90 per cent online in five years
Having made its name in the golden age of videogames in the 1980's, those who were there to enjoy it hold the Atari name close to their hearts.In more recent years however, it's difficult to assess exactly what the Atari brand stands for anymore. Following massive debts and its loss of identity, the iconic brand is now just one of a number of subsidiary companies owned by the French video games company, Infogrames.
When Infogrames bought out Atari Inc. earlier this year, however, it vowed to rebuild it and bring back the glory days.
"Bringing Atari US and Infogrames' businesses together will enable us to create a simplified global structure for our business as we seek to rebuild a well-managed, cohesive, and financially disciplined company," it said at the time.
Yesterday, the strategy for the company became a lot clearer after Atari's David Gardner spoke of the companies plans to move away from boxed product and bring 90 percent of its future products online within the next 5 years.
The change of strategy was revealed in an interview with Gardner on MCV, where he revealed that a recent strategic partnership struck between Infogrames and Namco Bandai, which could see the latter buying out the distribution arm of Infograms in five years time, has kick-started the new business plan.
"We're taking the first steps here," said Gardner. "Over five years, Namco Bandai will probably own the majority of it, and it will no longer be our responsibility and Atari will be just an online company – within five years 90 percent of our products will be online."
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