Atari is in hot water after it calls reporter a troll

Last year, Atari said it would begin taking pre-orders for its Atari VCS - then called Ataribox - on December 14, only to cancel those pre-order plans on the exact date they were meant to begin, which was an unfortunate move considering the announcement had been made just three days prior. Sadly, it seems as though the company's missteps didn't end there.

Back in March, during the Game Developer Conference, The Register had the opportunity to interview Michael Arzt, chief operating officer at Atari, but the executive showed very little knowledge of the details of the console, leaving almost every question about controller compatibility and the console's interface unanswered. The executive also failed to provide a good explanation or apology for the last-minute cancellation of the pre-order plans.

The company's attitude during the interview was quite disappointing, but rather than taking the blame and apologizing, the official Facebook Atari VCS page recently responded to the article accusing the reporter of writing things differently from how they happened and even going as far as calling him an "irresponsible troll".

Unfortunately for the company, the interview had been recorded, and in response to the accusations, The Register has decided to go ahead and release the full recording of the interview, exposing the executive's rather vague answers and lack of knowledge on the specifics of the console. In one of the segments, Michael Arzt tries to compare the console's development to the launch of a NASA rocket when attempting to justify the sudden delay in the pre-order plans. In other questions, the COO redirects the matter to other members of the company.

While the COO's poor performance would already have been pretty bad by itself, the company's response to the article and the false accusations are likely to severely tarnish its reputation among the public. As of yet, Atari hasn't made a public apology or an attempt to justify the occurrences. The Indiegogo campaign for the Atari VCS is still underway, though some may have lost interest in the device.

Source: The Register

Thanks to Jaybonaut for the tip!