Atari holiday revenues halved

In November, Atari announced a quarterly profit for the first time in years, a positive sign that the publisher's plan to reverse its ill fortunes by selling off studios and popular series was starting to bear fruit. However, the company experienced a bit of a backslide over the holidays.

Today Atari released its financial results for the last three months of 2006, which saw the company release Neverwinter Nights 2 on the PC and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 for the PlayStation 2. Once again, the publisher finds itself in the red--but not by much. Atari posted a net loss of $700,000 for the quarter, a significant improvement over the $4.8 million it lost in the same quarter the year before. Revenues were also down for Atari, as the publisher pulled in $47.3 million for the holiday quarter, down from $100 million the year before.

Atari also spelled out its release list for the current quarter. Before the end of March, the publisher expects to release Bullet Witch on the Xbox 360, Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai 2 for the PlayStation Portable, and Test Drive Unlimited for the PC and PlayStation 2, among others.