Atari vs the Mob! Crazy Mafia Attack Delayed the 5200 Launch!

Atari vs. the Mob - the crazy story of Atari 5200 console's release delay and video game cartridge production led to the company's tangle with the Triad mafia, with scary results! Yes, Atari as a company faced a plethora of challenges in the 80s, including the great video game crash of the 2nd gen, and Atari also had challenges with the design & release of the 5200 console.

But lesser-known is that their Taiwan facility ended up under attack by mob influences. Yes, some in Atari management suspected that their problem was the mafia, the Triad - the transnational Asian mafia based in China - were actually behind the attacks, which sent two Atari people to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

This obscure Atari history and trivia of the company from the early 80s, before the video game crash, when the Atari VCS was still the king of the market, and the Atari 5200 was on it's way! And since it involves the Asian mafia, or Triad mob, you might notice our thumbnail, tongue firmly planted in cheek by using a still image from one of our favorite Chinese mafia movies, Hard Boiled.

But back to Atari vs. the mafia - check out this story, which details how it happened and what Atari company management had to do to get their production plant back on schedule for Atari Star Raiders cartridges and Atari 5200 consoles, but the dangerous distraction ended up causing a delay in the Atari 5200's release, bumping it from September to November of 1982. . This is one of the most obscure bits of 2nd gen & Atari 5200 console trivia from video game history, Atari vs the Mob, or mafia, or Triad - whatever you want to call it!

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Primary Source - Atari, Inc.: Business is Fun by Curt Vendel and Marty Goldberg. Mr. Vendel recently and tragically passed away at the young age of 53, and his amazing contributions to documenting Atari and video game history will be appreciated and in his absence will leave a void.

Additional Credits - PlayMeter magazine, Atari & Intellivision company ads and promotional materials, IEEE Spectrum magazine, Atari FB Page, Atari Age (and FB page)

Icon Credits: PNGTree, PNGWing, kissPNG, imgbin, PNGrepo

Art Director - Jacob Hughes