Christian ‘Peri Fractic’ Simpson has confirmed that his much touted community-led acquisition of Commodore has been signed, sealed, and paid for. The Retro Recipes YouTuber announced the finalizing of the Commodore Corporation BV deal on the streets of the Netherlands this week, flanked by an assortment of Commodore legends of old, under the banner “We did it! Commodore is home!”
In the triumphant video short, Simpson breathlessly addressed his audience, stating that “We just made history. Together, we've just signed the final contract and paid in full, ahead of schedule, to complete the acquisition of the whole Commodore Corporation BV, and all 47 original Commodore trademarks, the oldest, dating back to 1983.” Behind him, you can see familiar Commodore stalwarts like David Pleasance, Leo Nigro, and Colin Proudfoot. Actually, there is a clearer view of the Commodore 'takeover' team in a Facebook post by Commodore International Corporation (see below).
In his street-filmed mini episode, Simpson continued, “And it all means that Commodore is finally in the hands of those who truly care - the community and the original employees… And now the fun really begins as Commodore reboots, not just as a retro brand with next-gen ideas, but as a digital detox brand, picking up right where we left off in the 90s. Therefore, we will be positioned to free society from toxic tech, and bring joy back to computing – 90s and Y2K style.”
This sounds positive for fans of both retro computing and new gadgetry, which plays to the strengths of home computers from a few decades past. The will and talent seem to be there. Moreover, Simpson seemed especially pleased that funding had come through, early, so this deal was signed sealed and delivered ahead of schedule.
We already witnessed the first product launch of the ‘new’ Commodore, Last month we reported on the Commodore 64 Ultimate computer launch. In brief, it is a machine pulled together from various enthusiast projects, but it is welcome to see it packaged and marketed in a connected way, and priced from $299, as long as you’re partial to beige – more cosmetically adventurous models ramp up in price.
Retro futurism
Some more hints at what to expect going forward are provided by the latest updates to the official Commodore.net about page. Here, Simpson (we assume) expands on his “digital detox brand” idea, as well as the direction that will lead to “retro futurism” under the Commodore banner.
Personally, as someone who didn’t enjoy the 8-bit home computer era nearly as much as the following 16-bit era, I’d like to see some more ‘futurism’ from the revamped Commodore. However, I am aware that Cloanto are the current custodians of the public-facing Amiga Inc. brand with its excellent Amiga Forever emulation products.
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