Posted by Migo on Nov 14th, 2007
Atari is leaving the game development business to focus entirely on publishing and distribution. The announcement came down today, the same time that they announced that CEO David Pierce has resigned.
Just last month Infogrames, parent company of Atari Inc., dissolved Atari’s board of directors which resulted in five of the eight members being fired. The new board was put in charge of naming a Chief Restructuring Officer, they named Curtis G. Solsvig III. Solsvig will take over the duties of CEO while the company tries to find a successor.
Atari will be licensing its Test Drive franchise to majority shareholder, and parent company, Infogrames. Infogrames is giving Atari $5million for the rights to produce games under the franchise for six years. Atari had earlier sold its Driver franchise to Ubisoft and its Stuntman franchise to THQ.
Job cuts will follow as Atari leaves the game development arena to focus on acquisition, publication, and distribution of games from its parent company and other partners as well as attempting to correct its financial situation.
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Garth
November 14, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Alas! While not wholly unexpected, this is terrible, terrible news. Here’s a question for geekland: with Atari officially kaput (at least gaming-wise), what should I do with my old 2600? Use it as a doorstop? Any cool ideas for modern workarounds? Ways to MacGyver it into something (anything) usable?
This seems a bit like cryogenically freezing my dog…
[Reply]
November 14th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
As far as the 2600 goes, I’d check out AtariAge.com to see what’s being done in the homebrew market these days… and it’s actually quite impressive. You can even buy new cartridges (both reproductions of prototypes and from-the-keel-up new games) with professionally-made labels and manuals.
Weep not for Atari, however. The real Atari, the one that started this whole thing and the one we remember from our childhood, died in 1996 (or thereabouts) when the Jaguar crashed and burned. This was a new company - or more specifically, a brand name under the Infogrames umbrella - that was just trading on the Atari name to give them marketplace credibility.
[Reply]
Shawn M.
November 14, 2007 at 6:43 pm
Hmph. I guess I can stop hoping for that sequel to Bullet Witch now.
[Reply]