Atari and its parent company Infogrames have been trying to remake themselves over the past year including hiring former Sony Playstation exec Phil Harrison to be their president. Now MCV is reporting that Atari execs want to move the company almost completely away from the bricks-and-mortar store concept and release 90 percent of their games online by the year 2013.
One of the reasons for such a move is a recent business deal with Namco Bandai that will give that publisher an option to buy all of Infogrames' European distribution within five years. Atari CEO David Gardner states, "Atari will be just an online company – within five years we'll have 90 per cent online products." Since online distribution of games is still dominated by the PC platform at the moment it will be interesting to see if Atari truly makes this transition work.
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One of the reasons for such a move is a recent business deal with Namco Bandai that will give that publisher an option to buy all of Infogrames' European distribution within five years. Atari CEO David Gardner states, "Atari will be just an online company – within five years we'll have 90 per cent online products." Since online distribution of games is still dominated by the PC platform at the moment it will be interesting to see if Atari truly makes this transition work.
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