Infogrames-Controlled Atari Gets 49 Percent Of Publishing Revenues From DBZ
For fiscal 2008, Atari reported net revenues of $US 80.1 million, as compared with $US 122.3 million for the year previous, the company's annual report revealed. This represents a steady year-over-year decline for the publisher since fiscal 2005, when its revenues were $US 343.8 million.
"We rely on borrowings to meet our operating needs", said Atari, now that it has no more substantially-valued IP to sell. Atari's majority shareholder, Infogrames SA, will preserve Atari through an acquisition and a $US 20 million loan, while BlueBay High Yield Investments has also loaned Atari $US 14 million.
Atari also relies heavily on publishing revenues from a single franchise - Dragon Ball Z, which it says generated 49.1 percent of its net publishing revenues in fiscal 2008. Godzilla accounts for 9.2 percent.
Atari now primarily acts as a North American publisher-distributor for Infogrames-licenced titles. In kind, Atari has licenced its Test Driver and Test Driver Unlimited properties for seven years to Infogrames, and the language in the annual report suggests a tense relationship:
"During fiscal 2008, we completely terminated our product development activities and we granted IESA a seven year licence to exploit our last remaining valuable game franchise", the company said. "Further, we increasingly focused our efforts on distributing products published by IESA. These steps substantially reduced our revenues".
Atari also warns, when quantifying its risk factors, that Infogrames' control over the company might be "disadvantageous" to its shareholders, although Atari also said it expects Infogrames to approve the pending merger.
"IESA [Infogrames Entertainment SA] controls us and could prevent a transaction favourable to our other stockholders", Atari said. "IESA beneficially owns approximately 51% of our common stock, which gives it sufficient voting power to prevent any transaction that it finds unfavourable, including an acquisition, consolidation or sale of shares or assets that might be desirable to our other stockholders".
"Additionally, IESA could unilaterally approve certain transactions as a result of its majority position. IESA also has sufficient voting power to elect all of the members of our Board of Directors".
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Calling all Operators: Atari Phone to the rescue !
Voltron
That's it, I gotta watch the Majin Vegeta episodes now (damn photo)!
I haven't played any DBZ-game other than Burst Limit, but I really enjoyed it, I loved what they did with some of the storytelling and how some of the scenes were almost identical to the anime. Really brought back good memories and got me watching some of my favorite episodes again.
Hazno
@ViciousViper: budokai 3 was good but those games and burst limit are just too damn tame and slow for a dbz game.
the tenkaichi games were great DBZ simulators and the gameplay is actually really fun once you can chain shit together and do all the fancy quick teleporty stuff.
DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin
The the Tenchaichi games sucked. The best dbz game was budokai 3.
ViciousViper
Fact: the DBZ games really do suck.
GeorgeSears
@Terrorsaur.: i actually lol!
FullyShadow
I opened this only to say "in before over 9000" but I should have known that would not be the case.
The saddest part is that the vast majority of those DBZ games were complete garbage. I hope someday to exploit a beloved intellectual property for fun and profit.
Catalyst
this is sad.
mownkay
@Terrorsaur.:
That joke has been used over 9000 times!
JamieA
@Terrorsaur.:
No, no you didn't. This isn't 4chan.
CorrinZGW
uhm.. wouldn't that be Test Drive and Test Drive Unlimited, not Test Driver, or perhaps Driver(the police chase game that's become a GTA clone) and Test Drive Unlimited (the game about driving luxury cars in a tropical island)
HikariOblivion
Infogrames-Controlled Atari Gets 49 Percent Of Publishing Revenues From DBZ... and they will milk it until the cows come home!
MantisDragon
@alecpyron: I thought the original Atari went out of business back in the eighties and this new company had nothing to do with the original one?
Anyways, I always wondered how they could be so far in the whole when the DBZ games still seem to sell so well.
Humpski
Thats over 9000 in loans!
I had to.
Terrorsaur.
Atari was one of the pioneers of the videogame industry. Quite sad like Sonic.
alecpyron
@MOP88: Oh no...oh no...
::goes to watch, like a rabid fanboy::
On topic: And why does the actions of IESA suprise anyone? They own Atari, of course they are going to use them to their advantage. Big shock. Sounds like whining to me.
Marikir
That's because DBZ is that good.
RomieYO
These guys deserve better - Atari is like an old veteran trying to get benefits, really sad
TheLegendof_Erick
Off-toic warning: ZP sodomises gaming-webcomics, specifically CAD for it's misscarriage plot. The whole internet will go down.
MOP88
I thought Alone in the Dark was Atari's last attempt before disappearing. Well it bombed so why are they still around?
dowingba
It's kind of sad. Atari holds the D&D license.
Tale