How A lot Is The Atari Cosmos Price Right this moment?

Atari was a pioneer on the earth of house video video games, and the corporate remains to be round immediately. Based in 1972, it is best identified for its house online game console dominance because of the Atari 2600, launched again in 1977. The model went on to launch a number of house computer systems and online game consoles all the best way into the Nineteen Nineties, however it by no means reached the identical success because it had with the Atari 2600 after the North American online game crash of 1983.

In its early years, Atari and its engineers have been at all times experimenting with the burgeoning online game house. It was the Wild West by way of potentialities, and this allowed corporations to attempt new issues. The corporate launched numerous house computer systems, online game consoles, and even launched the primary business music visualizer with the Atari Video Music machine.

With so many irons within the fireplace, it must be no shock that Atari had quite a lot of introduced merchandise that by no means made it to market. From the likes of the unreleased Atari Sport Mind house console to the Atari 1400XL house laptop, the corporate was actively searching for the subsequent massive factor. However one unreleased Atari product particularly, the Cosmos, is held above all others within the collector house.

In 1978, Atari engineers started work on a project that involved 3D holograms — a know-how that’s nonetheless being experimented with immediately. Their efforts led to the creation of the Atari Cosmos online game console in 1981. Atari marketed the product by claiming that its holographic know-how produced lifelike 3D photographs on a small and moveable console.

The catch was that the holographic photographs didn’t have an effect on gameplay in any manner. As a substitute, Atari used them as sport overlays, permitting two 3D photographs to be illuminated for every sport. The underlying know-how of the console used industry-standard LEDs on a 7×6 grid to provide mild, just like different easy moveable consoles of the time.

Atari felt assured with the pattern unit the group produced, creating advertising and marketing for the console and exhibiting it at CES and the New York Toy Honest in 1981. The corporate noticed a variety of curiosity within the venture through the yr, garnering over 8,000 pre-orders for the Cosmos between each occasions. It appeared like a full launch of the console was proper across the nook.

All indicators have been pointed to Atari hoping to make a splash with the Cosmos, however issues rapidly took a flip with its sudden cancelation. It is unclear precisely why the corporate axed the Cosmos, contemplating it was production-ready with accompanying packaging. There are stories that counsel the console noticed poor evaluations by those who received to expertise it. 

In an interview with Atari Compendium in 2013, Roger Hector, a artistic designer at Atari who labored on the Cosmos, acknowledged that then-CEO Ray Kassar informed him the console was being shelved as a result of the corporate wanted extra manufacturing house for extra Atari 2600 orders. Earlier than the plug was pulled, Atari had produced a number of hundred pilot models of the console, full with packaging. Due to this, a number of Atari Cosmos models have made it into the wild.

The console has grow to be a coveted collector’s merchandise, with the value skyrocketing resulting from its restricted manufacturing. Again in 2010, a unit with lacking elements was offered on-line for a formidable $7,500. Years later, in 2024, a nonfunctional prototype was offered at public sale for a staggering $25,903. And in 2025, a prototype hologram overlay for the 1981 sport “Superman” offered on-line for $444. Chances are high slim you will ever discover an Atari Cosmos within the wild, possibly at the same time as slim as seeing the announced Atari hotel lastly get constructed.