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Company

Atari were the first video game company, and opened their UK office in 1982. I was one of the first employees!

At that time the company was part of Warner Communications, and were enjoying enormous worldwide success with their ‘2600 Video Computer System’ (VCS), a cartridge games system that plugged into standard televisions.

Major hit software the company created for the VCS included such classics as "Space Invaders" and "PacMan"

Position Summary - Product Support Specialist

Working within the newly created Atari Service division, my role was primarily to provide advanced technical support on Atari’s newly launched 8-but home computer systems (HCS), the 400 and the 800. This included:

• Consumer support by telephone and in writing for HCS problems, such as setting-up difficulties, debugging user written programs, and software specific issues with Atari HCS software, such as with the AtariWriter Word Processor, the Assembler Editor, or VisiCalc.
• Dealer support by telephone and in writing for HCS related issues
• Third-party maintenance support by telephone (MasterCare had a contract for field support)
• Overseeing the activities and training of the Customer Support operatives who took the ‘front-line’ telephone calls from consumers and dealers, and who were responsible for the VCS support

• FAQ System: Increased productivity and efficiency.

In order to make the customer/product support operation more effective, I created over 20 ‘FAQ’ (frequently-asked question) documents, on the problems or questions we were experiencing most of all. Thus if a customer contacted us with one of these issues, we could send them one of these comprehensive documents, saving the department time. It also allowing us to deal with a greater volume of calls, and achieve a higher customer satisfaction rate.

The documents, some of which were created in collaboration with Atari’s US Head Office, covered such matters as bugs in the BASIC language program example manual, with corrections and ‘free’ additional programs; notes on how to embed control codes for popular printers using AtariWriter, and tips on how to get past the trickier puzzles in popular games such as the "Indiana Jones Adventure" software, as well as detailed documentation on how to get the best out of specialist features such as the Atari Color Graphics system used in the Atari Home Computer Systems.

• Standard Responses: Increased turnaround time by 200%.

  In conjunction with the Customer Services Manager, I created and maintained over 200 ‘standard’ paragraphs for use by the department in dealing with written and also telephone enquiries.

  Thus a letter could be responded to the same day as receipt without appearing like a standard letter, but actually being comprised of a number of standard paragraphs, which answered in detail any questions, they may have asked.

  Also, the two "Hotline" specialists that took the initial customer calls, could field known issues directly with customers as they called, without the need to refer the customers on to one of the product specialists.

  The effect of this process was to increase some 200% the turnaround time for consumer correspondence.

• Writer on specialist topics:

  I wrote regular articles for the consumer magazine ‘Input/Output’, which was sent quarterly to Atari HCS owners. 

  Page 6 Magazine - a national consumer magazine for Atari users - identified me as a key figure in Atari's UK support.  I believe this extract from a review highlights my good standing within the community:-

• Company Spokesperson: On Behalf Of American Company, Atari:

I engaged in support activities for the growing Atari User Groups in Europe, including writing pieces for their newsletters, responding to their queries as to future plans, and making occasional visits to their user meetings. I also worked on Atari stands at exhibitions, meeting consumers face to face, and demonstrating hardware and software features and benefits. This included PCW shows in London, the Thor distributor exhibition in Ireland, and a roadshow tour of London railway stations.

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Position Summary - Producer

Atari soon realized the value of the intellectual properties that it owned, and that money could be made by producing it’s own hit titles for non-Atari computer systems. The AtariSoft division was created to develop product for third-party systems.

My role was initially as an Associate Product Manager, and soon after as a Product Manager   in my own right with my own product roster. The role was essentially that of Producer, as far as present-day industry role:-

• Finding third-party developers
• Contracting with third-party developers to create a port of an Atari property
• Acquiring from third-party developers the rights to software properties owned by them for AtariSoft to publish
• Contract negotiation with third-party developers, and liaison with AtariSoft’s London lawyers
• Product specification
• Product evaluation
• Product testing
• Liaison with AtariSoft marketing and production personnel on schedules, advertising, print, packaging and manufacturing
• Regular reporting of progress and issues

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Achievements

• Produced "F.I.L.M.S" - AtariSoft’s first non-games title for Atari HCS

  A vertical market application for video rental outlets called "Film Inventory and Loan Management System" (FILMS). My responsibilities included the contract negotiation, product naming, developer liaison and product testing 

• Co-ordinated the on-site store trials for "F.I.L.M.S"

  I arranged the live testing of the product at video stores in the south-east of England. This included installing the hardware and software, staff training at the video stores, product support, troubleshooting and analysis of results

• Produced Promotional Video

  I scripted a short promotional video on the "F.I.L.M.S" project, and traveled to Warner Studios in Geneva, Switzerland, to record and edit the final video production

• Assistant Producer for "The Lone Raider"

  On the Atari HCS; the first ever Atari brand game developed and produced outside the United States of America

• Assistant Producer for "Crystal Castles"

  On the BBC Micro

• Assistant Producer for "Ms PacMan"

  On the BBC Micro

• Assistant Producer for "Dig Dug"

  On the BBC Micro

• Assistant Producer for "Donkey Kong"

  On the BBC Micro

• Assistant Producer for "PacMan"

  On the Sinclair Spectrum and IBM PC

• Assistant Producer for "Pole Position"

  On the Sinclair Spectrum

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Position Summary - Product Manager

Jack Tramiel’s family acquired the Atari business from Warner Communications, and set about restructuring the business worldwide. Redundancies followed, but I was one of a handful of the UK personnel to be offered a role in the ‘new’ Atari Corporation. At that time, the new company saw it’s objectives not in computer or video games, which was Atari’s heritage, but in personal computing, and set about taking on IBM.

Working within the marketing department, I was given a host of responsibilities – what had previously been handled by many people now had to be undertaken by far fewer, hence priority handling became essential.

• Educational Drive – I was given responsibility for Atari’s push of its home computers into schools
• Advertising - working alongside the Marketing Director, briefing and overseeing London agency TBWA in the creation of advertising for Atari’s products
• PR – drafting press statements, and liaising with Catalyst Communications, London PR organization, in the management of media statements and information
• Seeking bundling deals for pack-out with Atari computer systems with third-party software developers
• I worked on Atari stands at exhibitions, including distributor and dealer support in the UK and Ireland

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Achievements

• Company Spokesperson

  Atarisoft waged a copyright battle against the many European infringements of its copyrighted materials. Among the many successful outcomes was the case against MRM Software, who had achieved major commercial success with a version of Atari’s "Crystal Castles" game.

• Most Successful Bundling Deal With Major Retailer:

The most successful retail promotional campaign for Atari Home Computers was with Dixons, the UK high street retailer. I put together a software bundle as part of the deal with Dixons; this involved the design of low-cost packaging and instruction manuals, I oversaw the mastering and software manufacturing process (including the price negotiations and contracts), and co-ordinated with the Operations Manager for the shipment of goods to Dixons according to the agreed drop dates

• Negotiated Launch Of "Atari User" Magazine with Database Publications:

I was instrumental in setting up a publishing relationship with DataBase (now Europress) for the Atari User magazine, which increased high street profile for the brand, which otherwise was suffering against competitors such as Commodore, Acorn and Spectrum, and all of which had dedicated user magazines

• Product Manager for Launch of ST Computer Systems:

UK launch of the 16-bit (68000) Atari ST range of computer systems. Included software negotiations for bundled products, liaison with Atari US on roll-out issues

• Product Manager on Launch for XE Computer Systems:

I was Product Manager on UK launch of the re-vamped 8-bit (6502) Atari XE computer systems.

My role included production of dealer newsletters, point-of-sale advertising, national advertising campaign.

Collaborated with London based public relations and advertising agencies in the creation of advertising materials (Catalyst Communications and TBWA).

• Increased Installed Educational Base to 4%:

I managed to increase Atari’s installed base in UK Educational establishments from 1.5% to 4% of the market, on a minimal budget.

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Reason For Leaving

While I felt I had learned a lot, I did not agree with the company's new move away from it's games heritage - both personally, and in my capacity as Product Manager -  to sever the loyal brand following you have enjoyed for the past five years did not seem logical to me. Ironically, twelve months after I left, Atari was desperately trying to make up ground, re-launching the ST as a games machine in the light of market feedback.

I was invited to join Activision by Rod Cousens, a UK games industry legend (now heading Acclaim’s international business).  I had dealt with Rod over many years while at Atari, as he ran Quicksilva and then Argus Press software.  Rod's new role at Activision and that company's European ambitions provided me with the ideal platform to leave Atari. 

 

Back to Employment History

This was my first job in the computer games industry, and working for an American company. Compared to the relative formality of JRP, I found Atari to be like a dream come true, and I learned a great deal from my superiors and colleagues.

My promotion to Producer was my first job actually being part of the games development process, and I learned very quickly. I found it even more fulfilling than my previous job in Atari Service.

Video F.I.L.M.S.
Atari HCS

The Lone Raider
Atari HCS

Ms Pac Man
BBC Micro

Pole Position
Sinclair Spectrum

Taking my extensive knowledge of Atari’s products into marketing was very educational for me, especially as budgets were so tight I had to be very creative and cost effective with any plans I proposed.

Company Spokesman
 

Product Manager for XE and ST Systems
 

Atari's Education Drive