Infogrames plans Atari profitability; herding cats next on agenda

by Alexander Sliwinski { Sep 28th 2007 at 9:20AM }

If Atari's image as a business were personified, the picture above is how we imagine the Nip/Tuck boys viewing the mountain of work they have ahead of them. Infogrames, who owns Atari and rocks our world, says it is unveiling a plan to restore profitability at the company. Well, it's better late than never, Infogrames hasn't seen a profit in seven years and Atari continues to hemorrhage money.

So, what's this magical plan to restore the faith? It might be selling Atari. Or as Infogrames Chief Executive Patrick Leleu puts it, "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." Now we wait and see what Infogrames has planned for Atari. All we know is that given the video game industry of late, it actually takes skill on the part of horrible management to create financial loss.

[Via GameDaily]

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

TheWarden @ Sep 28th 2007 9:46AM

I'm no economic major... but how can they still be around after no profit after seven years? How does that work exactly?

zwarrior @ Sep 28th 2007 9:51AM

It means they arent making any money. The article doesnt say how much they lost in those 7yrs but it isnt drastic enough for them to file for ch.11

vidGuy @ Sep 28th 2007 10:09AM

A business doesn't need to make a profit to stay afloat. As long as it's marginal revenue is above it's average variable costs it will still produce, even if MR is below average total costs. Meaning, they make money on every unit sold but that profit disappears when they have to cover fixed costs, like the overhead of facilities and develop salaries.

The objective is to only do so in the short-term, though, creating medium-run strategies to reduce overhead, raise MR, or both to improve profitability.

I AM an Economics major. ;)

FrankTheCrank @ Sep 28th 2007 9:47AM

Computers say, "what?".

vidGuy @ Sep 28th 2007 10:06AM

So there's no Nip/Tuck game coming out? :( I wanted to hold consults, track down the Carver, and bone Kimber.

NaeemTHM @ Sep 28th 2007 10:07AM

I'll take it that you watch Nip/Tuck. I hear really good things about that show. Is it worth investing some time and watching the first season? I was thinking about "renting" it.

vidGuy @ Sep 28th 2007 10:14AM

I enjoy it, though it's pretty much a daytime soap with more sex and language. The actual plastic surgery (consulting new clients and cutting) only takes up about 10% of the show time. Neither surgeon has a happy home life and the show elaborates on Sean's (on the left of the pic) unhappy family and Christian inability to connect with any of the dozens of women he has sex with.