Infogrames overhauls Atari's board

France-based parent company dismisses majority of beleaguered subsidiary's directors.

Atari parent company Infogrames has revealed its latest attempt to salvage its perpetually ailing subsidiary. As part of its latest restructuring plan, the France-based company said it would be replacing five members of Atari's board of directors to go into effect as soon as proper notice had been served. New board members, who are currently being nominated and evaluated, will join the three remaining Atari directors: Evence Charles Coppee, Jean-Michel Perbet, and Thomas Schmider.

As reason for the overhaul, Infogrames unsurprisingly cited Atari's dismal 2006-2007 fiscal year, where the publisher posted a net loss of $70 million. Expressing continued support of the Atari brand, Infogrames chairman and CEO Patrick Leleu said, "This major step will allow the group to get closer to achieving the key objectives of this plan, which include: relaunching the publishing activities to leverage the group's intellectual properties, taking the necessary actions to improve further our distribution, particularly in the United States, developing an online presence to take full advantage of this global entertainment medium, and more extensive use of the Atari name, one of the most recognized brands in the industry."

Today's move is the latest in Infogrames' efforts to return its subsidiary to profitability. In January, the Neverwinter Nights and Alone in the Dark publisher underwent a 10-to-1 reverse stock split to meet the NASDAQ stock exchange's $1 minimum bid price. In May, the publisher laid off 20 percent of its workforce, primarily those with administrative titles, to cut down on what it called "redundancies." In 2006, Atari sold off several of its internal studios, including Stuntman developer Paradigm Entertainment and Driver wheelmen Reflections Interactive.

18 Comments

  • Thrasher91604

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 12:31 pm PT

    This is not the same company that built the games you played as a kid.

    It's a European company (Infrogrames) that just bought the Atari name to slap on its products. The sooner they die, the sooner a competent company will takeover the DnD franchise, and get back to making quality games.

  • Xbox_Gamer_117

    Posted Oct 10, 2007 3:52 am PT

    Poor Atari!
    U gave me a lot of fun when I was a kid....

  • VegetaMaelstrom

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 10:54 am PT

    As long as expansions keep coming out for Neverwinter Nights 2 then I'll be a happy camper.

  • Kounji

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 10:53 am PT

    Awhile ago I talked to someone who had worked for atari. They said that generally atari is huge on making those release dates. So if a game is not finished or needs more polish they would rather make revenue then to make a polished game that really turns eyes. Its a sad state but they're really out to cut cost where they can. This can only put more pressure on the development teams to try their best to polish games before release. Its one of the reasons neverwinter nights 2 wasn't nearly as good as it should have been. It needed more or less another year of development to churn out every last bug instead of all the current patches made. In the case of that game now it just about feels done. Here is hoping Mask of the Betrayer doesn't break it all. Don't blame the dev teams though they try their best

  • karnovrpg

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 9:37 am PT

    Is it too late to bring back Nolan Bushnell?

  • pentagonpark

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 10:37 pm PT

    "Many are those who bear burdens through life, and fail to relinquish them at the moment of death. Weighted down, they attain not heaven, but are cast aside to wander the land ... Only when they are undone and gone from this world, and nothing remains to bear that which they should not have borne, will they permit themselves eternal sleep."

    - excerpt from the Clan Primer, Final Fantasy XII

  • lamprey263

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 9:26 pm PT

    the only future Atari's name is good for is making t-shirts for every wanna-be, self-proclaiming "old school" gamer for $8.99 a pop at Target

  • thesineater

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 7:31 pm PT

    Hey, I got one for ya' Leleu. How about actually making a half way decent game! I swear, its like the idiots at Infogrames and Atari don't understand that good games = big $$. Just die already!

  • vashkey

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 5:40 pm PT

    Thats what they get for saturating the market with DBZ games. Two DBZ games a year would have been better. The demman would be higher for them. But they had to go and release ten a year. Bad business. And they need more licences.

  • MasterChief725

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 5:31 pm PT

    wow, atari has come a long way down from PONG and the 2600. Who would have guessed in 1983 that in 4 yrs, atari would be pretty much dead? wow, and then the jaguar failed, they became a 3rd party developer, and what games have they come out with?? nothing...poor atari...oh well, i hope they can come back...but i doubt it

  • viva_havarte

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 5:15 pm PT

    Infogrames ruind the Atari brand, atleast there trying to bring it back

  • 4nationfury

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 5:15 pm PT

    I'm really sorry to see a classic arcade name like Atari suffer like this. I mean, they're newer game line might not be top of the line, but they do make a some notable titles like the Roller Coaster Tycoon franchise, Unreal Tournament, and Test Drive Unlimited. Sadly, they don't produce enough hits to cut it. Hopefully, their luck will change soon enough.

  • McGregor

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 5:11 pm PT

    @ darth /agree and lol.

    Atari is holding on to the past. they need to either innovate, or dissipate. Although i never want to see one of the industry starters die, i also don't want to see them rehashing the same old crap just to sell some products.

  • darthzew

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 4:54 pm PT

    Dear Atari: sucks to be you. Either start churning out good games so that I can care about you or die... seeing that if you die, it would be more of a mercy kill than anything else. You've had a good run, but even stars die.

  • airbus_a340_86

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 4:20 pm PT

    why???

  • JimmyCos

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 4:11 pm PT

    a long long agony, sigh

  • CorruptGamerGX

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 3:38 pm PT

    They're still alive?!!!!!

advertisement

Hot Stories

Newsmakers

Featured Stories

Tags

atari   infogrames

Submit News

Got tips? Send them in!