Atari reverses fortunes in Q1

The dust will soon settle on Infogrames' buyout of Atari, but the France-based publisher's US subsidiary still has at least one more quarter of independent financial results to report.

Showing signs of life after a dismal 2008 (and 2007, and 2006, and so on), the beleaguered publisher posted revenues of $40.3 million, a massive increase over the $10.4 million brought in for the same period of time a year ago. Atari's profits saw a similar reversal of fortunes, with the publisher flipping an $11.9 million loss a year ago to positive cash flow of $3.5 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2008.

Atari's free-from-frills report did not delineate any specific cause for its dramatic rebound. However, the publisher had a number of high-profile releases during the quarter, including Eden Games' long-in-the-making episodic action adventure Alone in the Dark and a new installment in Atari's stalwart Dragon Ball Z franchise, Burst Limit. According to Infogrames' Q1 results released late last month, Alone in the Dark had shipped 1.2 million copies worldwide, with DBZ: Burst Limit shifting an equally substantive 930,000 units.