Atari Interactive is a name used by several separate groups and corporations since the mid-1990s. In 1996, it was the name of

Atari Corporation Atari Corporation was an American manufacturer of computers and video game consoles. It was founded by Jack Tramiel on May 17, 1984, as Tramel Technology, Ltd., but then took on the Atari name less than two months later when Warner Communica ...

's PC publishing division, bringing games like the Atari Jaguar's ''

Tempest 2000 is a tube shooter video game originally developed by Llamasoft and published by Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar in North America on 13 April, 1994. It was released in Europe on 27 June and in Japan on 15 December of the same year, with ...

'' to the PC platform.Tempest 2000 CD cover at Moby Games
/ref> From 1998 to 2001, Atari Interactive, Inc. was the name of the corporate entity that held the Atari properties purchased from

JT Storage JT Storage, Inc. (also known as JTS Corporation) was a maker of inexpensive IDE hard drives for personal computers based in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1994 by "Jugi" Tandon—the inventor of the double-sided floppy disk drive an ...

Hasbro Interactive Hasbro Interactive was an American video game production and publishing subsidiary of Hasbro, the large game and toy company. Several of its studios were closed in early 2001 and most of its properties were sold to Infogrames (now Atari SA) whi ...

in 1998, and functioned as the retro publishing subsidiary of Hasbro Interactive. It is currently the name of a wholly owned subsidiary of Atari SA, who is the current owner of the Atari brand and various other properties formerly belonging to Hasbro Interactive. The current Atari Interactive was formed in 2001, when Infogrames Entertainment acquired Hasbro Interactive and proceeded to rename it to Infogrames Interactive. In 2003, IESA then changed the company name entirely to Atari Interactive, Inc. as part of its worldwide reorganization to focus on use of the Atari brand.

Division of Atari Corporation

On January 2, 1996, at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show, Atari Corporation formally announced the formation of Atari Interactive to "address the worldwide PC market". Planning to initially launch with four titles, ''

'', '' Highlander: The Last of the MacLeods'', ''

Baldies ''Baldies'' is a real-time strategy video game developed by Creative Edge Software and originally published by Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar CD in North America and Europe on December 1995. In the game, players build and manage a communi ...

'', and ''

FlipOut! ''FlipOut!'' is a tile-matching puzzle video game developed by Gorilla Systems and originally published by Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar in Europe on July 7, 1995 and later in North America on August 28 of the same year. It is one of the ...

'', further releases were to include '' Missile Command 3D'', ''Return to Crystal Castles'', '' Rocky Interactive Horror Show'', and ''Virtual War''. By February 12, however, Atari Corporation was announcing a planned merger with drive manufacturer JTS, Inc, who had no interest to compete in any way in the video game or PC markets. Atari Corporation suspended its businesses, laid off about 80 percent of its staff and reportedly began liquidating its assets – which included the closing of the newly formed Atari Interactive division. The Atari/JTS merger officially took effect on July 30, 1996.

Hasbro Interactive subsidiary

On February 23, 1998, JTS sold all assets and properties of its Atari division to HIAC XI, Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Hasbro's Hasbro Interactive created in Delaware for the purpose of the purchase. Hasbro then renamed HIAC XI to Atari Interactive in May 1998 and would use the Atari brand name to publish retro-themed remake titles. On the 21st of that month, Hasbro announced that a '' remake'' of Centipede would be released for the PC and PlayStation. Throughout 1999 and 2000, games like ''

The Next Tetris This is a list of variants of the game ''Tetris''. It includes officially licensed ''Tetris'' sequels, as well as unofficial clones. Official games {, class="sortable wikitable" , - ! Title ! Year ! Platform ! Publisher ! class = "unsortab ...

'', ''

Missile Command ''Missile Command'' is a 1980 shoot 'em up arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and licensed to Sega for Japanese and European releases. It was designed by Dave Theurer, who also designed Atari's vector graphics game '' Temp ...

'', '' Pong: The Next Level'', ''

Q*Bert ''Q*bert'' (also known as ''Qbert'') is an arcade video game developed and published for the North American market by Gottlieb in 1982. It is a Video game graphics, 2D action game with Puzzle video game, puzzle elements that uses Isometric video ...

'', '' Glover'', ''

Nerf Arena Blast ''Nerf Arena Blast'' (known as ''Nerf Arena'' in Europe) is a first-person shooter developed by Visionary Media, Inc. and published by Hasbro Interactive, released under their Atari Interactive label. The game, based on Nerf, was touted as a "f ...

'' and '' Breakout'' would be released under the Atari branding.

Infogrames subsidiary

In 2001, Hasbro sold Hasbro Interactive and its subsidiaries to French publisher Infogrames Entertainment, SA (IESA). IESA then renamed it to Infogrames Interactive, Inc. On May 7, 2003, IESA officially reorganized its subsidiaries into Atari-branded names, which included renaming Infogrames Interactive, Inc. to Atari Interactive, Inc.Summary of ATARI INC - Yahoo! Finance
/ref> In 2003, Infogrames' US subsidiary Infogrames, Inc. licensed the Atari name and logo from Atari Interactive and changed its name to Atari using it to develop, publish and distribute games for all major

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to ...

s and

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

s under the Atari brand. On January 21, 2013, Atari, Inc. and Atari Interactive, Inc. (collectively, the "Companies") filed petitions for relief under

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

in the

United States Bankruptcy Court United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy c ...

for the Southern District of New York. All three Ataris emerged from bankruptcy one year later and the entering of the social casino gaming industry with Atari Casino. Frederic Chesnais, who now heads all three companies, stated their entire operations consist of a staff of 10 people.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Atari 2003 establishments in New York City American companies established in 1996 American companies disestablished in 1996 American companies established in 1998 American companies disestablished in 2001 American companies disestablished in 2003 Video game companies established in 1996 Video game companies disestablished in 1996 Video game companies established in 1998 Video game companies disestablished in 2001 Video game companies disestablished in 2003 Video game development companies Video game publishers Video game companies of the United States Companies based in New York City Defunct companies based in New York (state)

Division of Atari Corporation

Hasbro Interactive subsidiary

Infogrames subsidiary

See also

References

External links