Atari's Uncertain Future - 20.6.05

There are few companies that are as much steeped in gaming history as Atari. The long history nothwithstanding, however, Atari seems to have lost its sure footing of late, both financially and in terms of product quality, as CNN's Game Over Column points out:

The Atari of old offered games and a home console – the Atari 2600 – that could be found in the living rooms of cool kids everywhere. The Atari of today is plagued by a revolving door in the executive suite and boasts a questionable line-up of upcoming games.

Fourth-quarter losses for the firm, reported earlier this week, came in at $9.1 million – better than last year's $17.3 million loss, but hardly confidence inspiring. And the comments from company executives in the conference call following the earnings announcement weren't exactly upbeat.

"When we can stop shooting ourselves in the foot ...Atari's going to be a spectacular company," said Diane Baker, chief financial officer. [...]

Last year, Atari lost a key partner with Epic Games (makers of the phenomenally popular "Unreal" franchise) jumped to rival Midway (Research) Games. Earlier this year, the company gave up publishing rights to the Xbox version of "Sid Meier's Pirates!" – even though development on the game was nearly complete.

Interestingly enough, two Atari games can be found in the latest US Top 20, but who's to say whether the company can recover from the severe blows dealt by the commercial and franchise losses. Let's hope they can still make it; it would be a sad day indeed if they were to close their doors in the near future.

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