The audited first-half financial year results for Infogrames have been posted, with the company reporting that it is finally trimming its losses. As part of its attempts to streamline operations and save the company from bankruptcy, Infogrames has sold off a number of internal studios over the last six months, including Paradigm, Shiny, Reflections (and related Driver rights), and, most recently, Melbourne House.
The strategy seems to be slowly paying off. Infogrames has posted an operating loss of 33.4 million euros ($43.9 million) for the six months ending September 30, compared to a loss of 45.4 million euros ($59.8 million) over the same period last year.
However, the company's sales were down from 123 million euros ($162 million) for that time frame last year to 105.5 million euros ($138.9 million) this year. The majority of revenue came from Europe and Asia, accounting for 63.5 percent of the total, with the remainder from the US.
There was an improvement to Infogrames' gross margin of 7.6 points, at 41.9 percent of revenue, which totals 44.2 million euros ($58.2 million). This was due to, among other factors, improved distribution systems and the moderate success of the Xbox 360 racer Test Drive Unlimited, which had sold nearly 121,000 copies in the US as of October 31.
Infogrames subsidiary Atari Inc. reported its earnings at the beginning of November, announcing a wafer-thin profit for the July-September quarter. At just $311,000, it was still cause for celebration as it marked the company's first profitable quarter in several years. Infogrames shareholders have also recently approved a debt-restructuring plan for the company aimed at further improving its financial situation.
Well the delays for the PS2 version are not doing any good! I've already reserved a copy nearly forgot about it had I not read this! Only 1 or 2 test drive games I've played were good.
That`s really a shame. Infogrames used to produce such great games, but recently they`ve been lacking in that department. If they go bankrupt now, it would really be a shame.
Atari was cool once nut now i dont know
Just focus on the quality titles now Infogrames. The gamers will purchase if the game is of interest.
Because they make crap games and they are a crap company.
If this was really the original Atari, I would be behind them. But most of their recent games have been garbage and part of the reason they were able to become profitable again is because they sold off all their development houses. I don't see a very bright future for Infogrames/Atari unless they can move about 900,000 more Test Drive Unlimiteds for 360 and PS3 when it is finally released for that system. BTW Test Drive is a good game so maybe if you really want to see them survive you will buy it when it is released for your console of choice.
Infogrames had their hand in Unreal Tournament, so I hope the company can bring itself back from the brink.
their profit probably came from test drive: unlimited........... a very highly underrated game... its awesome.
:lol: infogrames...the only game I know they made lately was DBZ, anyway they always suck
infogrames hanst really had anyting running for it....
Driver was picked up by Ubisoft
DBZ for Wii if pretty good and I've played Test Drive and it's a good game too. Honestly I hope they have the worst of their days behind them.
If it keeps making solid decisions like Test Drive Unlimited, Infogrames will see itself out of the red.
debt-restructuring i don't think that'll do it...
Well, I hope they recover (infrogrames) I loved their Driver games.
Go Infogrames!
Nice, at least 5 responses thus far from people who think this is the same Atari as the highly-successful early 80s american upstart. No matter how many times a person tries to clear it up, people just don't want to remember this is not the same Atari. "omgz, i hope teh Atari doesnt die! i liek there games from teh old days!" Sigh.
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With all those studios gone what internaly developed games are going to be published by inforgrames/Atari?
I hope it will recover.
sounds good
Atari does still publish good games (UT2k4 and NWN2 come to mind) so I'm hoping they do better.
They are not making any good games anymore... No wonder they are in a difficult situation. Let's hope for a miracle, after all, the more devs are out there, the more games we will get.
atari 4 ever
All my best wishes go toward Atari, I hope it recovers.
Don't let Atari die! T_T
I'll never forget Out Of This World. One of my all-time favorite games. I gotta thank Infogrames for that one, among others. Hope they can stay on top.
Who got driver, let me guess EA?
Sales are down who cares they will live
somebody go to the graveyard and kick some more dirt on this company
I can only see this as a good thing. Even though they're not the same old atari, and thats not necessarily what I want... they've got their minds set on doing well. Also, selling off all those licenses means we might see fresh ideas in old series. I'm still wondering where Driver will go with a different owner.