Atari to become ‘just an online company’ in five years

Atari, one of the oldest companies in the video game business, took an unfortunate turn and fell into a dive that was apparent last year. Now, in what’s probably a bid to turn a new leaf, they are now headed in a new direction, and revealed that they will be focusing on online gaming. More in the full article.

Atari, one of the oldest companies in the video game business, took an unfortunate turn somewhere in its history and it fell into a dive that was apparent last year. It didn’t help that Alone in the Dark 5 (360, PS3, Wii) , which was supposed to be one of their bigger games for this year, didn’t fare all that well with gamers.

However, once former Sony exec Phil Harrison joined the group, things have taken a turn and the company’s now headed in a new direction. Atari’s parent company Infogrames recently struck a distribution deal with Namco Bandai, in what will eventually become a takeover. What will happen to Atari when that happens?

By then, according to execs David Gardner and Harrison, Atari will be “just an online company.” Their plan is to have 90% of their products in online gaming within five years. This probably includes online services for the consoles, like WiiWare, XBL, and PSN. They also intend to be a presence in mass market platforms like iTunes and MySpace.

My very first console was an Atari, so I don’t really know how to take this news. Many old companies have managed to stay on top through the years; Nintendo is a prime example, with the Wii. Hopefully, Atari will be able to revive its golden age in the future as well.

• Q2 2007 sees Atari deeper in the red
• Phil Harrison now president of Infogrames
• David Gardner, Phil Harrison on integrity and dropping the Infogrames name
• Namco Bandai, Infogrames partner up for distribution deal

Via Edge