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"Atari" goes down the crapper
cloudeagle
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Registered User regular
So Infogrames, the company that bought the Atari name from the people who bought the Atari name from the people who bought the Atari name (etc.) is in dire financial straits. Or rather, the subsidiary it established to publish 47 bazillion Dragonball Z games under the Atari logo it shelled out tons of cash for is. From gamespot:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6183153.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;1
tl,dr: "Atari" is in deep shit and may fold.
Here's the question: if this company folds, who will pick up the rights to the good ole Atari 2600 stuff? Will the new holder actually publish decent games under the Atari brand, or will they just slap the logo on any old poop and hope nostalgia helps it sell? And am I the only one who really cares? I'm old enough to remember playing a 2600 as a wee one, and it pains me to see the name used simply as a marketing tool.
If you're interested, you can see a summary of Atari's winding corporate history here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari
Last week Atari CEO David Pierce resigned after just over a year on the job, with his post being temporarily filled by the company's chief restructuring officer Curtis G. Solsvig III. The resignation came the week after the company announced its long-delayed financial results for its first fiscal quarter, which ended June 30, 2007. Those figures painted a bleak picture of the once-iconic publisher's future.
Today the second-quarter results for Atari are in, showing that net revenue for the period between July 30 and September 30 was $13.3 million compared to $28.6 million in the same period last year. Publishing net revenue was $11.4 million, versus $23.1 million last year, and distribution revenue was $1.9 million compared to $5.5 million. The net loss for the second quarter was $7.7 million, or 57 cents a share.
Update: Were the faltering numbers not bad enough, Atari has admitted in a SEC filing that its road ahead is less than certain. The report explains that although the company has relied on Infogrames for loans and purchases of assets, the parent company has its own financial needs, and as a result may be unable to continue to help.
Atari has also sold off development studios including Shiny and Reflections, along with the rights to the Driver series and other IP. This reduction in development has led to fewer games being published.
The filing reads, "The uncertainty caused by these above conditions raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. Our consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty."
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6183153.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;1
tl,dr: "Atari" is in deep shit and may fold.
Here's the question: if this company folds, who will pick up the rights to the good ole Atari 2600 stuff? Will the new holder actually publish decent games under the Atari brand, or will they just slap the logo on any old poop and hope nostalgia helps it sell? And am I the only one who really cares? I'm old enough to remember playing a 2600 as a wee one, and it pains me to see the name used simply as a marketing tool.
If you're interested, you can see a summary of Atari's winding corporate history here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari
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I didn't think Atari owned exclusive rights to D&D, that it was licensed on an individual basis by Wizards of the Coast. But I'm not really sure.
Either way, wouldn't it just revert (or bought) back to their 'parent' company infogrames?
~ Buckaroo Banzai
Just publishing.
And they haven't done much of note in the last decade beyond The Witcher and 47 bazillion Dragonball games.
And they're very close to losing the latter if their shit doesn't shape up. Which it won't.
* 720°
* A.P.B.
* Area 51
* Badlands
* Blasteroids
* Centipede
* Championship Sprint
* Cyberball
* Cyberball 2072
* Empire Strikes Back
* Escape from the Planet of Robot Monsters
* Gauntlet
* Gauntlet II
* Gauntlet Legends
* Hard Drivin'
* Hydra
* Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
* Klax
* Marble Madness
* Moto Frenzy
* Off the Wall
* Paperboy
* Peter Packrat
* Race Drivin'
* Rampart
* Road Blasters
* Road Runner
* San Francisco Rush
* San Francisco Rush 2049
* Star Wars
* S.T.U.N. Runner
* Steel Talons
* Super Sprint
* Tempest
* Tetris
* Toobin'
* Vindicators
* Xybots
So then I'm justified in not caring a bit about them shutting down?
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this
Well they just localized it, didn't they? It shouldn't be too affected.
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Depends on who owns the IP and the distribution rights. I'm going to guess Treasure on this one, because it's a low budget game and Atari isn't a very powerful publisher. But anything with a budget and a big publisher is almost always owned by the publisher.
Hey...
IT'S OVER 9,000!
EDIT: In regards to Atari going under... I'm not sure yet if I care at all.
Honestly, I wonder if this is even the first time this has happened to Atari.
Why is it that any time a company produces a truly awesome game, shortly afterwards it goes under?
They didn't make the game. They published it. They might own the ip, which yes would be bad. But the guys who produced the game published it themselves Poland, so I'm thinking they might own it themselves.
It's not.
Really, really not.
This would be, what, the sixth time?
Weren't the people who made that older Transformers Armada game, Melbourne House, owned/part of Atari?
Because I actually got to go to their office and play it back when it was in beta. That was cool.
But at least we're not fatasses.
Yep.
Pity we've heard little about them since- it was surprisingly good.
Hmph.
But at least we're not fatasses.
Yeah you'd think they would spin that position to sound a little bit better. Like "Chief Happytime Officer" or "Chief No-Problems-Here Officer". You know....something.
Reminds me of the time I read about Washington building a "Fort Necessity" during the French and Indian war... Not sure what that has to do with anything but there you go.
First move would be commision "Farenheit - Directors cut" (with a completely new and awesome ending)
Next up would be "Cannon Fodder DS"
And after that I would license the Rush series to "Sega/Amusement Vision"
After that, I would be fucking rich. It's not hard.
the name Atari is just being bought and sold repeatedly simply due to the iconic nature of the name. Don't they realize the longer they abuse that, assuming its not already too late, that the name Atari will lose all significance.
I mean fuck, considering how old the name is, you gotta just imagine there is a bunch of young bastards out there who consider themselves hard core gamers, yet have never heard of the name Atari.
Combat?? Pitfall?? what..are those... board games or something?
On a side note: Infogrames bought the Atari name AND Microprose right? They can burn in hell for not reviving Xcom and Independence War!
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- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
fort FORT must of been taken at the time.
I hope atari finally moves their IP's over to someone who can re-release this stuff properly. And WARLORDS.
We so need warlords on XBLA.
Yes. Yes they can, and apparently-- will.