Atari, SA

Founded: 1983-06^[1]

T-series code: T-151

Headquarters:

Paris, France

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Atari, SA is a French holding company which specialises in video games.

The company was formed by Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet in June 1983^[1] as Infogrames Entertainment, SA (IESA). After success producing French home computer software in the 1980s, Infogrames rapidly expanded during the 1990s in an attempt to become the largest interactive entertainment publisher in the world. Following the purchase of Hasbro Interactive in 2001, Infogrames would become the owner of the Atari brand, renameing many of its subsidiaries in 2003 before changing its own name to Atari, SA in 2009.

History

For the first ten years of its existence, Infogrames developed and published video games for popular French home computers, establishing distribution networks in 1987 to take these titles to other countries. However, it was 1992 release of 3D survival horror game Alone in the Dark which brought Infogrames to the world stage.

In 1996 the company chose to adopt a policy of growth through acquisition, with the aim of becoming the largest interactive entertainment publisher in the world. To achieve this, Infogrames would spend $500 million USD over the next seven years acquiring studios to build its empire:

UK publisher Ocean Software (1996), renamed Infogrames UK.
Philips Media BV^[2] (1997-07-01^[3])
A controlling stake in OziSoft (1998), renamed Infogrames Australia Pty Ltd. The remaining shares were bought (from the likes of Sega) in 2002.
UK publisher and developer Gremlin Interactive (1999), renamed Infogrames Sheffield House.
US publisher Accolade (1999), renamed Infogrames North America, Inc. This was merged with Infogrames, Inc. the following year.
Australian developer Beam Software (1999), renamed Infogrames Melbourne House Pty Ltd.
GT Interactive Software, alongside its game development studios Humongous Entertainment, Legend Entertainment and Reflections Interactive (1999), renamed Infogrames, Inc.^[4]. At the time, this was the largest acquisition in video game history.
Paradigm Entertainment (2000) along with developer Den-o-Tech Int. (DTI). Renamed Infogrames DTI.
Hasbro Interactive (December) along with rights to the Game.com handheld and development/publishing rights to Hasbro properties, as well as control over MicroProse and Atari Corporation^[4]. Renamed Infogrames Interactive, Inc.
Distributors ABS Multimedia, Arcadia and the Swiss Gamecity GmbH (2002)
Eden Games (2002)
Shiny Entertainment (2002)

Most continued to trade as they had prior to their acquisitions, although publishing was streamlined, with Infogrames, Inc. (GT Interactive) becoming the main American subsidiary, and a newly established Infogrames Europe handling Europe (and continuing the firm's original development operations). The two sides would later be renamed Atari, Inc. and Atari Europe, respectively, with Infogrames Entertainment continuing to exist as a holding company overseeing both sides of the business.

Following Sega's decision to cancel support for the Sega Dreamcast and become a third-party developer in 2001, the company picked up the rights to distribute Sega's games for the GameCube, Game Boy Advance and Xbox in the region (Sony Computer Entertainment handling PlayStation 2 releases)^[5]. This distribution deal soon expired on March 31, 2003^[6], and soon afterwards Sega Europe would begin to self-distribute/publish their titles for the respective system^[7]. Infogrames' gradual rebrand to Atari occurred during this period, meaning some Sega games were published under the Atari brand.

While the new Atari now had studios all over the world and a number of key assets, it also had acquired a signficant amount of debt, causing the firm to close or sell off many intellectual property rights and unprofitable subsidiaries during the next few years. Beneficiaries included the likes of Bandai Namco, THQ and Ubisoft, though other parts of Atari's business would begin trading independently or either dissolve completely.

Softography

Note: this list only contains games which Infogrames Entertainment were involved in. For later distribution, see GT Interactive Software and Atari Europe, and for development subsidiaries, see the Accolade, Beam Software, Gremlin Interactive, Atari Interactive, Hasbro Interactive and Ocean Software pages.