The company that we now call Atari is hoping to make a comeback under the control of David Gardner, formerly of EA, and Phil Harrison, former boss of Sony worldwide studios.
"Atari" is really Infogrames, the French games company co-founded by Bruno Bonnell in 1983. Atari was just one of the brand names he picked up during a long career, but one that he brought to renewed prominence. Bonnell finally left Infogrames last April (2007), when the company announced that: "Bruno Bonnell leaves his positions as Chairman, CEO and Director of Infogrames Entertainment and he also leaves all his positions within Atari, Inc. and the Infogrames group of companies."
The new CEO is former EA veteran David Gardner, who joined in January, and was interviewed recently by GamesIndustry.biz in Atari Reborn. Phil Harrison joined on Monday, as president of Infogrames.
Some might regard this as a "second coming" for Atari, but I think it's the sixth. (1) Atari was started by Nolan Bushnell in 1972 and dominated the early games business. But (2) Bushnell sold it to Warner Communications, which (3) sold it to Jack Tramiel of Commodore fame in 1984. (4) Hasbro bought what was left of it in 1988, and (5) sold it to Infogrames in 2001.
Update (Friday): GamesIndustry.biz has A History of Atari that covers the main points.
