Infogrames Entertainment, SA
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Infogrames Entertainment, SA Infogrames Entertainment, SA (IESA)(French pronun- more than $500 million; the objective was to become ciation: [ɛ̃fɔɡʁam]) was an international French holding the world’s leading interactive entertainment publisher.[6] company headquartered in Lyon, France. It was the While the company’s debt increased from $55 million in owner of Atari, Inc., headquartered in New York City, 1999 to $493 million in 2002, the company’s revenue also U.S. and Atari Europe. It was founded in 1983 by increased from $246 million to $650 million during the Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet using the proceeds same period.[7] from an introductory computer book. Through its sub- In 1996 IESA bought Ocean Software for about $100 sidiaries, Infogrames produced, published and distributed million,[8] renaming the company as Infogrames UK.[9] interactive games for all major video game consoles and In 1997 Philips Media BV was purchased. computer game platforms. 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 1 History shares of Infogrames Australia from Sega and other share holders[11] for $3.7 million.[7] In this same year 1.1 Early history the distributors ABS Multimedia, Arcadia and the Swiss Gamecity GmbH were acquired.[12][13] The founders wanted to christen the company Zboub Sys- In 1999 IESA bought Gremlin Interactive for $40 mil- tème (which can be approximatively translated by Dick lion, renaming it to Infogrames Sheffield House but it was [4] System), but were dissuaded by their legal counsel. Ac- closed in 2003.[14] In the same year IESA also bought cording to Bonnell in a TV interview, they then used Accolade for $60 million[15][16] and Beam Software, later a mix-and-match computer program to suggest other renamed to Infogrames Melbourne House Pty Ltd.[17] names, one of which was “Infogramme": a portmanteau of the French words “informatique” (information technol- ogy) and “programme” (a computer program). The final choice, “Infogrames”, was a slightly modified version of that suggestion, and is pronounced /ˌɪnfoʊˈɡræmz/ in En- glish. 1.2.1 Acquisition of GT Interactive The company logo is an armadillo (tatou in French), cho- sen when the company was moved to Villeurbanne. Bon- nell commented: “This dinosaur [sic] is our symbol. The Then in December 1999, IESA made one of the most armadillo has always survived changes to its environment, expensive acquisitions in the company’s history. Info- from the melting of glaciers to the worst of heat waves.”[4] grames bought 70% of GT Interactive for $135 mil- lion, and assumed the new subsidiary’s $75 million bank In the late 1980s Infogrames was noted for its French debt. By June 2000 Infogrames had invested another $30 computer games that often featured original game ideas million in GT Interactive.[13][18] IESA justified the pur- and occasionally humorous content. They had acquired chase by stating that GT Interactive provided Infogrames several licences for popular Franco-Belgian comics with a “distribution network for all of its products in the In 1992, they released Alone in the Dark, a 3D horror United States, as well as a catalog of products that in- adventure game to international attention.[5] They also re- cludes Driver, Oddworld, Unreal Tournament and Deer leased Fantasia for the Sega Genesis, with the player con- Hunter".[13] trolling Mickey Mouse on a quest to locate lost musical Included in the GT Interactive purchase were the game notes. development studios Humongous Entertainment,[19] Legend Entertainment[20] and Reflections Interactive.[21] 1.2 1996-2002 - growth through acquisi- GT Interactive became Infogrames, Inc.[22] tion In 2000 the developer Paradigm Entertainment was bought for $19.5 million and in-flight games developer In 1996, Bruno Bonnell's Infogrames embarked on an ac- Den-o-Tech Int. (DTI) , later renamed to Infogrames quisition campaign that would last seven years and cost DTI, was also acquired for $5.6 million.[9][13] 1 2 1 HISTORY 1.2.2 Acquisition of Hasbro Interactive Inc., a license which will expire in 2013.[32] Atari Inc. has the rights to publish and sublicense in North Amer- In January 2001, IESA purchased Hasbro Interactive ica certain intellectual properties either owned or licensed and the handheld game console Game.com from Hasbro by IESA or its subsidiaries, including Atari Interactive, for $100 million; with $95 million as 4.5 million common Inc.[32] shares of Infogrames and $5 million in cash.[23][24] Atari’s Australian subsidiary also distributes games for With the acquisition of Hasbro Interactive, which was re- Konami of Europe, Codemasters UK, Eidos Interactive named as Infogrames Interactive, Inc,[25][26] IESA be- and SCi. Konami has an Australian headquarters but this came the owner of: is for Konami’s Gaming Machines. • The MicroProse brand and titles, including Civilization, Falcon, and RollerCoaster Tycoon; 1.4 Financial difficulties • The legendary Atari name and properties, such as In the fiscal year of 2002 IESA had a net loss of $67 Centipede, Missile Command, and Pong. million on revenues of $650 million, and in 2003 the net losses increased to $89 million.[9] In 2006 IESA reported MicroProse UK studio was eventually closed on Septem- a net loss of $201 million on revenues of $525 million, [7] ber 20, 2002.[27] and debts of around $290 million. From 1999 to 2006 IESA accumulated losses totaling €500 million.[7] Also under the terms of the sale agreement, Infogrames gained the exclusive rights to develop and publish games In 2004 Infogrames sold the rights to the Civilization fran- [35] based on Hasbro properties, which included Dungeons chise to Take-Two Interactive for $22.3 million and [36] and Dragons, Mr. Potato Head, My Little Pony and oth- closed down Legend Entertainment studios. Also that ers, for a period of 15 years plus an option for an addi- year Infogrames lost the right to publish games of the phe- tional 5 years based on performance.[24] nomenally popular Unreal franchise when the game’s de- veloper Epic games signed with Midway Games.[37] In June 2005, Infogrames sold back to Hasbro the digital 1.2.3 Eden Games and Shiny Entertainment rights to most Hasbro properties including Transformers (except in Japan), My Little Pony and Connect Four, but In 2002 IESA acquired the remaining 80% of game de- not Dungeons & Dragons, for $65 million.[22][38] velopment studio Eden Games[28] for $4.1 million[7] and Shiny Entertainment for $47 million. With Eden Games, On April 2007 Infogrames’ founding chairman Bruno IESA would have right to publish Eden Games titles, such Bonnell left the company after 24 years; on the day of the announcement of his departure IESA’s shares jumped as V-Rally 3 and later Test Drive Unlimited, and with [39] the Shiny Entertainment acquisition, IESA obtained the 24%. After his resignation, Infogrames through the rights to develop and publish Enter the Matrix which was remainder of 2006 sold intellectual properties and some studios in order to raise cash and stave off the threat of the first game based on The Matrix films and sold more [40] than 5 million copies.[29] bankruptcy. In May 2006 IESA sold the rights to the games Stuntman to THQ and Timeshift to Saber Interactive. The sales 1.3 Atari Group generated $13 million in revenue. THQ also bought de- veloper Paradigm Entertainment from IESA.[41] In July In October 2001, IESA relaunched the Atari brand 2006 IESA sold the game developer Reflections Inter- when Atari Interactive, Inc., at that time a wholly active and the rights to the Driver franchise for $21.6 owned subsidiary of Infogrames Interactive, Inc., re- million to Ubisoft.[42] In October, Shiny Entertainment [25][30] leased MXrider. On May 7, 2003, IESA officially was acquired by Foundation 9 Entertainment for $1.6 [31] reorganized its Infogrames Inc. US subsidiary as a sep- million.[42][43] In November of the same year Atari Mel- arate Nasdaq listed company known as Atari Inc., named bourne House was sold to Krome Studios and renamed to its European operations as Atari Europe, renamed Info- Krome Studios Melbourne.[17] grames Interactive, Inc. to Atari Interactive, Inc.,[25] (a wholly owned subsidiary of IESA),[32] rebranded Info- In 2007 Infogrames fired the majority of Atari’s directors grames Australia Pty Ltd as Atari Australia Pty Ltd,[10] and laid off 20% of its workforce. For the 2006-2007 [44] renamed Infogrames Melbourne House Pty Ltd to Atari fiscal year Atari posted a net loss of $70 million. Melbourne House Pty Ltd,[17] Infogrames UK became [9] [33] Atari UK, while IESA became a holding company. 1.5 Atari Inc. buyout Atari Inc. is a public company that, as of 2007, had, as a majority stockholder, the company California U.S. Hold- On March 6, 2008, Infogrames made an offer to Atari ings, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of IESA.[34] Atari Inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value Inc. licences the Atari trademark from Atari Interactive, of US$1.68 per share or US$11 million total. The offer 3 would make Infogrames sole owner of Atari Inc., making for its subsidiaries. In reference to this, Atari, Inc’s CEO it a privately held company.[45] Jim Wilson said: “We've gotten rid of the Infogrames and On April 30, 2008, Atari Inc. announced its inten- Atari duality, the confusion around that. We are one sim- plified company, under one management team, under one tions to accept Infogrames’ buyout offer and merge with [59] Infogrames.[46] brand.” On October 9, 2008, Infogrames completed its takeover Infogrames’ May 29 earnings report stated: of Atari Inc.[47] With that acquisition the Atari brand was re-united under Infogrames.[48] Infogrames said that it "The Board agreed to change Infogrames Enter- planned to reduce administrative costs and to focus on tainment’s name to Atari.