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Atari US - Files for Bankruptcy

Atari US has apparently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, although they expect to emerge down the track and continue operations. This is part of a bid to separate themselves from the troubled French parent company. From latimes.com:

Quote:

The U.S. operations of iconic but long-troubled video game maker Atari have filed for bankruptcy in an effort to break free from their debt-laden French parent.
Atari Inc. and three of its affiliates filed petitions for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York late Sunday.
Its leaders hope to break the American business free from French parent Atari S.A. and in the next few months find a buyer to take the company private. They hope to grow a modest business focused on digital and mobile platforms, according to a knowledgeable person not authorized to discuss the matter privately.
Although the 31-year-old brand is still known worldwide for its pioneering role with video games such as "Pong" and "Asteroids," Atari has been mired in financial problems for decades. Since the early 2000s it has been closely tied to French company Infogrames, which changed its name to Atari S.A. in 2003 and in 2008 acquired all the gaming pioneer's American assets.

Thanks also to Alrik.

More information.

So what does this mean if anything going forward? They really haven't released anything I can think of for a long time. I'm slightly saddened as they were one of the few publishers that backed AAA RPGs in the past decade and have published some of my favorites along the way. Witcher 2 was published by them in US but I just got it from GOG directly so no real impact there.

The exception to the releases is Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition which is more of a re-release to me. I'm not even sure its the same Atari that published BG:EE after all of the name changes.

Does this reduce likelihood of BG2:EE? I've not picked up BG:EE as it just wasn't compelling enough as my build works find on my Win7 box with appropriate mods. I may have been willing to pick up BG2:EE if it got good enough reviews.

I just remember them making a hash of the ToEE and MoW releases. They had some good games, but I can't honestly say I'll miss them.

Well they seem to have the D&D license locked up. I wonder how this affects new Neverwinter or D&D Online or any of the games down the line.

What other licenses do they have and can the American company start to gaining the revenues by not having to ship it to France?

Will there be a problem with whom owns the name? Can the American company sell themselves to another owner without the French Atari having a name in it - like Standard Oil?

at one point they owned Cryptic studios (makers of City of Heroes, Champions Online, Star Trek Online) but I think they were re-sold to another company some time ago.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucky Day (Post 1061180604)

Well they seem to have the D&D license locked up. I wonder how this affects new Neverwinter or D&D Online or any of the games down the line.

They lost it last year after a trial (well the trial started, but the conclusion was behind closed door). Future licenses are not going to go at a single publisher. This is why Cryptic can still work on Neverwinter 4e D&D MMO (and DDO can still function at the same time).

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfing (Post 1061180610)

at one point they owned Cryptic studios (makers of City of Heroes, Champions Online, Star Trek Online) but I think they were re-sold to another company some time ago.

The new owner is Perfect World Online.

Quote:

Originally Posted by azarhal (Post 1061180611)

The new owner is Perfect World Online.

No. The actual name is Perfect World Entertainment.
And I still don't know if STO became crap after Atari sold it because of Cryptic or PWE. It's probably both.

They don't have the D&D license anymore and Cryptic (which is making Neverwinter) is now owned by Perfect World Entertainment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by joxer (Post 1061180613)

No. The actual name is Perfect World Entertainment.
And I still don't know if STO became crap after Atari sold it because of Cryptic or PWE. It's probably both.

You are right, I mixed PWE with what they do (only online games minus I guess Torchlight).