New Atari board announced

Four new directors appointed by Infogrames after last week's move to oust former members.

Last week, Atari parent company Infogrames made the shock move of dismissing five members of Atari's board of directors. The move was made in an attempt to return the company to profitability. Today, Infogrames has named four new independent directors to the board, along with the appointment of Curtis G. Solsvig III as chief restructuring officer.

The new board members are Wendell Adair, Eugene I. Davis, James B. Shein, and Bradley Eric Scher. The four will be joining the remaining board members, who escaped last week's changes: Evence-Charles Coppee, Jean-Michel Perbet, and Thomas Schmider.

Wendell Adair is a senior lawyer specialising in restructuring and corporate finance, and Eugene I. Davis is the founder and chairman of the Pirinate Consulting Group, which focuses on restructuring middle-market companies. James B. Shein is a professor of management and strategy at the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University, Bradley E. Scher is a managing member of Ocean Ridge Capital Advisors, and Curtis G. Solsvig III is managing director at Alix Partners.

47 Comments

  • XBASX

    Posted Oct 16, 2007 12:59 pm PT

    Didn't know Infogrames still existed. I only knew them back in the old SNES days with games like Asterix etc.

  • vee36

    Posted Oct 16, 2007 9:27 am PT

    the atari didnt help with the gaming world .... it just spawned a **** load of crummy pixels all piled on top of each other ... pong . honestly, shockin game !

  • moncealyo

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 3:44 pm PT

    Hey if you don't make great games it doesn't matter who you fire.

  • axia_777

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 3:21 pm PT

    "Kanaric
    "Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms On-Line" game"
    I don't trust them to make that right now. If they do they better make it have great pvp and lots of player owned content, like Star Wars Galaxies and Shadowbane had. They will just make a WoW clone, a bad WoW clone."

    You are right. And that is depressing. Damn Wizards of The Coast for giving Atari the sole ability to make D&D games. This sucks. WHO do you think COULD make an awesome "Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms On-Line" game these days if they were allowed to?

  • nintendorocks

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 2:58 pm PT

    You can have as many finacinal advisors as you want but if you don't make good games, you won't make money.

  • lamprey263

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 2:53 pm PT

    well, regardless of who is running things behind the curtain, I'm sure Neverwinter Nights 2 will help bring Atari a little more success for a short while

  • krimla

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 2:23 pm PT

    Bring back WELL DONE next generation versions of arcade games like Paperboy, Joust, Escape From The Planet Of The Robot Monsters, A.P.B, Super Sprint, Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom, KLAX, Rampart, Pole Position, Missile Command, Major Havoc, Gauntlet, 720, Hard Drivin, Marble Madness, STUN Runner, Cyberball, Xybots, Toobin...................and on, and on, and on. Bottom line is that instead of making all of this s***, hire some good programmers and designers and start using the intellectual properties that made Atari an arcade legend. It might take more $$$ to start out with (as opposed to making several s*** titles), but Atari will become a powerhouse(and money maker) once again.

  • squirtle4

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 2:13 pm PT

    they do have a lot of bad games... or at least in my opinion

  • Kanaric

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 2:00 pm PT

    What they need to do is give their companies time to make their games and use their GREAT IP they own effectively.
    They own X-Com, Master Of Orion, all of Microprose's IP that they had no problems making money with. How is Atari having problems? Oh they hire bad developers and fire their award winning designers.

    Also they need to make Baldurs Gate style RPGs rather than this Demon Stone crap.

    "Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms On-Line" game"
    I don't trust them to make that right now. If they do they better make it have great pvp and lots of player owned content, like Star Wars Galaxies and Shadowbane had. They will just make a WoW clone, a bad WoW clone.

  • Thranin

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 1:52 pm PT

    .... No, not going to help in the least. They need to start making great games, that's the only thing that can help.

  • axia_777

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 1:34 pm PT

    It won't help because the games still suck monkey ballz.

    Note to new Atari Board Members: Make a "Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms On-Line" game and you will be richer than Blizzard with World of Warcraft! Make it the WHOLE "Forgotten Realms" . It will be the best MMORPG ever made. Your D&D: Online Game blew Monkey Ballz. Not because it is D&D, but because the world of Ebberon is lamer than a dead duck. So make the "Forgotten Realms" and start in Waterdeep and the North! Then expand the Realms every year or so with a new expansion pack. D&D player will be addicted! I know I would be. Otherwise you fools and doomed to fail.

  • werc96

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 1:22 pm PT

    The thing about this generations "ATARI"

  • MasterChief725

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 12:53 pm PT

    look for DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3 to be a big seller from atari. I hope they make another test drive for Xbox 360 also, that was a good game!

  • munsoned

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 12:32 pm PT

    wow these guys dont give up.

    they should make a next gen joust, E.T, moon patrol, and other atari classics

  • redfox66

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 12:26 pm PT

    I thought this was about an actual board...not a board of directors!

  • banodyne

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 12:22 pm PT

    Lawyers and bean counters. Not a gamer or visionary in the bunch. Look for more of the same from the brand.

  • Lord_Daemon

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 12:03 pm PT

    It would be nice to see Atari get to the point where they have some small amount of industry respectability but I'm not holding my breath.

  • 9mmSpliff

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 11:34 am PT

    A new console maybe? Hmmmmm, better then the Jaguar I hope, eventho I didnt mind it, I was playing on it at my friends house the other day actually. A little Doom action...heheheh

  • maxxorz

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 11:13 am PT

    @ dreamer77dd:
    Clearly they've already sapped your spelling ability with their "mind contral"

  • fabz_95

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 11:10 am PT

    Good on you guys. You need something to bring you back to form and hopefully this is it!

  • HALCONAZUL

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 10:59 am PT

    bring back the oldschool games

  • dreamer77dd

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 10:54 am PT

    Hmm think atari has bin saving there money and privately funding a military style take over. There going to suck the information out of are brain and run tests on us with out us knowing it well we play something. Mind contral. There not about the game, there about the brain. hmm

  • CRAZYCAM_93

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 10:19 am PT

    Atari, ay? Used to be the best in the bizz, now I cant see them getting anywhere anymore.

  • boobush

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 10:09 am PT

    Old Atari: Legendary.
    New Atari: Sucks assary.

  • Warfust

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 10:08 am PT

    I wonder if this will be enough...

  • Colsworl

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 10:08 am PT

    The only Atari title I liked is Driver..................Oh wait Ubisoft now own that. So that means there is pretty much nothing left that I like?
    Marc Eckos getting up was good but I dought we'll see a sequel. (I hope so though)
    I'm hoping Atari make it back up the ranks again, here's hoping to them making a killer new i.p in the near future.

  • Ecco6t9

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 10:07 am PT

    I've got a crazy idea how about putting a Joe Gamer on the board?

  • Pastehunter

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 9:56 am PT

    Lets hope that this move will save Atari from shure parish ... I really hope so

  • jrod9999

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 9:54 am PT

    The wii really only has 1st party games for it and developers aren't jumping to develop innovative games.If Atari focuses on the wii they could build their profits going that route.About the onlyt shot they have unless they go the usual route of making crappy FPS games.

  • Neo1O1

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 9:50 am PT

    To me, Atari is a legendary name within the gaming world. If these moves help bring the company back, then so be it.

  • Paul_TheGreat

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 9:45 am PT

    Atari should just die already.

  • darthzew

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 9:38 am PT

    I don't think that Atari can be saved... I just don't see them coming back... Sad as that is.

  • Raeldor

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 9:34 am PT

    About time. This company has been going down for a long time. Hope they can bring it back, it would be a shame to lose the Atari brand.

  • vee36

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 9:15 am PT

    The_Weekend == ...that they are still number one :p

  • Doolum

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 9:09 am PT

    Atari!?....hmmm...i heard that name before....somewhere.

  • The_Weekend

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 8:59 am PT

    And what are they hoping to proof here?

  • vee36

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 8:19 am PT

    didnt atari go bust because of that god awful E.T game ?? that a bundle of copies got buried in the new mexico desert ??

  • N8A

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 8:19 am PT

    Yeah i dont know about a comeback in the hardware biz, but some good software would be nice. I dont think anyon should jump into the hardware biz at the moment because i think the market is already flooded.

  • Willy105

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 8:08 am PT

    Atari needs a comeback in the hardware biz.

  • GrimBee

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 8:04 am PT

    I have been digging through my massive Atari ST collection recently, gotta love the old Atari ST

    Anyways - From being so wrapped up in Atari ST over the last few weeks, seeing this article kinda made me get all wide-eyed about Atari making a new "board".
    And for some reason, I interpreted that asthem making some sort of motherboard for a new computer or console.

    My obsession with Atari ST recently made me think that this article was in relation to Atari coming out with a new generation of console. Bring back the old computer/console hybrids....

    Unfortunately, this news is non essential as changing directors around won't improve Atari's credibility.
    Atari need to think outside of the box and make a portion of the market their own, like Nintendo have done.

    I loved the Atari ST, but since then everything else from Atari has been a complete waste of time and money.
    Unless they are bringing out a next-gen opensource atari st - im not interested!

  • MoeSyslak

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 7:55 am PT

    How is this news?

  • lowkey254

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 7:41 am PT

    I thought we were talking about a new something. Don't really care to much about board members, as long as they push out great games.

  • darth-revan

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 7:26 am PT

    And I got my hopes up for a new console .

  • DonutTrooper

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 7:17 am PT

    Atari isn't even Atari anymore. It's just a name and it's been on life support for years. For the oldest gamers, I know it's hard...but you have to let go at some point.

  • RahKayne

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 7:17 am PT

    slick title

  • PSLinux

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 7:08 am PT

    it's been over for atari, maybe this will help accomplish something

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