Infogrames has finally decided to put its foot down as it announced recently that it will be unveiling plans to restore profitability to its U.S. affiliate Atari Inc. The latter has been blamed for causing huge operating losses at the group level.

Infogrames CEO Patrick Leleu announced his plans in a recent shareholders' annual meeting:

As I said in June, we are negotiating with the management and the board of Atari Inc. to restore (financial) equilibrium. We are looking after the interests of Infogrames and its shareholders. We are trying to negotiate action plans; talks are continuing. I should be able to announce some things rapidly.

Leleu took over the company last April, succeeding Infogrames founder Bruno Bonnell. Bonnell left the company after managing it for 24 years due to problems encountered in trying to wipe out the company's heavy debts and funding development in the money-hungry video games industry.

Currently, Atari is facing a continued operations loss of over US$ 66.6 million. Only time will tell if Leleu will be able to rise above the company's current financial slump. So far no word has been heard whether or not Infogrames plans to sell their Atari unit or not.

For the Atari game company, Bruno Bonnell's stepping down from the helm left some mighty big shoes to fill in. Aside from being company CEO, Mr. Bonnell was also Atari's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), chairman and director, which means that the company will need to do some considerable hunting to find a suitable replacement for each of these posts.

Enter Arturo Rodriguez whom Atari US has been appointed temporary CFO until such a time comes. To his credit, Mr. Rodriquez joined the company back in 2000 as the senior manager of financial reporting and has had experience as director and vice president of accounting.

Given that Atari's shares were reportedly doing well since Bonnell's departure last month, it will remain to be seen who's to permanently assume the role of CFO or how Rodriguez will fare in the near future.

A couple of days ago, we informed you that Bruno Bonnell stepped down from his position as Chairman and CEO of Atari. His departure also affected his top position with Infogrames. This is really something as Bonnell was the one responsible for building the international holding company and putting the third-party publisher back on track after it struggled during the 1990s.

Anyway, it seems that  investors favor the departure as Atari's shares rose today to as high as 12%. We really don't know what's with replacing chairmen and the investors these days. A couple of days ago, a similar improved share ratings was enjoyed by Take-Two Interactive after Paul Eibeler was removed from office and Strauss Zelnick was named the new CEO.

You have to remember though, that Atari's case is much different from that of Take-Two's. Even though it is not clear why Bonnell left, it was made clear that he stepped down. As you all know, what happened to Take-Two wasn't simply a turnover of position - it was a take over.

On a related matter, it should be remembered that Atari announced that it is planning to come up with a community portal that will ultimately challenge Sony's PlayStation Home. The new service is being planned for a summer release on the PC platform.

 

Atari and Infogrames big boss Bruno Bonnell has left all of his position within the company he built. Yesterday's Infogrames board meeting netted the promotion of Patrick Leleu as the new chairman and CEO.

Bruno Bonnell (together with Christophe Sapet and Thomas Schmider) founded Infogrames in 1983, after which it acquired GT Interactive and Hasbro Interactive - along with Atari and Game.com. With Bonnell leaving Infogrames, he also leaves his two positions in Atari: chairman and chief creative officer.

Infogrames had been implementing a "global debt restructuring plan" that ended in March 2007. Remember when David Pierce stepped up as CEO of Atari last year? Looks like Atari and Infogrames are back on the steady track financially. The revamp was done to stabilize and strengthen the company's finances and "redevelop its business". Bonnell had this to say:

It is with understandable emotions, but also reassured about its future, that I leave Infogrames after 24 years spent to build this group with the support of all its teams. Together, we have been able to show its strength and capacity to innovate, even in the worst situations. Time for business developers has logically come, after the entrepreneurial period. It’s now time for Infogrames to conquer and progress on a market as promising as interactive entertainment business.

The Board seems to have a lot of confidence on the new guy, Patrick Leleu who has been a director in the company since January of this year. He was previously the CEO of Bouygues Telecom and Noos before stepping up into Bruno Bonnell's shoes. Leleu comments, "I want to thank the Board to put its trust in me. I am convinced that Infogrames holds the assets, talents and teams to get back into the industrial competition and recover its  dynamics of growth."

Video games publisher Atari has appointed the entertainment industry veteran David Pierce as its new President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) today. Mr Pierce will be assuming the responsibilities of CEO previously held by Bruno Bonnell effective immediately. With this new role, Pierce will take full operational management of Atari and will be discussing the strategic objectives of the Company with Mr Bonnell.

Pierce seems fitting for the job of controlling one of the most influential games publishers since the market began. With a CV which includes more than 20 years of executive management experience with major entertainment companies such as Universal Pictures, MGM, Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment.

"Atari has been a cornerstone of a global cultural movement that forever changed how we experience entertainment. It's an honor for me to have the opportunity to contribute to Atari's exciting future," said Mr. Pierce. "There's a heritage of expectation that demands a high level of responsibility to our consumers and the interactive entertainment industry. I look forward to collaborating with the gifted and passionate individuals at Atari to build on that heritage and raise the bar on what consumers can expect."

The previous CEO, Bruno Bonnell, also said that "David has spent his career in the entertainment business and has a clear understanding and appreciation for our consumers. His leadership skills, first-hand operational execution and keen focus on profitability and investment value make him the ideal person to lead Atari." We'll see if and this new leadership reshuffle effects th Atari camp within the weeks to come.

In the interest of digging up some good news for gamers we're starting a new weekly staple titled "Gamers' Hero Of The Week," wherein we scour the net for a lone individual who has said or done something during the week that's likely to have a positive impact on gamers. Without further ado, I present the very first recipient of this QJ award, Bruno Bonnell.

With Atari's announcement yesterday that it would be moving to price its next generation racer, Test Drive Unlimited at $39.95, media and gamers alike did a double take and then sighed in relief, it's not everyday the industry makes a move that will actually benefit the end consumer.

For a while now gamers have been squirming uncomfortably about the high cost of next generation gaming (for good reason) and with rumors running rampant that PS3 games could possibly cost somewhere in the $75 range, it came as a pleasant surprise when Bruno Bonnell, Chairman, CEO and Chief Creative Officer of Atari said the following concerning the announced pricepoint:

"Innovation should be available to everyone, not a privilege for those who can afford high price tags. Our GamersFirst program demonstrated the positive impact of flexibility in pricing. We believe it is our mission to deliver triple-A games that are accessible to the masses. As such, we are offering Test Drive Unlimited - a game that is being positively touted and recognized by the media - for $39.95, and furthermore, will continue users' experiences past launch by featuring new cars and free music for download."

One has to wonder whether this aggressive price point will translate to big sales for Atari, I certainly hope so, because it would give the publisher the confidence to release subsequent next generation games, such as Alone in the Dark and Stuntman 2 at equally competitive price points. If this trend catches on, it's possible we'll see other big publishers such as EA, Ubisoft and 2K games rethink their next-generation pricing models.

That's right dear people. Today Atari announced the official pricing of their upcoming driving game MMO for the Xbox 360; Test Drive Unlimited. Oh, and it will only retail at forty bucks ($39.95USD to be exact). They also told us that there will be lots of car packs on the Marketplace within six months after launch of the game and that they're aiming for one pack every month.

"Innovation should be available to everyone, not a privilege for those can afford high price tags," said Bruno Bonnell, CEO of Atari. "Our GamersFirst program demonstrated the positive impact of flexibility in pricing. We believe it is our mission to deliver triple-A games that are accessible to the masses. As such, we are offering Test Drive Unlimited - a game that is being positively touted and recognized by the media - for $39.95, and furthermore, will continue users' experiences past launch by featuring new cars and free music for download."

Test Drive Unlimited's monthly car packs will feature a mixture of manufacturers and models of vehicles (cars and bikes). Each downloaded car pack will also include a free radio station. Radio stations will be set according to genres, such as Rock, Blues, Electronic, R&B, Jazz, Latin, etc., and feature between 10-20 songs.