In March 2022, Atari added the long‑standing video‑game archive MobyGames to its portfolio. The acquisition caught many observers off‑guard, especially as Atari has recently been concentrating on retro‑gaming projects. At the announcement, CEO Wade Rosen praised MobyGames for its role in documenting, celebrating, and preserving the history of video games, and hinted that the database would soon see new developments.
Fast‑forward to the present, and Atari’s vision is beginning to materialize. In June, MobyGames rolled out a premium tier aimed squarely at professionals working in the games sector.
Branded MobyGames Professional, the service is currently in a beta phase, with a full 1.0 release slated for the autumn. The subscription grants users a suite of tools: the ability to claim credit for titles they helped create, a customizable portfolio page, and access to market‑relevant data such as in‑demand skills and salary benchmarks for various roles. During a Gamescom interview, product manager Reece Denzel told GamesIndustry.biz that sign‑ups have been “great,” noting that “thousands of developers have already claimed their pages on the service.” He explained that while developers and other industry workers have long had public‑facing profile pages on MobyGames, the new “claim page” button now lets an individual link their personal account to the official credit listing. Denzel was quick to stress that this does not grant the claimant the power to edit the underlying credit data itself; rather, it allows them to add personal details that are displayed as coming from a verified source.
The problem of missing or inaccurate credits is well documented in the industry. Many creators have discovered that their contributions were omitted from the official credit rolls, whether due to oversight, name changes, or simple clerical errors.
MobyGames Professional’s claim feature offers a pathway for those workers to assert ownership of the titles they helped build. At the same time, the platform is aware of the risk that unscrupulous users might try to claim work they never performed. To mitigate this, MobyGames has instituted a two‑step verification process. First, a human‑driven background check confirms the identity of the claimant.
Second, the existing credit verification workflow—unchanged since Atari’s involvement—ensures that any alterations to credit histories are carefully vetted. “We aim for the information on the site to be as accurate as humanly possible,” Denzel said. “It may never be 100 percent perfect, but we strive to get as close as we can.” When discrepancies arise—such as misspelled names or alternate aliases—the team follows established correction procedures. Much of the database’s upkeep continues to rely on a dedicated community of volunteers, which Denzel describes as “a very active contributor and approver community.” These volunteers often extract credit information from screenshots of in‑game credit rolls, receive spreadsheets from studios, or otherwise crowd‑source data that is later verified by peers.
Beyond credit claims, MobyGames Professional introduces several other features. MobyRank, for instance, ranks genres and game types based on page‑view statistics, giving users a sense of what’s currently popular.
More compelling perhaps is the portfolio function, which lets developers showcase demo reels, screenshots, detailed write‑ups, and links to external coverage or personal websites. This creates a bridge between a verified credit history and a self‑promotional space, making it easier for hiring managers to assess a candidate’s body of work.
Denzel illustrated the utility with a scenario: an employer discovers that a candidate served as lead designer on a particular title, then instantly accesses the designer’s portfolio and the broader MobyGames database to evaluate additional projects. This seamless integration of verification and promotion can streamline recruitment, especially as MobyGames also aggregates job listings from a variety of sources. By cross‑referencing those postings with studio data already stored in the system, the platform can suggest opportunities that align with a user’s experience, preferred genres, platforms, and even salary expectations. The service can also surface connections between professionals who have previously collaborated at the same studio or provided support for one another—a valuable networking tool in an industry where personal referrals often carry significant weight.
While much of the early recruitment work has focused on individual users, MobyGames is experimenting with company‑level integrations, such as allowing applicants to submit their MobyGames ID alongside a job application or even apply for positions directly through the platform. From a data‑analytics perspective, the company plans to leverage its extensive repository of game and employment information.
The first analytical layer will focus on the job market, offering insights into salary ranges, geographic distribution of roles, hiring trends, and even layoff patterns. Denzel noted that they are already partnering with select organizations to package this intelligence in a more accessible format. By making such data public, MobyGames hopes to inject transparency into an industry that traditionally guards these metrics.
“The preservation of information and transparency go hand‑in hand,” Denzel said. “We want data to be accessible, so that people can see when a studio has a history of mass hiring or firing, and the community can respond accordingly.” In practice, this could mean developers being better prepared for industry volatility, or studios being held accountable for their employment practices. Overall, MobyGames Professional represents a significant evolution for the historic database.
By empowering developers to claim missed credits, offering verified portfolios, and providing data‑driven insights into the job market, the platform aims to make the games industry more open, accountable, and supportive of the individuals who create its content. The initiative underscores Atari’s broader strategy of using data as a catalyst for positive change, ensuring that the stories behind every game—and the people who made them—are accurately recorded and recognized.