it will be pushing the Atari Home Brew app to all users, so developers can continue to support the VCS and share their creations with the community independently.
"Early next year we will post information that walks you through this OS migration, and the Home Brew App functionality, so everyone has plenty of time to prepare," the VCS team wrote. "We recognise that this is unwelcome news. We are working hard to ensure that the community can continue to use their VCS well into the future, and we are committed to supporting you through this transition."
What do you make of this news? Are you disappointed to see VCS support coming to an end? Or do you think Atari is right to finally move on from the device? Let us know your thoughts!