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Sunday Comics: Dead Island A German appeals court threw out a judgment Atari had won against RapidShare, the popular file-hosting site where Atari says copies of games from its Alone in the Dark series were being illegally shared.
A little more than a year ago Atari snatched up Sony’s Phil Harrison and went into a hibernation of sorts, cocooning itself away from the media as it and parent company Infogrames worked to reinvent itself.
Atari? Strong brand name. Infogrames? Um, yeah. No wonder Infogrames want to switch its corporate identity to the company Nolan Bushnell founded and made famous.
According to the company’s fiscal results for the financial year ending March 31, Infogrames posted net losses to the tune of €226.1 million.
When City of Heroes developers Cryptic were bought by Atari last year, it was said they’d be working on a single, secret game due in 2011. Now it turns out they’re working on several games.
Last year, in a major coup for the fledgling company, Atari managed to hire former Sony Worldwide Studios boss Phil Harrison to serve as President. Now? Now he’s no longer President.
SingStar director Paulina Bozek jumped ship from Sony to Atari/Infogrames back in September. What has she been up to?
Finally, some news about a troubled, bankrupted former household name getting bought up by someone other than the government. Infogrames has completed its purchase of Atari, for all of $US11 million. The French publisher already owned about 51 percent of Atari. In April, Atari pretty much threw in the towel, was de-listed from the stock exchange, and accepted Infogrames’ offer to buy the rest of its shares at $US1.68 per. Oh, Infogrames also loaned junior $US20 million to make it through to the completion of the buyout.
In a press release issued today, Namco Bandai Games announced a strategic joint venture with Infogrames/Atari. Namco Bandai will invest 34 percent (an estimated €30 million) into Infogrames/Atari’s European and Asian sales network. This will strengthen a distribution relation between the two companies: Atari/Infogrames has distributed Namco Bandai titles in the past — such as the Dragonball games. Between June 31, 2012 to June 20, 2013, Namco Bandai will also have the option to buy Infogrames remaining 66 percent. In the letter of intent, Namco Bandai stated it hoped this venture would improve its overseas distribution.
SingStar boss Paulina Bozek has left Sony’s London Studio to join Phil Harrison at Atari/Infogrames. While at Sony, she’s been the Executive Producer and Game Director of the 15 million selling SingStar juggernaut. In her new role at Atari/Infogrames, she’ll be development director of a new online game studio. Says Harrison:
This is a significant step in expanding Atari’s online game development capability. Paulina is one of the industry’s most respected creative leaders with an outstanding track-record of commercial and creative success and I’m delighted that she will bring her unique vision, consumer insight and proven ability for creating amazing entertainment experiences to Atari.
Hit the jump for the press release.
