The widely publicized development of an Atari video-game-inspired hotel near the Las Vegas Strip has been officially shelved. According to reports over the weekend, the project is dead because of a failed deal for the required five acres of land in Vegas.
Atari Hotels will now instead focus its video-game-inspired efforts in the hospitality chain’s headquarters city of Phoenix.
According to the Las Vegas Sun, the Phoenix build will cost $124m and include 90 rooms, a sharp drop from the 400 rooms planned for Vegas.
stay inside an Atari”
The project’s developers, Phoenix real estate firm Intersection Development, promised in the past to create a video game-themed hotel with virtual reality experiences and potentially esports. Under license from the Japan-based gaming giant, Intersection Development envisioned a hotel with an exterior designed to look like a console so guests could “stay inside an Atari.”
Las Vegas Locally’s post about the “devastating news” of Atari not coming to Sin City went viral on X, with many also expressing their disappointment:
The disappointment is compounded by reports as late as 2024 that Atari Vegas was still on, with a representative reportedly telling the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the Atari hotel brand was “in land talks” and that further updates, which never materialized, were forthcoming.
The Sun cited Atari Hotels spokesperson Sara Collins as stating while her firm “explored developing a location in Las Vegas” in 2020 and 2021, “the deal didn’t come to fruition.”
Intersection Development partner Jordan Taylor, however, said in a news release that the Phoenix Atari will give locals and investors “a rare chance to help shape the first immersive gaming hotel in the Western Hemisphere.”
