Sign on Options
Theme:
To Dark

Atari replaces CEO

David Gardner relegated to publisher's board of directors as COO Jeff Lapin assumes chief executive duties at Star Trek Online publisher.

Atari today appointed chief operating officer Jeff Lapin to the position of CEO, making him the fourth man to lead the company in the last three years. Lapin is replacing David Gardner, who will remain with the company as a member of its board of directors. No reason was given for the switch.

Jeff Lapin is boldly going where three other men have been in the last three years.

Jeff Lapin is boldly going where three other men have been in the last three years.

Gardner was appointed to the position of CEO in January of 2008, after the resignation of his predecessor, Patrick Leleu. At the time, the company was still known as Infogrames; the French publisher turned the vintage gaming brand into a wholly owned subsidiary later in 2008 and made the name change official earlier this year. Leleu had held the CEO title for only nine months, taking over after Infogrames cofounder Bruno Bonnell ended his 24-year tenure with the company.

Lapin has held the COO position at Atari since May and has been on the board of directors for two years. He was also CEO for Take-Two Interactive in 2003 and 2004 and previously served in executive functions for THQ.

Atari is in the midst of an effort to reinvent itself with a stronger focus on online gaming. One of its biggest bets in that area, the December 2008 acquisition of massively multiplayer online game developer Cryptic Studios, has already produced one game, Champions Online. A second title from the studio, the long awaited Star Trek Online (pictured), is set to launch in February.

Gardner's tenure saw Atari make a number of high-profile moves, including the hiring of former Sony Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison to be the company's president and general director. Harrison would step down from that position after a little over a year on the job, but like Gardner, he remains with Atari as a member of the board of directors.

23 Comments

  • LosDaddie

    Posted Dec 14, 2009 6:03 am GMT

    Change was needed

  • mariokart64fan

    Posted Dec 12, 2009 5:35 pm GMT

    last decent game they gave up -driver paralellines lol

  • StJimmy15

    Posted Dec 12, 2009 1:00 pm GMT

    Another name for this article: "Filler News" Atari's CEO? Whats the last decent game they've made? lol

  • BtmnHatesRbn

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 10:17 pm GMT

    Oh, I forgot, this Atari is Sorry Atari, while old Atari is now Time Warner's WB Games Chicago Studios.

  • BtmnHatesRbn

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 10:14 pm GMT

    Too bad this isn't the real Atari.

    The assets for the real Atari, the company that was split into two in 1984 by Time Warner, became the following:

    Atari Games, who made new games (mostly in the arcade) is the real Atari, publishing under the Tengen, then Time Warner Interactive, brand. Sold in 1996 to Williams/Midway/Bally, who just changed their name to Midway in 1998. Midway, today, was bought by Time Warner! So Time Warner regained all of their Atari Games assets and gained all of Midway's, too!

    The second part of Atari was ran by Jack Tramiel, and was a struggling company in the home console market, but had a thriving computer business. This Atari, after the cancellation of the Falcon computers and Jaguar console, was sold to JTS, who made hard drives. JTS was then bought by Hasbro. Hasbro still retains ownership of the Atari, Inc. name and logo under license to Infogrames, who is going around calling themselves Atari, Inc. Legally, all paperwork shows "Atari" as a French company called Inforgrames DBA "Atari, Inc." in New York.

    So, the real Atari is owned again by Time Warner while the Atari that has to license rights to make games made by Atari before 1984 is the Atari described in this article.

  • SlayerX13

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 9:25 pm GMT

    @ The_Edge999 Atari did not create UT 2004. They published it. Meaning they printed the manuals, pressed the CDs, and shipped the product. EPIC GAMES created the UT series.

  • metalkid9

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 4:54 pm GMT

    RIP

  • The_EdgE999

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 4:54 pm GMT

    atari made Unreal Tournament 2004... which is IMO one of the best and fastest paced FPS ever made..

  • Inconnux

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 4:34 pm GMT

    atari is still around??? hmmm its too bad that it was atari that got a new CEO... it should have been activision.

  • LoserMike

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 4:09 pm GMT

    Sony should bring back Phil Harrison. He's the one that got all of Sony's 2nd party developers like Insomnia, Sucker Punch, and Media Molecule.

  • kweeni

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 3:02 pm GMT

    man they still exist? O.o
    seriously when was the last time they made something big? ah well congrats on still being alive i guess..

  • wizard617

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 3:00 pm GMT

    they should hire me

  • Spitz6860

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 2:20 pm GMT

    what;s the last big title they published? The Witcher i think?

  • WTFitsPauL

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 2:15 pm GMT

    Who?

  • izmickey

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 2:02 pm GMT

    Atari is like a roach, They wont die no matter what. If only Activision can replace their current CEO also, they would do the gaming community a favor.

  • SunDestroyeur

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 1:58 pm GMT

    the game did not took my interest.
    but i hope it would be nice.
    i guess I'd prefer to play it on Pc if it's free

  • kemar7856

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 1:53 pm GMT

    atari has been on life support for awhile with help with the dragonball games other then those what does atari have

  • karnovrpg

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 1:44 pm GMT

    Good luck with that. The last decent CEO went off to found Chuck E. Cheese.

  • Warhawk_

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 1:19 pm GMT

    Oh Atari you're still finished.

  • Darkmoone1

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 1:15 pm GMT

    HEY this means that they can start over right..........right???

    Sadly, no.

  • Generic_Dude

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 1:00 pm GMT

    That's like treating AIDS with aspirin.

  • nurnberg

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 12:57 pm GMT

    Atari still exists? How many times have they gone bankrupt already?

  • oneligas

    Posted Dec 11, 2009 12:45 pm GMT

    Atari is wounded beast that never dies

Subscribe to GameSpot's YouTube Channel

Hot Stories

Newsmakers

Featured Stories

Submit News

Got tips? Send them in!