Atari - Cleared to Exit Bankruptcy

It seems Atari has been cleared to exit bankruptcy, and someone has cast raise dead over it's undead corspe once again.

It's been less than a year since Atari filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and today the Wall Street Journal reports the company has secured approval from both its creditors and the court for a plan to pay back part of its debt and exit bankruptcy.

If successful, the U.S.-based Atari Inc. (formerly GT Interactive) appears poised to act on its previously-stated intent to separate from French parent company Atari S.A. -- formerly known as Infogrames -- and establish itself as a purveyor of fine digital-only games.

Atari's comeback plan, approved by Judge James Peck in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Manhattan, requires the company to pay back a $3.8 million bankruptcy loan from Alden Global Capital. Atari also promises to pay its unsecured creditors "up to $560,000" when it exits bankruptcy, plus a matching amount the year after and then an extra $630,000 the year after that, for a total of roughly $1.75 million. That doesn't sound like a bad deal, especially in light of the fact that Atari's unsecured creditors are reportedly owed $10.3 million.

Atari is expected to pay the debts from a $3.4 million cash reserve, along with an extra $1.75 million the company will receive when it formally exits bankruptcy. Atari successfully sold off a number of its properties at auction this summer -- including Total Annihilation, Star Control and Master of Orion -- so it seems likely that the company is relying on that income to pay back its debts.

The loss of those much-loved franchises is likely to hamper Atari's efforts to become a major player in the digital games space, though it still has properties like Test Drive, RollerCoaster Tycoon and Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise to fall back on.

Thanks go to avantenor for this news-bit.

More information.

Do Atari still have the rights to D&D or were they sold off?

U.S.-based Atari Inc. (formerly GT Interactive)
Atari S.A. -- formerly known as Infogrames --

Interesting. I never knew that.

Which means that Atari U.S. currently holds the rights to Discworld Noir, I guess ?
That game is incredibly difficult to find nowadays. And I mean in boxed form.

Originally Posted by Pongo
Do Atari still have the rights to D&D or were they sold off?

I'm super confused about this one. They went in court with Hasbro over it and from what I remember Hasbro retook the rights…but Atari is still publishing D&D based games, so I have no idea what the deal was exactly.

They have the namerights for computer game products of the name Baldur's Gate, that's why Beamdog had to ask them. But they have no licence to do a new game. I don't think they have a licence to sell their old D&D games without approval, either.

WOW! I can't wait for the next installment of "Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise"…

Originally Posted by azarhal
I'm super confused about this one. They went in court with Hasbro over it

It even gets worse : Who is "they" ?

Atari U.S. or Atari E.U. ?

Atari, Inc. But makes no no difference, the honchos are the same. Atari SA is just an empty hull and only exists to manage the debts of old Infogrames.

If you want the story about Infogrames / GT Interactive / Atari SA / Atari, Inc. you can read it in my (german) article for Golem.de from July: http://www.golem.de/news/insolvenz-a…07-100329.html

Thank you.

yeah thanks for the clarifications.

My slight, flickering hope that it might lead to a new, proper D&D game is quashed. If its not being held back by Atari, I guess it's just not happening because Hasbro (?) don't think its worth the investment. Oh well…

I think no one, who has the funds for a big crpg, is really interested in acquiring that licence. As a high-profiled developer, D&D restricts you on several levels, because regarding story and role-play mechanics everything needs to be approved by Wizards of the Coast. As a publisher, it cuts into your revenues. And all big players already have their own IPs.

It's not that there haven't been any attempts to use D&D for software projects. Lately there was Arena of War and a port of the table-top Lords of Waterdeep for iOS.