Atari, SA

Atari, SA

Logo of Atari, SA since 2012
Type	Public (Euronext: ATA)
Industry	Software & programming
Founded	June 1983 (as Infogrames Entertainment, SA)
Headquarters	Paris, France
Key people	Frédéric Chesnais (Chairman and CEO) Laurence Betito (CFO) Denis Bunma (Legal counsel)
Products	Centipede: Infestation Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale Neverwinter Nights Yars' Revenge Test Drive Unlimited 2
Revenue	€7.6 million (2014-15)
Operating income	€1.5 million (2014-15)
Net income	€1.2 million (2014-15)
Total assets	€8.8 million (2014-15)
Total equity	€-13.3 million (2014-15)[1]
Subsidiaries	Atari, Inc., Atari Interactive
Website	www.atari.com

Atari, SA (ASA) is an international French holding company headquartered in Paris, France. It was originally called Infogrames Entertainment, SA (IESA). Its subsidiaries include Atari London Studio, Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc..^[2] Because of continuing pressures upon the company, and difficulty finding investors, it sought bankruptcy protection under French law in January 2013; its subsidiaries in the United States have sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection there as well.^[3] All three subsidiaries have since exited bankruptcy, and are all going through a vigorous turnaround campaign.

Transition from Infogrames Entertainment

During their fiscal year meeting (May 2009), IESA announced that it would be changing its corporate name to an Atari-branded name, in line with the use of the name for its subsidiaries. In reference to this, Atari, Inc.'s CEO Jim Wilson said: "We've gotten rid of the Infogrames and Atari duality, the confusion around that. We are one simplified company, under one management team, under one brand."^[4]

Infogrames' May 29 earnings report stated:

The Board agreed to change Infogrames Entertainment’s name to Atari. This decision will enable us to make the best use of the Atari brand, capitalizing on worldwide strong name recognition and affinity, which are keys drivers to implement the Company’s online, product and licensing strategies.^[5]

A later July 24 earnings press release further clarified a name change from the May 29 report, with a change from Infogrames Entertainment, SA to Atari, SA It additionally stated the continued use of Atari Group for its Atari-branded and related subsidiaries.^[6]

On April 19, 2010, Atari, SA announced Nolan Bushnell along with Tim Virden would join the company's Board of Directors.^[7]

As of March 31, 2011, the Board of Directors consisted of Frank Dangeard, Jim Wilson, Tom Virden, Gene Davis, Alexandra Fichelson.^[8]
Jim Wilson (COO)^[8]

As of August 2014, the Board of Directors consisted of Frédéric Chesnais (chairman), Frank Dangeard, Tom Virden, Erik Euvrard, and Alyssa Padia Walles.^[9]

BlueBay restructuring

On October 21, 2010, Atari announced Atari's reference shareholders BlueBay Value Recovery (Master) Fund Limited and BlueBay Multi-Strategy (Master) Fund Limited are exploring a disposal of the shares and equity-linked instruments held by them.^[10] However, BlueBay shareholders later interrupted the sale process of its holding in Atari.^[11] BlueBay later converted the conversion of a portion of the ORANEs held by them.^[12]

In 2012, Atari, SA, BlueBay Value Recovery (Master) Fund Limited, and The BlueBay Multi-Strategy (Master) Fund Limited reached an agreement following their negotiations regarding the restructuring of the debt and capital structure of the Atari group. As part of the agreement, the €20.9 million Credit Facility Agreement was extinguished via €10.9 million loan forgiveness from BlueBay Value Recovery (Master) Fund Limited and Atari's payment of €10 million; the cancellation of the dilutive effect of the ORANEs held by BlueBay; €20 million capital increases to be submitted to the vote of Atari shareholders (of which €10 million with preferential subscription right).^[13]

Bankruptcy

On January 21, 2013, Atari, Inc., Atari Interactive, Inc., Humongous, Inc. and California US Holdings, Inc. (collectively, the "Companies") filed petitions for relief under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.^[14]

In July 2013, Atari began to sell its game assets, developers and the famous tripod logo and the Atari name in auction. The Battlezone and Moonbase Commander games were bought by Rebellion Developments. The Backyard Sports franchise was sold to Epic Gear LLC and later to Day 6 Sports Group LLC. Tommo, Inc. bought Humongous Inc. and over 300 different games (Including games from the company Accolade and Math Grand Prix.) Total Annihilation was sold to Wargaming and lastly, Star Control was bought by Stardock. Atari also had plans to sell off the Test Drive and Roller Coaster Tycoon franchises. Eden Games also closed down during the Bankruptcy, but reopened up a year later as an independent developer.

in 2014, All 3 Ataris emerged from bankruptcy and entered the social casino gaming industry with Atari Casino.^[15] Frédéric Chesnais, who now heads all three companies, stated their entire operations consist of a staff of 10 people.^[16]

Turnaround strategy

In 2015, Atari announced a turnaround strategy that would focus on re-releasing the catalog of Atari games. The strategy is focused on " download games, MMO games, mobile games and licensing activities, based in priority around traditional franchises."

Projects currently in production or included in the turnaround strategy include:

• Alone in the Dark: Illumination for PC (solo or multiplayer action and adventure game), in which players face off against Eldricht’s hordes using supernatural illumination powers to defend themselves, survive and complete the adventure.
• RollerCoaster Tycoon World for PC (offline or online, solo or multiplayer game), enabling players to create original theme parks with incredible attractions. This is the follow-up to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 for PC.
• Pridefest, an LGBT-friendly mobile social simulation game, enabling players to manage their cities and design their own parades, while creating a network of friends.
• Lunar Lander for mobile, the famous lunar landing simulation game that helped build ATARI’s success in the past in the arcade game sector and will now delight nostalgic fans of the franchise on smartphones and tablets.^[1]

Business strategy

Atari's overall strategy has four main focuses:

• Continuing to move forward with the business recovery and turnaround plan;
• Capitalizing on the Atari brand and the intellectual property portfolio thanks to strategic partnership and licensing activities;
• Limiting the risks involved by focusing on partnerships: Atari will be looking into commercial partnerships on a case-by-case basis with a view to maximizing the benefits of its vast intellectual property portfolio, its brand and all its assets;
• Limiting operating expenditure and striving to improve profitability: Atari will continue to ensure strict control over investments and costs.^[1]

Subsidiaries

• Atari Group, name acquired from Hasbro Interactive in January 2001.
  • Atari Benelux
  • Atari Brazil Ltd.
  • Atari Corp. (UK) Ltd.
  • Atari Deutschland
  • Atari France
  • Atari Hellas EURL
  • Atari Iberica Distribucion
  • Atari ITALIA
  • Atari, Inc. in New York, New York, U.S founded as GT Interactive in 1993, acquired in December 1999, renamed as Infogrames, Inc. in 2000 and Atari, Inc. in 2003.
  • Atari Japan
  • Atari Korea Ltd.
  • Atari Interactive in New York, New York, U.S founded as Hasbro Interactive in 1995, acquired in January 2001 and renamed Infogrames Interactive. Renamed again to Atari Interactive in 2003, merging the former Atari Interactive with it.
  • Atari Nordic
  • Atari UK Ltd.

Former subsidiaries

These were studios that were either formally apart of Infogrames Entertainment, SA, GT Interactive, Hasbro Interactive or associated with the Atari name.

• Atari UK in Manchester, United Kingdom — Founded as Ocean Software in 1984, acquired in 1996, Renamed as Infogrames UK in 1998, Renamed again as Atari UK in 2004, closed in 2005.
• Philips Media BV in Eindhoven, Netherlands — Founded in the early 90's, acquired and absorbed by Infogrames in 1996.
• Atari Australia in Sydney, Australia — Founded as OziSoft in 1982, 62% of the company acquired from Sega in 1998 and renamed as Infogrames Australia, remaining 28% bought in 2002, renamed as Atari Australia in 2003, sold to Namco Bandai Games in 2009.
• Infogrames Sheffield House in Sheffield, United Kingdom — Founded as Gremlin Interactive in 1984, acquired in 1998 and rebranded as Infogrames Sheffield House. Closed in 2003.
• Accolade in San Jose, California — Founded in 1984, acquired in 1999 and merged with the rest of Infogrames' Los Angeles operations. All of Accolade's assets are now owned by Tommo Inc..
• Atari Melbourne House in Melbourne, Australia — Founded as Beam Software in 1977, acquired in 1999 and rebranded as Infogrames Melbourne House, renamed to Atari Melbourne House in 2003. Sold to Krome Studios in 2006.
• Humongous Entertainment in City of Industry, California — Founded in 1992, acquired in 2000 as apart of the GT Interactive acquisition and later sold to Tommo Inc. in 2013 during the Atari bankruptcy sale. The sale included most of Humongous Entertainment titles, although Backyard Sports, and Moonbase Commander were sold to The Evergreen Group & Rebellion Developments, respectively.
• Legend Entertainment in Virginia, United States — Founded in 1989, acquired in 2000 as apart of the GT Interactive acquisition. Closed in 2004.
• Reflections Interactive in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom — Founded in 1984, acquired in 2000 as apart of the GT Interactive acquisition. Sold to Ubisoft in 2006 which also included the Driver series.
• Paradigm Entertainment in Carrollton, TX, United States — Founded in 1997, acquired in 2000, Sold to THQ in 2006 who also bought the Stuntman series. Closed by THQ in 2008.
• Atari Interactive, Founded in 1998 as a holding division of Hasbro Interactive for the Atari properties. Acquired with Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and remained the owner of the Atari name. Merged with Infogrames Interactive to form the current Atari Interactive in 2003.
• MicroProse Chipping Sodbury in the United Kingdom - Acquired with Hasbro Interactive in 2001, closed in 2002.
• Atari Hunt Valley - Founded as MicroProse in 1982, acquired in 2000 aspart of the Hasbro interactive acquisition. Renamed as Atari Hunt Valley in 2003 and closed the same year.
• Eden Games in Lyon, France — Founded in 1997, acquired in 2002, closed in 2013. Reopened independently from Atari in 2014.
• Shiny Entertainment in Laguna Beach, California — Founded in 1993, acquired in 2002, sold to Foundation 9 Entertainment in 2006.
• Cryptic Studios in Los Gatos, California — Founded in 2000, acquired in 2008, sold to Perfect World in 2011.

References