Atari U.S. Agreess to Infogrames Buyout

[Who]

Infogrames, still smarting from the rejection that it suffered at the hands of SCi Entertainment, has some success to celebrate at last. The company announced today that it had agreed to a deal to consolidate its American operations by buying Atari--in which it already had a majority shareholding--outright.

The two companies have been linked for some time; in 2003, Infogrames adopted the Atari name for all of its global commercial operations, having bought a majority shareholding in Atari earlier that same year. Atari restructured its operations in 2007 to focus on publishing and distributing titles in the US, whereas Atari Europe continued with game development and publishing.

The acceptance of the merger was announced yesterday after the US markets closed. The deal will let Infogrames buy all "outstanding equity interests" of its American subsidiary Atari, Inc. at $1.68 a share, giving the deal a total value of approximately $11 million. David Gardner, who became chief executive of Infogrames in January after a stint at Electronic Arts, said, "Bringing Atari US and Infogrames' businesses together will enable us to create a simplified global structure for our business as we seek to rebuild a well-managed, cohesive, and financially disciplined company."

Atari's current management team will stay in place and "remain focused on growing the key North American gaming market." Jim Wilson, president and CEO of Atari, indicated that the deal gave his company a "stronger platform for growth." It also means that Atari will no longer face the threat of being forcibly delisted from the NASDAQ, an issue it faced up to in 2007, and was hit by again in 2008.

As part of the deal, Infogrames is committed to lending Atari $20 million "to cover expected capital requirements," according to the company's statement. Infogrames most recently loaned Atari $5 million as an advance on the royalties from future sales of its Test Drive series, as part of a deal to license the franchise. In 2007, Atari noted in an SEC filing that its total debts raised "substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern."

The deal is still subject to shareholder approval, but it is not expected to be delayed. Atari expects to call a special meeting of shareholders to consider the merger in the third quarter of calendar year 2008.

 

 

From Gamespot

 

 

This news sounds good for Atari as a whole, perhaps now Atari inc. will stop peeing their money away, thanks to full ownership courtesy of Gardener and Harrison

[t.]

I dunno what to make of Atari anymore. Give them all the money in the world and they would find a way to lose it. TDU, Ace Combat & Alone In The Dark aside, the titles they publish are tbh woeful.

 

Meh as long as we get more TDU in some form I will be happy.

[Who]

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 was good IMO, as is Dragonball Z

 

but alot of their stuff is pure shovelware...

[t.]

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 was good IMO, as is Dragonball Z

 

but alot of their stuff is pure shovelware...

 

Yea and the shovelware is a shame because in amongst it (as we have mentioned) are some good games. But due to the amount of trash they publish they have sort of developed this image of publishing any old nonsense.

 

I would like to see them adopt quality over quantity. Phil Harrison has his work cut out for him.

[kalniel]

I dunno what to make of Atari anymore. Give them all the money in the world and they would find a way to lose it. TDU, Ace Combat & Alone In The Dark aside, the titles they publish are tbh woeful.

 

Meh as long as we get more TDU in some form I will be happy.

Well you just mentioned the two titles that Infogrames actually make 100% themselves (TDU and AitD), so if you like them then it suggests as a company they do something you like. The other main area they concentrate on is D&D stuff, and their NWN games on the PC are fantastic.

 

Then you've got all the third party stuff that they publish like The Witcher, which is also fab, and finally they distribute games for Namco/Bandai, like DBZ, Ace Combat and so on.

 

It's true that Atari Inc managed to lose quite a lot of money, but that's not the case for Atari EU/Infogrames, so maybe now that Atari Inc will be fully part of Infogrames like Atari EU already is, things might improve.

[t.]

Ah right I was unaware that TDU and AiTD were Infogrames own work. I am hopeful of the merger. Just hope they manage it properly.

[Who]

out of curiosity, does anyone know if a Roller-coaster tycoon 4 is coming? Frontier (the devs of RCT 3) are making thrillville, which frankly sucks. big time. :(

[Pherelas]

What about the horse game!! Thats good ;'(

 

Anyway yer should be good and why do they make so much rubbish, surly they know the're not going to make money on it? Driver 3 was rubbish, and then Parraell lines really must have lost them a fortune.

[Who]

didnt the rights to driver get sold?

 

i think they went to thq, same as stuntman...

 

Edit: nope, ubisoft

[Pherelas]

Oh right, no games since then?

[Who]

not yet, according to IGN, driver 5 is called driver PS3, and is out Q3 this year...

 

oh yeah, since parallel lines there was driver '76 on PSP, that sucked too :p

 

other than that, theres been no news on the franchise since atari sold the rights, and the studio that develops it to ubisoft (i think that was on '06)

[Eudemon]

Atari should never have sold Reflections, Driver and Driver 2 were so much fun and their last missions were notoriously and ruthlessly difficult!

 

Who can forget the movie maker function, I wish games would bring that back, I mean come on, how much memory did a PS have and it could do it !

[The Queen]

Yes I still have both of those. Driver 2 was really so much fun. Only the graphics are now crappy. I loved the secret cars and the mini one especially as it was on the platform and you had to switch a lever to bring it to the surface. Ahh the good times :D

[Eudemon]

Driver 2 (or was it Driver) was the game where once completed you got to drive the Jag wasn't it? Also remembering Driver 2 and it's multiple locations including Rio was saaawwwwweeeeet.

[Andreas¹]

Too bad Driver 2 was never available for PC :(

[Pherelas]

Driver 2 got so much hype about its phyics but they were rubbish and it was very bug'y. Still a great game. Driver 1 I never got but friend did and still does I think.