Infogrames CEO David Gardner said he would like to consider changing its name to Atari to reflect the ongoing changes at the company and take advantage of the storied brand.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Gardner and Infogrames President Phil Harrison discussed changes at Infogrames and the ongoing rejuvenation of the Atari brand. Harrison stated that improvements in Flash technology and the proliferation of broadband internet access have given the company an opportunity for new growth, but admitted it’s a potentially risky proposition. “I think the steps that we have to take have to deliver – we don’t have a lot of room for mistakes, we’re threading the needle a little bit,” he said. “When you’re smaller it’s just not as easy to recover when things don’t sell.”
Gardner also likened the changes at Infogrames to the launch of a new company, saying, “We like to think of Infogrames, instead of being the tired, old company, we like to think of it as the best-funded, best-branded, most energetic start-up in the history of computer gaming.” Harrison added, “We are absolutely a start-up, we’re just a start-up with 25 years of history.”
And when asked about potential changes to the Infogrames brand itself, Gardner replied, “I’d like to consider that, I think that would be the final mark of the transformation from Infogrames to Atari. We have a new board of directors, a new management team that’s less than a year old – so yes, it’s really continuing.”
Gardner, a former Electronic Arts executive, took over as CEO of Infogrames on January 1, while Harrison, who was previously head of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, was brought in as president in March. The full interview with the Infogrames executives is available here.
