Ghostbusters boosts Atari earnings

Atari's latest fiscal year was mostly status quo for the publisher of late, which is to say that it was mostly a miserable wreck. After posting a $319 million loss on revenues of $192.4 million, Atari parted ways with high-profile executive Phil Harrison, who entered the publisher's ranks with much ado in March 2008. Still, Atari has lived to see another day, and the publisher has started off its current fiscal year on a high note.

Reporting on its performance for the April-June quarter, Atari said that revenues grew to €54.5 million ($77 million), up 30 percent from the same period a year ago. The publisher did not delineate net or operating income for the three-month period.

Atari attributed its earnings uptick during the period to the release of Terminal Reality's Ghostbusters: The Video Game and Starbreeze Studios' The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, calling each a "commercial success." Atari confirmed yesterday that Terminal Reality's paranormal action game has exceeded sales projections, having shifted more than 1 million units in North America since launching on Microsoft's, Sony's, and Nintendo's platforms on June 16.

However, Atari went on to caution that its strong performance during the first quarter "is mainly due to a favorable game release schedule and should not be extrapolated for the remaining of the year." Still, the publisher has a handful of anticipated releases to come this year, including the launch of Cryptic Studios' superhero-themed Champions Online for the PC and Ghostbusters for Microsoft's and Nintendo's platforms in Europe (editions for Sony's platforms were released earlier this year).