The rapper Soulja Boy has an “interesting” past with gaming, including making his own bootleg consoles that never saw public release. Now, he’s making a new bold claim, this time alleging that he owns Atari. It didn’t take long before the company effectively shut down his boasts with a short but to-the-point statement. Oh, Soulja Boy … when will you learn?
After his first attempt at breaking into the gaming industry as a console manufacturer was ripped apart, the rapper continued to try to find his entry point. The first attempt at making his own console began in 2019 when he tried to peddle a “new design.” Immediately, he was met with cease and desist notifications from major companies in the business. Previously, the rapper took potshots at former Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime when he said he “made him retire.” After numerous jokes and utter silence, it looks like Soulja Boy is ready to crank the gaming market once more, though once more, it doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense.
In a new video (seen at the top of the article), Soulja Boy can be heard claiming that Atari was wowed by the “success” of his bootleg systems, and upon seeing his line flourishing, they offered him the company for $140 million. So he’s putting numbers on this claim, which is interesting, while also stating that he has signed not one but two deals with Atari. After his claims of being the “first rapper to own a video game company,” Atari quickly shot out the following small message: “We know that CEO of Atari is a dream job, but that honor belongs to Wade Rosen.”
So there’s that.
It is clear that Soulja Boy will never leave the monetary opportunities that the gaming industry has to offer given his past social media encounters, his streaming presence, and his launched esports organization, but claiming to be the owner of Atari? That’s a bold choice. He even asked Tony Hawk if the pro skater would like to help make a new video game. Given his responses to critique and other companies showing direct comparisons to already available products, this launch seems likely to face issues similar to his attempt.
To be fair: Go after your goals, don’t let your dreams be dreams, yadda yadda yadda. If that’s what you want to do, don’t let those ambitions get ground down into dust. That being said, let’s make sure that the “made from scratch” console isn’t made from other consoles already out on the market or that you’re not claiming to be the CEO of a highly recognized and established company, hm?
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