Atari Interactive, Inc. is an American subsidiary of Atari SA which is the current owner of the Atari brand name, which it licenses to its parent company. The company was originally founded by toy company Hasbro in 1995[1] as Hasbro Interactive, Inc., based in Beverly, Massachusetts;[2] it was sold to Infogrames at the beginning of 2001 becoming Infogrames Interactive, Inc. before adopting its current name in 2003.
History
As Hasbro Interactive
Early history
Logo as Hasbro Interactive
Hasbro Interactive was formed late in 1995 to allow Hasbro to enter the video game market. Several Hasbro properties, such as Monopoly and Scrabble, had already been made into successful video games by licensees such as Virgin Interactive. With Hasbro's game experience, video games seemed like a natural extension of the company and a good opportunity for revenue growth. Hasbro Interactive's objective was to develop and publish games based on Hasbro properties.
In January 1997, the company announced they would publish games for the PlayStation.[3]
Strong growth (1997–1999)
In 1997, revenues increased 145% going from US$35 million to $86 million.[4] Hasbro Interactive was growing so fast that there was talk of reaching $1 billion in revenues by 2002.[4] and began to engage in some other video game licensing, such as licensing Frogger from Konami. They sought to use Hasbro board game brands and Wizards of the Coast properties as leverage to increase revenues.
Hasbro Interactive embarked on both internal and external development, and acquired some smaller video game developers and publishers along the way. On February 23, 1998, JTS sold the Atari brand name and intellectual properties of Atari Corporation to HIAC XI, Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary created in Delaware for the purpose of the purchase.[5] Hasbro Interactive then renamed HIAC XI, Corp. as Atari Interactive, Inc. in May 1998 and would use the Atari brand name to publish retro-themedremake titles.[6] On the 21st of that month, Hasbro announced that a remake of Centipede would be released for the PC and PlayStation.[7] Throughout 1999 and 2000, games like The Next Tetris, Missile Command, Pong: The Next Level, Q*Bert, Glover, Nerf Arena Blast and Breakout would be released under the Atari branding.
On August 4, 1998, the company acquired the rights for 300 games when they purchased Avalon Hill for $6 million,[8] and followed this up on August 14 by purchasing MicroProse for $70 million.[9] With those acquisitions Hasbro Interactive revenues increased 127% in 1998 to $196 million and profits of $23 million.[4] In July 1999, the company purchased UK-based educational software publisher Europress.[10]
In 1998, Hasbro signed an agreement with Majesco Sales, whereas Majesco would publish/distribute games under a licensing agreement for various Nintendo consoles, notably the Game Boy Color.[11] Majesco and Hasbro also worked on the Sega Dreamcast adaptation of Q*bert.[12]
In April 1999, the company secured a licensing deal with Namco to develop and publish titles based on over 11 Namco franchises.[13]
Losses and dot-com bubble burst (1999–2000)
Hasbro Interactive became the number 3 video game publisher within three years of its founding. But in 1999, Hasbro Interactive lost $74 million on revenues of $237 million a growth of just 20% over the previous year.[4] Late in 1999 with several game projects underway and dozens of new employees, many of whom moved just to work for the company, Hasbro Interactive shut down several studios in a cost-cutting move. The studios affected included the former MicroProse offices located in Alameda, California, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A game development company, Vicious Cycle Software, was started by employees laid off in the North Carolina Hasbro Interactive studio closing. In 4 years, Hasbro Interactive's revenue increased 577%.
By the middle of 2000, the dot-com bubble had burst, Hasbro share price had lost 70% of its value in just over a year and Hasbro would post a net loss for the first time in two decades.[4]
Sale to Infogrames (2000–2001)
Faced with these difficulties, on December 6, 2000, Hasbro announced they would completely sell off their Hasbro Interactive division to French software company Infogrames.[14] The sale included nearly all of their video game related rights and properties, the Atari brand and Hasbro's Games.com division, developer MicroProse and all of its software titles up to that point except for the Avalon Hill property. Hasbro Interactive's sale price was $100 million, $95 million as 4.5 million common shares of Infogrames and $5 million in cash.[15][16] Under the terms of the sale agreement, Infogrames gained the rights to develop games based on Hasbro properties for a period of 15 years plus an option for an additional 5 years based on performance.[16] The deal was completed on January 29, 2001. Majesco had ended its relationship with Hasbro once Infogrames took over the gaming company.[17]
Infogrames Interactive/Atari Interactive
Following the purchase, Infogrames renamed Hasbro Interactive, Inc. as Infogrames Interactive, Inc., and rebranded many of its subsidiaries under the Infogrames brand. Distribution of the company's products was taken over by their North American and European branches. Newer games based on franchises and licensed IP that had previously been released through Hasbro Interactive would feature the company's new name as the copyright holder.[18][19] In October 2001, Infogrames Interactive, Inc. licensed out the Atari brand to Infogrames' North American and European operations, which would allow them to publish new games under the brand.[20] In May 2003, following the success of this initial run of Atari branded products, Infogrames Entertainment SA announced that it would rebrand all its subsidiaries under the Atari banner. To prepare for this change, the existing Atari Interactive, Inc. subsidiary was merged with Infogrames Interactive, Inc. and gained the Atari Interactive, Inc. name, being a wholly owned subsidiary of Infogrames Entertainment, SA (IESA).[21][22] while the Infogrames, Inc. subsidiary licensed the Atari name and logo from Atari Interactive and changed its name to Atari, Inc.[23] using it to develop, publish and distribute games for all major video game consoles and personal computers under the Atari brand. Infogrames would still maintain ownership of the original Atari properties received through Hasbro which are kept in their Hasbro Interactive originated placeholder, Atari Interactive, Inc.[22]
Following major money losses throughout Infogrames Entertainment SA, the company began to sell most of its operations to pay off its debt. On June 9, 2005, the company reevaluated its licensing agreement with Hasbro by selling back its fifteen-year video game licensing agreement for $65 million. Hasbro re-acquired the rights to produce video games based on the Transformers, My Little Pony, Tonka, Connect Four, Candy Land and Playskool IPs, alongside Wizards of the Coast IP Magic: The Gathering; while securing Atari a seven-year year license for titles based on the Hasbro board game portfolio, consisting of Monopoly, Scrabble, Game of Life, Battleship, Clue, Yahtzee, Simon, Risk and Boggle. Atari's exclusive video game license for Dungeons & Dragons was extended for another ten years, allowing Atari to continue publishing titles based on the franchise.[24][25]
With continued money problems, in July 2007 Atari announced they had sold back the remainder of their Hasbro agreement back to them for $19 million.[26] The following month, Hasbro announced they had entered into a new multi-year casual publishing deal with Electronic Arts.[27] However, Atari retained its Dungeons & Dragons license and also announced to publish a video game based on Jenga under the franchise owners Pokonobe Associates.[28]
Hasbro Interactive published and distributed its own titles in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. Outside these markets, distribution was handled by various third parties including Ubi Soft in France, Leader S.p.A. in Italy, CD Projekt in Poland and Brasoft in Brazil.
Former
Name
Location
Acquired/established
Closed/divested
Fate
Ref
Atari Interactive, Inc.
United States
1998
2003
Formed as HIAC XI, Corp. to acquire the assets of Atari; merged out into parent company
Acquired in MicroProse purchase. Named MicroProse Hunt Valley Studio before 2001 and Infogrames Interactive Hunt Valley Studio from 2001 to 2002; Closed by Atari
Australian distribution and publishing subsidiary, acquired in MicroProse purchase; formerly MicroProse Asia Pacific Pty, Ltd., Hasbro Interactive Asia Pacific Pty, Ltd. and Infogrames Interactive Asia Pacific Pty, Ltd.
