Type Public (Euronext: ATA) Operating income Founded June 1983, Paris, France | Industry Software & programming Net income €1.2 million (2014-15) Headquarters Île-de-France, 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 Stock price ATA (EPA) € 0.21 +0.01 (+5.00%)27 Feb, 5:35 PM GMT+1 - Disclaimer CEO Frederic Chesnais (1 Feb 2013–) Revenue 7.6 million EUR (2014–2015) Subsidiaries Atari, Atari Interactive, Atari, Inc., Humongous Entertainment, Cryptic Studios Founders Bruno Bonnell, Christophe Sapet Video games Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal", Pajama Sam: No Need To, Star Raiders, Pajama Sam 2: Thunder, Phoenix Profiles | ||
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.. 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. All three subsidiaries have since exited bankruptcy, and are all going through a vigorous turnaround campaign.
Contents
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."
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.
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.
On April 19, 2010, Atari, SA announced Nolan Bushnell along with Tim Virden would join the company's Board of Directors.
As of March 31, 2011, the Board of Directors consisted of Frank Dangeard, Jim Wilson, Tom Virden, Gene Davis, Alexandra Fichelson.
Jim Wilson (COO)
As of August 2014, the Board of Directors consisted of Frédéric Chesnais (chairman), Frank Dangeard, Tom Virden, Erik Euvrard, and Alyssa Padia Walles.
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. However, BlueBay shareholders later interrupted the sale process of its holding in Atari. BlueBay later converted the conversion of a portion of the ORANEs held by them.
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).
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.
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. Frédéric Chesnais, who now heads all three companies, stated their entire operations consist of a staff of 10 people.
In December 2016, 3 years after the bankruptcy sale, Atari sold the Test Drive franchise to BigBen Interactive.
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:
Business strategy
Atari's overall strategy has four main focuses:
Subsidiaries
Former subsidiaries
These were studios that were either formally apart of Infogrames Entertainment, SA, GT Interactive, Hasbro Interactive or associated with the Atari name.