Atari has filed for bankruptcy!

I just caught it on the Canadian news. Kevin O'Leary himself was commenting on it.

I don't know what to say, guys. Is this the end of Atari?

edited 21st Jan '13 2:51:11 PM by TiggersAreGreat

What the fuck's an Atari?

edited 21st Jan '13 2:50:20 PM by OdieEsty

And everyone thinks the Japanese gaming industry is suffering...

Hasn't it gone through a bunch of shifts and is essentially a shadow of its' former self anyway...?

If this wasn't an eventuality, what is?

Welp, long live the new flesh.

What's a Atari?

Outside of the first generations of systems, I had no idea they were still even active, let alone existing.

Original Atari has been dead for over a decade now. Infogrames just has the rights to the name. So now fake Atari is dying too.

EDIT: Ok, that's not quite right either; Infogrames renamed itself Atari after going bankrupt. So they owned fake Atari, then changed their name to fake Atari.

(note that "fake" should not be construed as a judgment on the quality of games published under the Atari name after Infogrames; but they're not Atari, dammit!)

edited 21st Jan '13 3:41:23 PM by MasterInferno

Ah. Yeah. That's what happened.

Apparently they closed up shop as a part of midway like a decade ago? Or was that something else?

All in all, it's no big change in gaming history. Atari's been dead for a long time. Someone just put a bullet in the brain of the zombie that was shuffling around.

edited 21st Jan '13 3:41:46 PM by ShirowShirow

well when you put it like that yeah

It's not necessarily the end of Atari. It's all legal maneuvering in order to get back to being a profitable game company.

It's like this. Atari-US belongs to a different company in France called Atari SA (formerly Infogrames). Atari SA is, as a whole, losing all the money and causing problems for Atari-US. Atari-US is seeking bankruptcy protection in an effort to separate itself from Atari SA, so it can go back to developing games.

I don't think that's how bankruptcy works.

Oh no!

Chapter 11 motions allows a company to reorganize itself under the protection of the government so that it can take appropriate measures from becoming extinct. It still owes money, so Atari will have to take a number of measures in order to offset the debt, including trying to find a new owner (who can be granted the ability to buy controlling interest from Atari SA if so necessary) or selling some of its assets like the company logo or the library of games.

It's a really expensive process, but probably for the best in Atari's case if they want to continue on. It's not like Atari hasn't been through hard times before.

edited 21st Jan '13 4:27:40 PM by DevilTakeMe

Die, Infogrames, fucking die already.

Why?

Rot in hell Atari. Send my condolences to Midway while your down there

edited 21st Jan '13 5:53:35 PM by GearLeader

Seriously, provide full info dammit!

What REALLY happaned is that the US branch is filing for chapter 11 so that it can hope to separate itself from the French parent company...

What's with all this hate on Atari? I've never seen so many people who dislike them. Are arcade games not fun for you?

RIP in piece, Atari ;_;

edited 21st Jan '13 6:47:50 PM by Kev-O

Gah!

You must belong to the Department of Redundancy Department.

edited 21st Jan '13 6:52:27 PM by Sabbo

I was being sarcastic.

I didn't even know Atari existed in any capacity anymore.

Those still exist?

Yes. Yes they do.

@Odd: Remember Eden Studios? Atarigrames laid off most of their workforce last year, not that long after they released Test Drive Unlimited 2.

That, and Atarigrames has not had a stellar track record to begin with.