The Sad, Slow Fall of Atari

[Evil Avatar]

This week's Game Over column (http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/16/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm) on CNN/Money looks at the ever-worsening fate of Atari. Once a leader in the industry (albeit in the 70s and several owners ago), the company lost over $9 million last quarter, lost its new CEO after just 7 months and has a holiday lineup that hasn't stirred up a lot of excitement.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Atari was king of the video game mountain. Now it's barely the court jester.I guess the really obvious thing to do would be MAKE GOOD GAMES, but that seems to be beyond most publishers.

[Kefkataran]

Well, most publishers don't make the games, so much as... publish them.

Hey, I'm just saying!

[Evil Avatar]

Some foreshadowing might be found in another game set in the "Matrix" universe. "The Matrix Online," published by Sega, has only sold 43,100 copies since its launch in late March, according to The NPD Group.

Woah! Talk about a mega-flop. Remember yesterday when people were asking how many subscribers The Matrix Online has? If it has sold only 43,000 copies, then they have LESS than 43,000 subscribers.

[Varsity]

Atari aren't actually Atari any more, right? Atari is now a new name for Infogrammes.

[Evil Avatar]

Well, most publishers don't make the games, so much as... publish them.

Hey, I'm just saying!

I stand corrected. "PUBLISH GOOD GAMES". Heh.

Still, these publishers supply the money and they green light these projects. If you read the article, some dumbass at Atari gave the green light to "Mark Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure", which combins fighting with grafitti.

Can you say, "Crap." I'll bet you can.

[Mrbunchypants]

*sniff*
Poor atari.

As more makeing games. it turn into a beancounting thing. Damn investors not willing to take a chance. :mad:

[Cha-Ka]

Atari aren't actually Atari any more, right? Atari is now a new name for Infogrammes.

Yes. The official name change took place in 2003 (http://corporate.infogrames.com/history.html)

[Evil Avatar]

As more makeing games. it turn into a beancounting thing. Damn investors not willing to take a chance. :mad:

Perhaps the fact that publishers don't make games is the problem. Remember when Activision made games? That was when you got games like Mechwarrior 2, Interstate '76 and Battlezone.

Now Activision isn't even willing to front the cash for a new Soldier of Fortune title. Talk about beancounting...

[Jukey]

Atari's biggest problem is they keep shipping games before they are done.

[Kefkataran]

I stand corrected. "PUBLISH GOOD GAMES". Heh.

Still, these publishers supply the money and they green light these projects. If you read the article, some dumbass at Atari gave the green light to "Mark Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure", which combins fighting with grafitti.

Can you say, "Crap." I'll bet you can.

Yeah, you're right, publishers greenlighting crap games is definitely still something of a problem. I withhold judgement on the Mark Ecko game until it's out though. It has a possibility of turning out good. Likely? Not really. but the concept is sort of cool.

Although Ecko sort of pisses me off. "I'm such a fucking anarchist. I hate the system. Buy my clothes; give me your money." Ugh.

[The Radical Cleric]

Atari does have internal development, but they've purchased them, like Shiny. They all used to be independant studios until they were brought 'into the fold'. I hope they can survive Atari's demise...

[PIPBoy3000]

Atari is publishing NWN2, something I hope turns out well.

[KDups]

How do you print an article on Atari without mentioning the name change in '03? The whole thing means very little when you consider they're talking about Infogrames and not Atari. Atari went out of business many years ago, I wonder if the reporter even knows this.

[KNOTE]

Atari's tentpole games have been few and far between and of exceedingly poor quality. They let their profitable children's dept wither and die. They had no significant title to release during XMas 04. This is how you DEFINE horrible management. They need to reinvent themselves and quickly. Bruno Bonnell has proven that he is not up to the task.

My prediction is that they will be used by Ubisoft in some sort of "merger" that will help reduce EA's stake in the company.

[Adam Blue]

Didn't we all like UT2k4?

[Evil Avatar]

Didn't we all like UT2k4?

Yes, and that is one of the points that the article made... that Atari recently lost Epic Games to Midway.

[Everlost_MI]

Now Activision isn't even willing to front the cash for a new Soldier of Fortune title. Talk about beancounting...

You know I just loaded up the original SoF the other day. I really dug that game and I'd buy another in the series if they ever made it.

[thFOOL]

Actually, from what I hear, Atari keeps on screwing the devs. I know at least two dev companies that STILL haven't gotten paid on some of their major milestones, and that's for games that came out late last year.

[Snowmit]

The Atari names has become synonymnous with "promising games scrippled by terrible quality control" for me.

[automaton]

This article is pointless. The name Atari has no meaning anymore. The existing company has no relation whatsoever to the company that created the 2600 console and was a major player in the 70's and early 80's. Someone at Infogrames probably bought the Atari name in a fucking bake sale at a church one Sunday. Atari is not a product or reputation anymore. It carries no weight. It is just a name.

[F3nyx]

I see that Varsity, SharpMonkey, KDups, and automaton have already brought wisdom to this thread. I salute you all for beating me to pointing out the fairly obvious fact that this article shows astonishing ignorance.

[Royal Fool]

Holy crap. That article actually doesn't mention that Atari is just Infogrames' publishing label now... amazing journalistic skills.

I read through the article and tried giving some reasoning to how the author says "In the late 1970s and early 1980s", but I found none. The guy really comes off as if he believes it's still the same company from the early days of videogames.

Sure, the company has never actually gone bankrupt and so you could say that it's technically lived on through constant acquisitions and mergers, but it is in absolutely no way the company that made the Jaguar, Lynx and all those other successful/failed pieces of hardware. It's actually quite shameful that Infogrames (Yes, it still exists as a parent company of Atari) display's Atari's history since 1972... [ http://corp.infogrames.com/history.html ].

Infogrames bought Hasbro (And various other assets, including the Atari brand) back in 2000 for $100.000.000. Quite a huge sum of money, and a total waste considering the current state of the company today.

[Morrolan]

They fucking deserve it. Infotari is one of the most through-and-through evil companies in the business. Vivendi WISHES it could be this seedy. As much as I feel for the good people who will lose their jobs when Atari falls, I really relish the thought of the bastards who ruined the good Atari name to reap what they shat.

[if76]

Agreed. Atari died long ago. A little bit after the Jaguar. So yeah Atari's been dead for close to ten years.

[Derwin]

Atari underwent so much trouble during its life. It reached its peak in the late 70s after the 2600, and after that it's been nothing but a slow decline for Atari. But somehow I think...no matter how many times Atari is sold, resold, subdivided, restaffed, the name Atari is eternal as long as video games are around.

[mister_slim]

This article is pointless. The name Atari has no meaning anymore. The existing company has no relation whatsoever to the company that created the 2600 console and was a major player in the 70's and early 80's. Someone at Infogrames probably bought the Atari name in a fucking bake sale at a church one Sunday. Atari is not a product or reputation anymore. It carries no weight. It is just a name.
I wish there was some similar explanation for EA. How did the company famous for making its developers into stars become famous for hiding them away and working them to death?

Damnit.

[Banacek]

um, I know it's not the same company, but was Atari really putting out quality games with the 2600?

/sorry, I was a ColecoVision kid....

[Edwin]

I stand corrected. "PUBLISH GOOD GAMES". Heh.

Still, these publishers supply the money and they green light these projects. If you read the article, some dumbass at Atari gave the green light to "Mark Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure", which combins fighting with grafitti.

Can you say, "Crap." I'll bet you can.

But but but, Jet Grind Radio....

So it doesn't have fighting but its close!

[Rommel]

Oh no Evil! They will not make a sequel to the best game EVAR?!

[EGO]

If that Echo game turns out half as good as his talk and Jet Grind, but without the fruity music, I'll get it!

Yeah, Atari DIED a long time ago. Really they died when they released the still-born Jaguar. That thing blew and there was no coming back from that.

EA? Yeah, what happend there? They INVENTED the video game rockstar with those 80's ads and now they've ushered in the mass-produced factory mentality we have now. Maybe that was just Trip Hawkin's idea and it died when he left to form 3DOn't. But if that was the case, why didn't he push the "artist" at his company?

Oh well... the videogame business is crap now and all we can do is wait for it to all crumle away. :D :D :D