Sales were less-than-half of what they were in 2009, but online sales increased almost 500 percent.
Last year wasn’t exactly the best Atari’s ever seen. The publisher has just unveiled its sales numbers for the final nine months of 2010, and the figures are a pretty staggering decline from past years.
According to Atari, its total sales for 2010 amounted to €41 million, down 55.7 % from the €92.5 million earned during the same timeframe in 2009. The biggest drop was in retail sales, which was down €66.8 million to €22.6 million. However, the publisher did manage to see some pretty major improvement with its online revenue, which was up 493 % from €3.1 million to €18.4 million.
According to CEO Jim Wilson, though, it sounds like Atari isn’t too upset with these numbers:
“Our nine-month revenues are in line with our outlook and show a continued shift toward fewer but more profitable retail releases and the growing online games market … We launched Champions Online in the free-to-play model in January 2011, and the initial results have been promising. We have also launched Test Drive Unlimited 2 in line with our forecasts and to positive ratings in US and Europe.”
Atari’s increased online sales aren’t too surprising, seeing as how the company’s got two major MMOs in its stable now. Champions Online just went free-to-play, too, which Atari is hoping will generate even more revenue.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
