Atari is celebrating Pong’s 40th anniversary by sponsoring an Indie Developer Challenge. iOS developers are being given a chance to win up to $100,000, along with a publishing deal for the finished game. Entries are being accepted now through the end of March, with a winner to be announced this summer.

Developers don’t have to present a finished game – a design document is enough for now. Semi-finalists will be asked to create a playable demo and promotional video. A grand prize winner will be selected on August 2, 2012.

It’s an interesting turn of events – Atari has previously worked with Apple to shut down independent iOS developers that it has accused of infringing its intellectual property.