Atari lost another $70 million this year
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Jul 3rd 2007 at 3:14PM }
Atari Inc. plans to report a loss of $71.3 million for their fiscal year which ended March 31. This is up from the $69 million loss from the previous fiscal year. Most of the loss is due to some jargon regarding an "impairment of goodwill," relating to a significant erosion of their market capitalization in which Atari lost an extra $54.1 million -- otherwise they would have only lost $17.2 million. In May, Atari cut 20% of their workforce and parent company Infogrames hasn't seen a profit in seven years.It's kinda sad seeing what Atari has become. Instead of being the granddaddy the industry looks up to, they've become the worthless geriatric that's been locked away in the state-funded old folks home and forgotten. Although, the upside is that Atari actually has some stuff we're looking forward to with Alone in the Dark and The Witcher. We'll find out next week if there is some hope for the future or if we can already begin reporting another $70 million loss for next year.
[Via Gamasutra]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
wackyban @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:19PM
Atari should just stick to selling T-shirts to dorks.
Matt B @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:20PM
LMAO
Joshua @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:23PM
The original Atari died long ago. This modern one is actually Infogrames renamed.
Crono @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:24PM
Just let the name die, its cursed.
hvnlysoldr @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:28PM
Nintendo should buy the name. Bury it. And then put all the Atari systems onto the VC.
Abscissa @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:39PM
The real Atari died when Bushnell left. Nothing since then has been a true Atari.
Anam @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:43PM
They did have some awesome commercials though...
"It'll leave skid marks on your soul!"
siralien @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:48PM
Atari started to die when it ate up MicroProse in 2001 and started laying off all the staff which had made the European arm of that company such a profitable and familar name. Now who remembers the premium brand that it was?
Given those in control of that asset stripping was the same people who had been running GT Interactive so disasterously and had lost a merger with MicroProse previously before it probably wasn't the best plan. A lot of badly placed managers running a company they shouldn't have.
From the prospective of many, Infrogrames/Atari is a firm the markets like when its taking on debt (seen as a company growing) and when getting rid of staff (seen as a company reorganising and consolidating).
I doubt it can pull itself around unless there is new management there and new fresh products.
Skippy @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:57PM
I REALLY hope the new Alone in the Dark doesn't suck though. I need my survival horror fix (RE4 doesn't count), and it's been a looooong time (Silent Hill 4 maybe?)
horngreen @ Jul 3rd 2007 4:09PM
Also if you are going to produce a modern console disc of 2600 classics, which they have done often, make them playable ONLINe for christ sake! Most of the people who would buy it are older (like me) and don't tend to have their "little friends" over to play. It would be easy as hell since ALL those games were 1 on 1 so whats the big deal. Combat online would be fun enough along with Space War and Race and many others. If your not going to make it online Atari then just don't even make it.
Dale @ Jul 3rd 2007 4:53PM
What have they actually released that's been worth playing in the last few years anyway?
Michael the Randy @ Jul 3rd 2007 6:18PM
Quick accounting lesson because I enjoy it:
If a company buys something (e.g. the Coca Cola company) for more than the book/accounting value of its land and buildings, such as paying extra for brand name and reputation, the excess is accounted for as 'goodwill' and treated as a posession rather than a loss. Theoretically all brand names could be treated as posessions, but valuing your own name is too open for misuse, so it is only possible in acquisitions, with the rationale that if the brand wasn't worth $millions then the buyer wouldn't have paid it.
However, if it later appears that the brand name isn't held in very high regard by people, it means it's suddenly not worth very much either, and 'goodwill' is reduced correspondingly. The reduction is treated as a loss. (*For the nerdy, goodwill used to be depreciable over time which is still the rule for tax purposes, but the new accounting rule is it remains fixed until there is grounds to call for an impairment review)
So in this case Atari didn't actually spend $70m more than they made, they rather spent $15m more, and the rest stems from them having paid lots for something intangible in earlier years that now looks to be worth much less.
Adam @ Jul 4th 2007 3:55PM
Test Drive Unlimited is Atari. Great game.
Velops @ Jul 3rd 2007 8:43PM
If Atari really wants to become profitable again, they should look to Majesco as an example. Majesco was in dire straits as well but managed to turn it all around with Cooking Mama.
Xexyl @ Jul 4th 2007 1:27AM
this Atari is NOT the old, true Atari. Many companies have bought and sold the name, but all have realized that buying a name isn't enough to make money.
ackmondual @ Jul 4th 2007 1:28AM
It's all ironic considering "atari" is a Japanese term used for a situation in the board game of Go where a unit has only one liberty, and may be captured on the next move if not given one or more additional liberties.
McHoffa @ Jul 4th 2007 9:38AM
atari, sega.... both big names with not much left other than their name now... which big name in games will be next to suddenly drop out of hardware and then almost disappear from software as well?
Eugene @ Jul 4th 2007 8:08PM
Hmm...think paying a gazillion dollars for Matrix rights and then watching the game turn up in the $4.99 bin a month later was a good idea?
Victims of their own ineptitude. I feel bad for the common employee though. No one deserves to lose their job because of bad management...save the management.