2000 until the transition to atari sa former type public industry software & programming fate reincorporated as atari sa successor atari sa founded june 1983 ; 33 years ago 1983 06 defunct 2009 headquarters lyon france area served worldwide key people bruno bonnell founder frank dangeard chairman 1 david gardner ceo 1 phil harrison president 1 harry m. rubin coo 1 jeff lapin coo 2 products north & south dragon ball z budokaialone in the darkunreal tournament 2003rollercoaster tycooncivilization iiirobot arena revenue 305.3 million 2007 net income 103.1 million 2007 3 subsidiaries atari inc atari interactive website infogrames.com infogrames entertainment sa iesa french pronunciation f am was an international french holding company headquartered in lyon france . it was the owner of atari inc. headquartered in new york city u.s. and atari europe . it was founded in 1983 by bruno bonnell and christophe sapet using the proceeds from an introductory computer book . through its subsidiaries infogrames produced published and distributed interactive games for all major video game consoles and computer game platforms . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 1996 2002 growth through acquisition 1.2.1 purchase of gt interactive 1.2.2 purchase of hasbro interactive 1.2.3 purchase of eden games and shiny entertainment 1.3 atari group 1.4 financial difficulties 1.5 atari inc. buyout 1.6 namco bandai buyout of atari europe and distribution partners 1.7 transition from infogrames entertainment 2 studios 2.1 current 2.2 defunct 2.3 sold 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit early history edit the founders wanted to christen the company zboub syst me which can be approximatively translated by dick system but were dissuaded by their legal counsel . 4 according to bonnell in a tv interview they then used a mix and match computer program to suggest other names one of which was infogramme a portmanteau of the french words informatique information technology and programme a computer program . the final choice infogrames was a slightly modified version of that suggestion and is pronounced nfo r mz in english . the company logo and mascot is an armadillo tatou in french chosen when the company was moved to villeurbanne . bonnell commented this dinosaur sic is our symbol . the armadillo has always survived changes to its environment from the melting of glaciers to the worst of heat waves . 4 in the late 1980s infogrames was noted for its french computer games that often featured original game ideas and occasionally humorous content . they had acquired several licences for popular franco belgian comics in 1992 they released alone in the dark a 3d horror adventure game to international attention . 5 they also released fantasia for the sega genesis with the player controlling mickey mouse on a quest to locate lost musical notes . 1996 2002 growth through acquisition edit in 1996 bruno bonnell s infogrames embarked on an acquisition campaign that would last seven years and cost more than 500 million ; the objective was to become the world s leading interactive entertainment publisher . 6 while the company s debt increased from 55 million in 1999 to 493 million in 2002 the company s revenue also increased from 246 million to 650 million during the same period . 7 in 1996 iesa bought ocean software for about 100 million 8 renaming the company as infogrames uk . 9 in 1997 philips media bv was purchased . in 1998 iesa acquired a majority share of 62.5 % in the game distributor ozisoft which became infogrames australia 10 and in 2002 iesa bought the remaining shares of infogrames australia from sega and other share holders 11 for 3.7 million . 7 in this same year the distributors abs multimedia arcadia and the swiss gamecity gmbh were acquired . 12 13 in 1999 iesa bought gremlin interactive for 40 million renaming it to infogrames sheffield house but it was closed in 2003 . 14 in the same year iesa also bought accolade for 60 million 15 16 and beam software later renamed to infogrames melbourne house pty ltd. 17 purchase of gt interactive edit then in december 1999 iesa made one of the most expensive acquisitions in the company s history . infogrames bought 70 % of gt interactive for 135 million and assumed the new subsidiary s 75 million bank debt . by june 2000 infogrames had invested another 30 million in gt interactive . 13 18 iesa justified the purchase by stating that gt interactive provided infogrames with a distribution network for all of its products in the united states as well as a catalog of products that includes driver duke nukem oddworld unreal tournament and deer hunter . 13 included in the gt interactive purchase were the game development studios humongous entertainment 19 legend entertainment 20 and reflections interactive . 21 gt interactive became infogrames inc. 22 in 2000 the developer paradigm entertainment was bought for 19.5 million and in flight games developer den o tech int . dti later renamed to infogrames dti was also acquired for 5.6 million . 9 13 purchase of hasbro interactive edit in january 2001 iesa purchased hasbro interactive and the handheld game console game.com from hasbro for 100 million ; with 95 million as 4.5 million common shares of infogrames and 5 million in cash . 23 24 with the acquisition of hasbro interactive which was renamed as infogrames interactive inc 25 26 iesa became the owner of the microprose brand and titles including civilization falcon and rollercoaster tycoon ; the atari name and properties such as centipede missile command and pong . microprose uk studio was eventually closed on september 20 2002 . 27 also under the terms of the sale agreement infogrames gained the exclusive rights to develop and publish games based on hasbro properties which included dungeons and dragons mr. potato head my little pony and others for a period of 15 years plus an option for an additional 5 years based on performance . 24 purchase of eden games and shiny entertainment edit in 2002 iesa acquired the remaining 80 % of game development studio eden games 28 for 4.1 million 7 and shiny entertainment for 47 million . with eden games iesa would have right to publish eden games titles such as v rally 3 and later test drive unlimited and with the shiny entertainment acquisition iesa obtained the rights to develop and publish enter the matrix which was the first game based on the matrix films and sold more than 5 million copies . 29 atari group edit in october 2001 infogrames announced that it was reinventing their atari brand which they aquired from hasbro interactive with the launch of three new games featuring a prominent atari branding on their boxarts splashdown mx rider and transworld surf . 30 the brand was a success for infogrames and they continued to use atari as a brand name for console games aimed at 18 34 year olds . pc educational and casual games retained the infogrames banner . on may 7 2003 iesa officially reorganized its infogrames inc. 31 us subsidiary as a separate nasdaq listed company known as atari inc. named its european operations as atari europe renamed infogrames interactive inc. to atari interactive inc. 25 a wholly owned subsidiary of iesa 32 rebranded infogrames australia pty ltd as atari australia pty ltd 10 renamed infogrames melbourne house pty ltd to atari melbourne house pty ltd 17 infogrames uk became atari uk 9 while iesa became a holding company . 33 atari inc. is a public company that as of 2007 had as a majority stockholder the company california u.s. holdings inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of iesa . 34 atari inc. licences the atari trademark from atari interactive inc. a license which will expire in 2013 . 32 atari inc. has the rights to publish and sublicense in north america certain intellectual properties either owned or licensed by iesa or its subsidiaries including atari interactive inc. 32 atari s australian subsidiary also distributes games for konami of europe codemasters uk eidos interactive and sci . konami has an australian headquarters but this is for konami s gaming machines . financial difficulties edit in the fiscal year of 2002 iesa had a net loss of 67 million on revenues of 650 million and in 2003 the net losses increased to 89 million . 9 in 2006 iesa reported a net loss of 201 million on revenues of 525 million and debts of around 290 million . 7 from 1999 to 2006 iesa accumulated losses totaling 500 million . 7 in 2004 infogrames sold the rights to the civilization franchise to take two interactive for 22.3 million 35 and closed down legend entertainment 36 studios . also that year infogrames lost the right to publish games of the phenomenally popular unreal franchise when the game s developer epic games signed with midway games . 37 in june 2005 infogrames sold back to hasbro the digital rights to most hasbro properties including transformers except in japan my little pony and connect four but not dungeons & dragons for 65 million . 22 38 on april 2007 infogrames founding chairman bruno bonnell left the company after 24 years ; on the day of the announcement of his departure iesa s shares jumped 24 % . 39 after his resignation infogrames through the remainder of 2006 clarification needed sold intellectual properties and some studios in order to raise cash and stave off the threat of bankruptcy . 40 in may 2006 iesa sold the rights to the games stuntman to thq and timeshift to saber interactive . the sales generated 13 million in revenue . thq also bought developer paradigm entertainment from iesa . 41 in july 2006 iesa sold the game developer reflections interactive and the rights to the driver franchise for 21.6 million to ubisoft . 42 in october shiny entertainment was acquired by foundation 9 entertainment for 1.6 million . 42 43 in november of the same year atari melbourne house was sold to krome studios and renamed to krome studios melbourne . 17 in 2007 infogrames fired the majority of atari s directors and laid off 20 % of its workforce . for the 2006 2007 fiscal year atari posted a net loss of 70 million . 44 atari inc. buyout edit on march 6 2008 infogrames made an offer to atari inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value of us 1.68 per share or us 11 million total . the offer would make infogrames sole owner of atari inc. making it a privately held company . 45 on april 30 2008 atari inc. announced its intentions to accept infogrames buyout offer and merge with infogrames . 46 on october 9 2008 infogrames completed its takeover of atari inc. 47 with that acquisition the atari brand was re united under infogrames . 48 infogrames said that it planned to reduce administrative costs and to focus on online gaming . 49 namco bandai buyout of atari europe and distribution partners edit in december 2008 infogrames bought cryptic studios for 26.7 million in cash plus performance bonuses . cryptic studios is a massively multiplayer online game developer and its acquisition is in line with the company s new business strategy which focuses on online games . 50 namco bandai and infogrames formed a joint venture called distribution partners in september 2008 . 51 distribution partners was defined by infogrames as a regrouping of infogrames distribution operations in europe asia africa and south america . 52 this new entity consisted mainly of infograme s distribution network in the pal region . 53 distribution partners was 34 % owned by namco bandai and 66 % owned by atari . 52 in may 2009 namco bandai acquired atari europe from infogrames . 54 its sale and marketing personnel were transferred to distribution partners . 54 in march 2009 infogrames announced that it was getting out of the