Atari Pulls out of E3

[DoctorFinger]

Atari has announced that they're pulling out of E3, just three weeks before the expo begins.

An Atari PR rep told Joystiq it was a "proactive decision to attend but not exhibit at this year's E3 event." However rumors persist that the publisher is in some degree of financial trouble, as evidenced by last week's announcement that PAL publishing rights (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=8213) to Ghostbusters had been sold to Sony. Atari had been planning to bring the aforementioned Ghostbusters as well as MMO Champions Online and at least one other unannounced title to the show.

Source - Joystiq (http://www.joystiq.com/2009/05/12/atari-pulls-out-of-e3-current-plans-in-question/).

[Widgetcraft]

It really sucks for Champions, in a big way. The game would be launching about a month or so after the expo, and this would be a great way to drum up some pre-launch hype. I wouldn't be surprised to see Atari go belly-up in the next year.

[Doogie2K]

Huh. And here I thought Atari had really turned it around these last couple of years. If they're not going to the biggest marketing vehicle in the industry -- exactly the sort of thing a company would normally use to drum up hype and sales -- they must be in some seriously dire straits.

[AgtFox]

If the loud whispers I've been hearing are true (and Atari has yet to answer), Cryptic is really going to wish they had taken Ubisoft's offer. Leads more credence to the fact that the Sony buyout in Europe for Ghostbusters exclusivity is a bigger issue than we were led to believe.

[violent]

Interesting. Can't wait to see what this all means.

[Zanzibar]

God dammit, Ghostbusters was one of the main reasons I was going to attend E3 this year.

Fuck.

[H.Bogard]

One bad business decision after another. Rushing Alone in the Dark, the negative press shitstorm for Dark Athena's PC release and now this.

If they want to make money, they need to use E3 even if they have to sell their own asses to pony up; if things are bad indeed and they want to stay afloat.

[violent]

Sony is gonna buy Atari.

[Deadend]

Or it could be that E3 is a waste of money and ends up having games get drowned in a flood of information? E3 is a bad place for most games. Champions can be better shown off via press betas, Ghostbusters can stand on it's own and can do press downloads, or just a regular demo and their unannounced title is better announced before or after the flood.

E3 is basically dead for good reason.

[DoctorFinger]

Sony is gonna buy Atari.Why? At this point what IPs or studios does Atari control that Sony would want? Eidos was run into the ground, but they owned a bunch of valuable properties. Atari? The biggest IP they seem to own free and clear is Test Drive. Everything else is licensed: Riddick, D&D, Ghostbusters, Witcher.

[violent]

Why? At this point what IPs or studios does Atari control that Sony would want? Eidos was run into the ground, but they owned a bunch of valuable properties. Atari? The biggest IP they seem to own free and clear is Test Drive. Everything else is licensed: Riddick, D&D, Ghostbusters, Witcher.

I don't claim to have an analysts viewpoint in such matters though I am aware of the insane decisions that are made in this industry. Atari is stripped, Sony buys them out and Phil Harrison works for Sony again. How could it turn out any other way?

[GunnyMo]

"Proactive"? I think every person who uses that word should be shot point blank in the face with some sort of shooting mechanism. Whenever someone uses it you know they are getting ready to shove a load of bullshit up your ass. :)

[Telefrog]

"Proactive"? I think every person who uses that word should be shot point blank in the face with some sort of shooting mechanism. Whenever someone uses it you know they are getting ready to shove a load of bullshit up your ass. :)

You need to proactively shift your paradigm if you want to empower yourself with impactful principles.


:D

[GunnyMo]

You need to proactively shift your paradigm if you want to empower yourself with impactful principles.


:D

Don't think I don't know where Lakewood is, buddy. I grew up in WA. You can't hide. ;)

[OldJadedGamer]

Why? At this point what IPs or studios does Atari control that Sony would want? Eidos was run into the ground, but they owned a bunch of valuable properties. Atari? The biggest IP they seem to own free and clear is Test Drive. Everything else is licensed: Riddick, D&D, Ghostbusters, Witcher.

Because they realize they can't live without Phil Harrison and that is the only way to get him back!

[Gorvi]

You need to proactively shift your paradigm if you want to empower yourself with impactful principles.


:D
You aren't thinking enough outside the box.

[Deadend]

Because they realize they can't live without Phil Harrison and that is the only way to get him back!

Phil Harrison is a smart guy. He was trying to basically get into the casual movement based games via the Eyetoy games long before the Wii came around. If the rest of Sony had listened to him, Nintendo would be a dead company and the PS3 would have a huge casual audience in addition to the hardcore.

[Doogie2K]

Or it could be that E3 is a waste of money and ends up having games get drowned in a flood of information? E3 is a bad place for most games. Champions can be better shown off via press betas, Ghostbusters can stand on it's own and can do press downloads, or just a regular demo and their unannounced title is better announced before or after the flood.

E3 is basically dead for good reason.

That's a good counterpoint. If their big titles are close to done or in beta, is there really much point in taking weeks out of their respective schedules to prep E3 demos and presentations? Is it worth the money, and more importantly, time to have a presence there to show thousands of GameStop employees the same demos the press have been working off of for the last couple of months? Maybe it really isn't worth it to them, at least for this year in particular.

Still, it does seem like if you're a struggling company and opting out of a big public hype machine like E3...eh, that doesn't say anything positive about your future. Even if there's a good practical reason, the optics are still pretty bad.

[Telefrog]

You aren't thinking enough outside the box.

Don't bring me into synergy with your failure spiral! My win-energy is dynamic and life-affirming. I challenge you not to enable a negative collusion index. :D

[Gorvi]

Don't bring me into synergy with your failure spiral! My win-energy is dynamic and life-affirming. I challenge you not to enable a negative collusion index. :D

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd89/Victory0985/Epic%20Lulz/asplode2.gif?t=1242155881

[Farsight]

E3 is expensive. The only reason to pull out at this late of a date is also the only reason to sell publishing rights to a game that's nearly complete: it's the only way to keep the creditors at bay.

[Chaos Machine]

most trade show floorspace is non refundable meaning atari is prolly paying either way