Atari is beginning to wind down support for the Atari VCS, the modern take on its classic console that reached Kickstarter backers in 2020 and retail stores the following year. The company says the VCS store will shut down on February 1, 2027.
Players can still buy games from the store through January 31, 2027. After that, the storefront goes dark.
The console keeps working
The good news is that Atari is not planning to leave owners with a brick. In a message posted to the official Atari Discord and reported by VGC, community manager Carly Francis said the company will release an OS update after the store closes that moves all functionality to the local machine. That removes any need to connect to Atari’s servers for authentication or software.
“Once that transition is complete, we will end support for the platform,” Francis wrote.
Atari also plans to push its Atari Home Brew app to every VCS. The app will let owners add new games to the console on their own, and it will let developers keep building and sharing apps with the community without the official store. Atari says it will post a guide to the OS migration and the Home Brew app early next year so owners have time to prepare.
“The Atari VCS has earned its rightful spot alongside the many console platforms Atari has launched over the past 50-plus years,” Francis said, thanking players and creators for building a community around it.
A modest run
The VCS was a mix of retro console and small PC, with its own game library plus a PC mode that could run Linux or Windows. It never became a big seller, and The Verge notes that the closure brings a long and bumpy saga to an end, though the box will still be able to play games.
Atari’s hardware focus has since moved to retro-inspired devices, such as THE 800XL, its $219.99 revival of the 8-bit computer. For VCS owners, the main thing to do now is buy any store games they want before January 31.
