We’re well past the golden days of Atari, when they were considered one of the biggest names in gaming. They aren’t one of the main console manufacturers nor have they published a hit in a long time.

However, recently the company has made moves that we’ve reported on that indicate they’re moving upwards. This is a sentiment that Nightdive Studios CEO Stephen Kick strongly believes in.

In a new interview, Kick discussed many parts of their development team being acquired by Atari and how they viewed the publisher along with their new CEO Wade Rosen.

“Wade is fresh blood in the Atari vein. And he brings with him an unparalleled knowledge and love for classic games, which is rarely seen in the industry,” Kick said to Gamesindustry.biz. “After he had become the Atari CEO, and started changing the underlying foundation of Atari towards something more game-centric… that’s when we became interested in joining forces”.

Kick also stated that the merger didn’t mean Nightdive would be only working on old IPs, which Atari has picked up many over the past few months. “We are going to work on the things that interest us… Shooters, mostly, from the 1990s and early 2000s. It’s not going to limit who we work with, either.”

It seems that instead of acquiring the studio to aid in the development of the many IPs they’ve acquired by now, Atari instead hopes to leverage their experience to expand their reach to classic titles they weren’t known for in the past.

Considering the enthusiasm Stephen Kick has about working with the company, it appears that more can be expected in the future for both companies.