This wasn't the Atari we knew and loved years ago.
This is Infogrames, which bought the effectively defunct Atari name and brand and wrapped themselves up in the dead skin, all Silence-of-the-Lambs style.
They had some bad PR issues about ten years ago or so, and needed to "re-brand" themselves with something gamers actually liked, since Infogrames was building up a despised reputation.
This makes me sad because of all the brands and distribution rights they still had from the GT Interactive inheritance (Blood anyone?), all went unused. I think i've only seen shovelware titles from the atati brand lately, kinda like repeating 1983 again
It's weird. I thought had Atari shut down in about 2005? I don't think I've heard hide nor hair of them for years until these bankruptcy stories started circulating.
Yeah, but I thought that iteration had shut down too. There was definitely a big to-do about them a few years back with shutting down a bunch of studios. I could have sworn that the word that went out at the time was that the entire publisher had closed its doors and I hadn't really seen any evidence to counter that since, although admittedly I wasn't really looking for it.
Yeah Infogrames went bankrupt a while ago, and one or several of the subsidiaries split off, I think. A quick look at Wikipedia tells me that there currently are Atari SA, which has a subsidiaries called Atari Inc and Atari Interactive, Inc.
Basically it's a giant clusterfuck of "look we have the copyrights!" and people trying to use the dead brand in a way that reminds me of Luke sleeping in the Tauntaun. (i.e. I think it's a rather disgusting business practice)
edit: heh, just read the complete thread and it seems GarageBay9 feels the same as I do...
Infogrames bought GT Interactive (oddworld, Unreal, Duke Nuke'em, Quake, Driver, Blood, Doom2, Total Annihilation...) and a bunch of studios and proceeded to run them into the ground then it bought Atari, killed it and assumed its identity.
They also made about every boneheaded move you can make in the business over the last 10 years.
Some of the highlights are:
They sold the rights to Transformers at fire sale prices, just before the reboot. Had they waited they could have made a killing selling the rights or making games. They made one game, which was a crown jewel in their lineup but I think it still lost money and was regarded as unfinished shovel ware.
They had a bunch of Hasbro licenses and they let them lapse without making games, money well spent... esepcially when they owned studios that could make the games but where being committed to games destined to fail.
They made "Enter the Matrix" not successful, but some of the most expensive games ever created, congrats!
They turned Driver into Driv3r the poorly done GTA clone.
They cut ties with Epic to publish their games, just before Gears of War went big.
They horribly managed the relationship with BioWare and ran Never Winter Nights into the ground. BioWare chewed its own leg off to get away.
I won't even get into all of the money they burned through while trying to develop an entire sub-class of shovel-ware. It's just so sad seeing them continually faceplant for the last decade and dragging the Atari name down with it. So tragic...
With any luck, the sick little puppet game ends this time...
Replies
This is Infogrames, which bought the effectively defunct Atari name and brand and wrapped themselves up in the dead skin, all Silence-of-the-Lambs style.
They had some bad PR issues about ten years ago or so, and needed to "re-brand" themselves with something gamers actually liked, since Infogrames was building up a despised reputation.
1972–1984
Basically it's a giant clusterfuck of "look we have the copyrights!" and people trying to use the dead brand in a way that reminds me of Luke sleeping in the Tauntaun. (i.e. I think it's a rather disgusting business practice)
edit: heh, just read the complete thread and it seems GarageBay9 feels the same as I do...
Infogrames bought GT Interactive (oddworld, Unreal, Duke Nuke'em, Quake, Driver, Blood, Doom2, Total Annihilation...) and a bunch of studios and proceeded to run them into the ground then it bought Atari, killed it and assumed its identity.
They also made about every boneheaded move you can make in the business over the last 10 years.
Some of the highlights are:
- They sold the rights to Transformers at fire sale prices, just before the reboot. Had they waited they could have made a killing selling the rights or making games. They made one game, which was a crown jewel in their lineup but I think it still lost money and was regarded as unfinished shovel ware.
- They had a bunch of Hasbro licenses and they let them lapse without making games, money well spent... esepcially when they owned studios that could make the games but where being committed to games destined to fail.
- They made "Enter the Matrix" not successful, but some of the most expensive games ever created, congrats!
- They turned Driver into Driv3r the poorly done GTA clone.
- They cut ties with Epic to publish their games, just before Gears of War went big.
- They horribly managed the relationship with BioWare and ran Never Winter Nights into the ground. BioWare chewed its own leg off to get away.
I won't even get into all of the money they burned through while trying to develop an entire sub-class of shovel-ware. It's just so sad seeing them continually faceplant for the last decade and dragging the Atari name down with it. So tragic...With any luck, the sick little puppet game ends this time...