Atari Enters Rehab, Struggles With Self-Esteem And Oxycontin Abuse
Look, Atari, we know you didn't "walk into a door." Fool us once...
Infogrames, no stranger to recovering from hideous mistakes, has announced that it will be sending Atari to rehab. Now that we've all learned how to pronounce the name of Europe's largest video game group (thanks to aforementioned hideous mistake, natch), we can enjoy the intervention Infogrames is staging for its 51%-owned U.S. affiliate, Atari Inc. We've all been invited to sit down with Atari and tell it how much we love it, but that we think its behavior lately is symptomatic of a publisher with problems of real substance: we question whether or not all those empty bottles of Jim Beam are related to Atari's delayed 2007 fiscal reports, as well as discussing the ominous-sounding "noncash goodwill impairment charge of $54.1 million."
Infogrames has a plan in place to rehabilitate the sagging game legend that it will announce soon, says recently-installed CEO Patrick Leleu:
"As I said in June, we are negotiating with the management and the board of Atari Inc to restore (financial) equilibriums... We are looking after the interests of Infogrames and its shareholders. We are trying to negotiate action plans; talks are continuing ... I should be able to announce some things rapidly."
Leleu, who took over from Infogrames founder Bruno Bonnell in April, did not say whether or not his plans included a potential sale of Atari. But at the very least, we're expecting Atari to put on a pair of Nicole Richie-style sunglasses so big they eclipse the sky itself - and then saunter carelessly into a celebrity detox center where it will commiserate with fellow junkies Ms. Pac-Man and Lara Croft. Amy Winehouse could not be reached for comment.
[via Gamasutra]
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 28 September 2007
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