Atari Inc. Files for Bankruptcy

[Andy Chalk]

Atari Inc. Files for Bankruptcy

The hope is that the move will allow the company to free itself from its French parent company.

The latest spot of unpleasantness to hit the long-troubled Atari may actually have an upside, as company executives hope that a buyer can be found to take the company private, largely or entirely free of debt. Parent company Atari SA actually turned a small profit over the past two fiscal years but the complexities of the Atari situation - the U.S.-based Atari Inc. is owned by French company Atari SA, previously known as Infogrames, which is heavily indebted to BlueBay Asset Management of London - has hamstrung its growth potential. Shares in Atari SA have slid from over €11 ($14.65) in 2008 to €0.86 today, while a $28 million debt to BlueBay lapsed at the end of 2012, leaving it unable to release new games.

The Chapter 11 filing is still very new but there have been no expressions of interest in the company at this point, and it's possible that it could end up being sold off in pieces. The LA Times speculated that currently Atari CEO Jim Wilson will likely seek backers who will keep the company intact and him at the helm. If the bankruptcy process is successful, the remaining French-based business would likely seek a buyer itself or be dissolved.

Infogrames took control of the Atari brand when it acquired Hasbro in 2000. It bought all outstanding shares in Atari Inc. in 2008, and then changed its own name to Atari SA in 2009.

Source: LA Times [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-atari-bankruptcy-20130119,0,25279.story]


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[blackrave]

YES, YES, GODDAMN YES!!!

I still may have a hope.
Activision, quick, buy Battlezone name rights and finally make Battlezone3
Pleeeaaaseee, I need my Battlezone fix and BZ2 just isn't strong enough for me anymore.

Also if that would happen I could stop boycotting you and finally try CoD4:MW (I heard it was good)

 

[JWAN]

Sad in a way... But they really didn't keep up with the times. The best game they released in the last 13 years was Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Mele. (AND IT WAS BADASS). Other than that I can't remember any other GOOD or even half good game they released.

EDIT* If they are doing it to step out from under the company that has been forcing crap-games then good for them.

 

[gigastar]

Atari is one industry relic we can go without. It was thier evil that was responsible for Activision, so ill not shed a tear for thier demise.

 

[vxicepickxv]

Much like one of my friends and ex wives, I can't remember how many times Atari has filed for bankruptcy.

 

[GenGenners]

I don't think I've seen Atari release a single game for half a decade. What have they even done?

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

And not a single person was surprised that Atari was out of money again.

OT: I thought they had gone out of business a while ago. Guess not.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

While it would be kind of sad to see one of the oldest names in gaming go the way of the dinosaur, it is much more sad that I had completely forgotten that Atari still existed.

Guess that is perhaps indicative of how relevant they've been the last few years.

 

[Starke]

I don't think I've seen Atari release a single game for half a decade. What have they even done?

In the last five years? Both Cryptic MMOs were theirs, any D&D releases, including D&D Online and all the NWN stuff, they were the US publisher of The Witcher titles, the Chronicles of Ridick tie in stuff, at least some of the US publication of the King's Bounty relaunch, the US publisher of some of the ARMA games, The Sacred games (if you follow those at all), I think they have the rights to the Tycoon games, but I'm not sure...

(And, no, beyond the Cryptic MMOs (Champions and STO), and the D&D releases, I had to look them up. They've been around, they've just been doing a piss poor job of asserting their continued existence. I've got the sinking suspicion that this has more to do with them simply not doing anything monumentally stupid or dickish on the scale of EA, Activision, and Ubisoft, so that their failure to become the evil overlord of game publishers ultimately harmed them.)

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Again?! Atari has had such a hard time staying afloat ever since the 1983 Video Game Crash...

Still, here's hoping this is the last time.

 

[The White Hunter]

Thats strange I was sure Nintendo and Sega killed Atari off back in the mid nineties...

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Wait Wait Wait... Infogrames owns /Hasbro/?! I knew they owned Atari, but I had no idea the people that brought us the original Alone in the Dark and... not much else[footnote]seriously, what else did that company make before buying Atari?[/footnote] owned something as big as Hasbro.

I looked it up after writing the above. They don't actually own Hasbro proper, they own Hasbro Interactive, a videogame subsidiary Hasbro spun off during the dotcom boom. When the dotcom bust came along, they sold it to Infogrames.

 

[Callate]

It feels like, since Infogrames, Atari has been more of a shallow pool of retro properties and a label used in an attempt to imply history and experience than any sort of real identity of its own. I'd be perfectly happy to see them bounce back- I don't think any of the smaller players going under is good for the field as a whole, at this point- but if they disintegrate, at this point it's going to be like seeing Interplay disintegrate, not so much a surprising tragedy as a "What, they were still alive all this time?"

 

[Shadowsetzer]

The Atari 2600 was the first gaming console I ever owned, at least if you can 'own' something when you're under the age of 10. They might not have done anything for years, but I'll still miss them. Godspeed, Atari.

 

[Hitchmeister]

Again?! Atari has had such a hard time staying afloat ever since the 1983 Video Game Crash...

Still, here's hoping this is the last time.

Thats strange I was sure Nintendo and Sega killed Atari off back in the mid nineties...

It feels like, since Infogrames, Atari has been more of a shallow pool of retro properties and a label used in an attempt to imply history and experience than any sort of real identity of its own. I'd be perfectly happy to see them bounce back- I don't think any of the smaller players going under is good for the field as a whole, at this point- but if they disintegrate, at this point it's going to be like seeing Interplay disintegrate, not so much a surprising tragedy as a "What, they were still alive all this time?"

If I'm not mistaken, Atari is a name and logo that have been attached to quite a few nearly entirely different companies over the years. News of "Atari" declaring bankruptcy again is probably not (quite) the "Atari" you remember from some time back.

 

[Draconys]

Is the Atari that published Neverwinter Nights then?

 

[Risingblade]

I didn't even know they were still around.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Wait Wait Wait... Infogrames owns /Hasbro/?! I knew they owned Atari, but I had no idea the people that brought us the original Alone in the Dark and... not much else owned something as big as Hasbro.

I looked it up after writing the above. They don't actually own Hasbro proper, they own Hasbro Interactive, a videogame subsidiary Hasbro spun off during the dotcom boom. When the dotcom bust came along, they sold it to Infogrames.

Yeah, as soon as I read the article I knew that was wrong. Probably gonna want to fix that, Chalk.

Actually, that brings up a good point: Hasbro should buy out Atari. Whether they want to acknowledge it or not, video games are what kids turn to when they outgrow toys, so it's a logical course of action for a toy company to also own a video game company. (Mattel even made their own console back in the '80s, although it was a pretty big flop.) If nothing else, it'll free them from having to farm out their tie-in games to EA and Activision. Not to mention Atari's business model of trying to cash in on nostalgia for the last original IPs they created back in the '80s is right in line with the way Hasbro's been turning every property they own into either terrible movies or half-hour commercials cartoons on the Hub.