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Nolan Bushnell Rejoining Atari Brand

One of the founding fathers of the video games industry is returning to the brand he helped create. Atari S.A announced two additions to their Board of Directors today, one of whom is the one and only Nolan Bushnell, who will be replacing the departing Phil Harrison.
Bushnell is joining the board alongside Boatbookings.com founder Tom Virden, who will join Atari’s Audit Committee. Both men were brought in to "further reinforce the strategic insight of the group" while contributing the company’s planning.

"I am very excited to be reacquainted with Atari at a time when it is poised to make interesting strides in key growth areas of the games industry," said Bushnell. "The company and its iconic brands have always been important to me, and I look forward to further guiding them at the board level."

Bushnell was present during the dawn of the video game industry, and was responsible for one of its earliest commercial successes -- Pong. His company Atari would later be sold to Warner Communications and release the iconic 2600. Bushnell departed the company in 1979.

Atari was split into multiple companies following the crash of 1983, and since then the name has applied to multiple subsidiaries. The Atari that Bushnell is joining was acquired from Hasbro Interactive in 2001.

Bushnell will be replacing Phil Harrison, who is resigning from the Board of Directors. Harrison joined the company after leaving Sony in 2008 and served as president until 2009. No reason was given for his departure alongside former CEO David Gardner.