Atari VCS' upgrade to a Ryzen APU pushes back launch to late 2019

It has been some time since Atari announced its new gaming console, the Atari VCS, and its release had been scheduled for spring 2019, but backers looking forward to the retro-inspired box now have even more waiting to do. The company announced today that the launch is now planned for late 2019, and the reason is a hardware upgrade.

The company revealed that the original plan to use an APU from AMD's Bristol Ridge series has been scrapped, with a new dual-core Ryzen chip with Vega graphics taking its place.

Although the company is keeping the APU's exact model under wraps for now, the upgrade should bump up the horsepower and power efficiency of the machine while keeping the temperatures low. The announcement added that the Ryzen chip will feature support for "Ethernet, Native 4K video with modern HDCP, and a secure frame buffer that fully-supports DRM video (Netflix, HBO, etc.)."

The Atari VCS' Indiegogo page has the console and controllers bundle pre-purchase available for $329. The Linux-powered device will come with over 100 classic Atari games pre-loaded and the company is said to be partnering with game developers to bring over modern titles to the console, promising a "full PC experience for the TV."