Infrogames changes name to Atari

xS · 09 May 2003, 01:24 PM

gamespydaily.com
French publisher gets new identity, dropping 20-year-old name.
Wednesday May 7, 2003 | Aramo

The new corporate layout.
French publisher Infogrames has changed its name to Atari, dropping the Infogrames brand that it has been borne since the company was founded in 1983. The France-based parent company will continue to be known as Infogrames Entertainment SA since the process for changing the company's name will take longer there.

"What we have decided to do, following a very precise strategy, effectively is to adopt this brand Atari," Atari CEO Bruno Bonnell told Reuters. "Clearly we feel like it is the symbol of the global company that we became during the last two years."

Infogrames acquired the Atari trademark in early 2001 when it took over Hasbro Interactive. The brand was relaunched in October 2001 as a games publishing label.

Bonnell emphasized 65 percent of Atari's key business is now done in the U.S., rather than in its native country France. The company cut 60 percent of its French workforce last year, coping with serious financial problems. With the upcoming Enter the Matrix game, however, Atari has experienced an over 130 percent rise of its shares on the NASDAQ since announcing development on the title had been completed on April 18.