News
Atari boss reveals turnaround plans
Neil Long Jan 17 2008, 12:29pm
Comments (7)
Patrick Leleu to pay off debts, restructure and ramp up number of quality titles
Speaking to French newspaper Les Echos, Leleu set out his battleplan to bring Infogrames and Atari back to former glories.
“Our current strategy consists of starting to spend on capital projects again, adopting a consistent publishing policy that takes into account new market trends, and restructuring the company, including by turning around our Atari Inc. subsidiary in the United States,” said Leleu. “In practical terms, this means that after repaying debts of 40 million euros, we will have more than 100 million euros for capital projects in 2008, to finance our restructuring and meet our working capital needs.”
“In June 2007, I said that it would take more than a year to get operations back on an even keel. Infogrames’ recovery will primarily be achieved by increasing sales and improving the quality of our products, meaning higher profit margins.”
He also revealed that key title Alone in the Dark will be released in May, while adding that the company’s product strategy will now be
“In publishing, we have the opportunity to do three things.
The first is to spend on the Group’s major traditional properties, such as Alone in the Dark, Test Drive, or Dungeons and Dragons. Still, Alone in the Dark will be a major release. But the company’s survival does not hinge on the success of that game, although we do hope it sells millions of copies.”
“The second thing is our intention to increase our investment in games aimed at the mass market made up of consumers who were introduced to gaming on the DS and Wii. And the third thing is to be present on the Internet. An Atari.com portal is soon going to be accessible, offering a series of specially developed games for playing online or downloading. We are going to enter into partnerships with specialized sites in order to expand our global reach. In keeping with the brand’s image and the market’s dynamics, Infogrames’ goal for the next three to five years is to become a well-known publisher of family games, not just a company famous among an elite gamer population.”
Read the full interview here.
Comments
“BOGOF”
Posted: Jan 17, 12:46pm
Surely Atari have missed the boat on the casual games? We're surely heading for saturation with these titles. How about focusing on some decent NEW IP instead of churning out sequels and mass market trash?
“I agree with bogof”
Posted by: Paul "SENTINANT" Cutts - Jan 17, 4:03pm
They never stopped to ask if anyone wanted a UT3 with the same old game with more graphics. nobody wants laserguns or ww2 games. we want present day or semi futuristic games with better gameplay not a billion more polygons.
The next unreal needs playable and assosiated with actual real wars or the name will die.
“Bring back pac-man”
Posted by: Ryan Doucette - Jan 17, 6:53pm
The opportunity to bring back the famous game pac-man has came about again. It was available for some time to play on everyone's Facebook account, but then it was taken off. This brought frustration to lots of people, but I imagined it was planned for Atari Inc. to make one up for the Wii or future gaming. One of the most addictive games in our time, not much people have access to that anymore. Bring It Back.. profits will grow.
“Re: Bring back pac-man”
Posted by: Ryan Doucette - Jan 17, 7:01pm
"i***ood opportunity' arose they would have to look seriously at it." -Patrick Leleu Chairman
Well Mr.Chairman, here's your opportunity. It's worth taken a look at.
“Re: Bring back pac-man”
Posted by: Ryan Doucette - Jan 17, 7:42pm
"i***ood opportunity' arose they would have to look seriously at it." -Patrick Leleu Chairman
Well Mr.Chairman, here's your opportunity. It's worth taken a look at.
“hope someone is reading..”
Posted by: Andrew Clark - Jan 23, 1:20am
Look, I hope someone at ATARI is reading this. I thought to myself at 0.97 a share what are rights alone for Tshirts worth. They are sitting on a huge nest egg of opportunity with rights to so much intellectual brand property that is nostalgic for my generation. They must be idiots to not know what to do or let this happen. Follow nintendo's lead or copy them. Do something. I was a huge D&D fan, make some virtual dice, bring the odds of the social experience of that back online, I guess WorldWarcraft beat you to it. ATARI can do better with what they're sitting on.
“Re: hope someone is reading..”
Posted by: Ryan Doucette - Jan 29, 8:16am
you got that right andrew! I am starting to doubt that Atari is going anywhere in the future. Alone in the Dark won't be fantastic to what they think. They need to keep in the trend which they started. Look at guitar hero for instance, thats right along their line of market.