Remember Sony's "dick deal" (using Jeff's words) to publish Ghostbuster's in Europe? Amongst the hysteria I made a post over here suggesting Atari probably couldn't afford to publish the game in Europe. Guess what. Atari Europe is DEAD as of this morning.

From Kotaku:

In Europe, Atari is no more. The company's sales and marketing staff will be transferred to the newly-formed business Distribution Partners, reports industry site MCV.

Hoping to beefed up its business resume, Distribution Partners is handling all Namco Bandai releases in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Last March, Namco Bandai picked up a 34 percent stake in Atari Europe and is expected to acquire the remaining 66 percent from Atari parent Infogrames.

"We believe that DP will become a wholly-owned Namco Bandai games company soon," said Atari's European marketing head David Miller, "but this process requires time and we will comment further when we have an anticipated closing date."

Atari in America is still alive and plans to become an online-centric content producer. Even though Atari Europe is no more, Atari will have a UK branch in a London studio opened last September and headed up by former SingStar director Paulina Bozek.

Distribution Partners will be handling Atari title Ghostbusters on non-PS3 formats in regions outside the US.

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Humble pie all around I reckon?

i dont get it..

"i dont get it.."

Another casualty of financial terrorism. Oh well.... life goes on.

Well this certainly demystifies the whole "Why this game question?" But I wouldn't really jump to the conclusion that this is some altruistic move on the part of Sony; they had a marquee title that they could get on the cheap if they moved quickly, because the previous holder had no bargaining power. By using their knowledge of Atari Europe's oncomingclosing, they basically were able to grab these rights before anyone else really could think about it. The fact that they announced it before the actual announcement of Atari Europe's closing suggests that even more this was a quick decision when they heard rumblings about a game that stands to make a fair amount of money at a bargain price.

So is Sony's quick rights buy still a "dick move?" Maybe not, but it isn't exactly a kind gesture either.

EDIT: And to call it a "bail out" isn't exactly 100% true; Sony didn't buy Atari Europe's whole game catalog or keep on their staff, just the rights to the game that the numbers probably said they have a chance to turn a major profit on.

"Well this certainly demystifies the whole "Why this game question?" But I wouldn't really jump to the conclusion that this is some altruistic move on the part of Sony; they had a marquee title that they could get on the cheap if they moved quickly, because the previous holder had no bargaining power. By using their knowledge of Atari Europe's oncomingclosing, they basically were able to grab these rights before anyone else really could think about it. The fact that they announced it before the actual announcement of Atari Europe's closing suggests that even more this was a quick decision when they heard rumblings about a game that stands to make a fair amount of money at a bargain price.So is Sony's quick rights buy still a "dick move?" Maybe not, but it isn't exactly a kind gesture either.EDIT: And to call it a "bail out" isn't exactly 100% true; Sony didn't buy Atari Europe's whole game catalog or keep on their staff, just the rights to the game that the numbers probably said they have a chance to turn a major profit on."

Considering Phil Harrison's position in Atari and previous position in Sony is perfectly feasible that HE came to THEM. Them being Sony.But yes, without the full details neither of us can be sure entirely."

"get2sammyb said:

Considering Phil Harrison's position in Atari and previous position in Sony is perfectly feasible that HE came to THEM. Them being Sony.But yes, without the full details neither of us can be sure entirely."

Consipiracy? yes?  o_O"

"mordecaix7 said:

"get2sammyb said:

Considering Phil Harrison's position in Atari and previous position in Sony is perfectly feasible that HE came to THEM. Them being Sony.But yes, without the full details neither of us can be sure entirely."

Consipiracy? yes?  o_O"

So does that make sony the supervillain in the B-Movie that (a video game dev's) life is?"

"randiolo said:

"i dont get it.."

It means Sony isn't as big of a "dick" as it first seemed.  They jumped in to keep the release of Ghostbusters happening for at least the PS3 and PSP while this new Distribution Partners company gets off the ground."

"TheKidNixon said:

"Well this certainly demystifies the whole "Why this game question?" But I wouldn't really jump to the conclusion that this is some altruistic move on the part of Sony; they had a marquee title that they could get on the cheap if they moved quickly, because the previous holder had no bargaining power. By using their knowledge of Atari Europe's oncomingclosing, they basically were able to grab these rights before anyone else really could think about it. The fact that they announced it before the actual announcement of Atari Europe's closing suggests that even more this was a quick decision when they heard rumblings about a game that stands to make a fair amount of money at a bargain price.So is Sony's quick rights buy still a "dick move?" Maybe not, but it isn't exactly a kind gesture either.EDIT: And to call it a "bail out" isn't exactly 100% true; Sony didn't buy Atari Europe's whole game catalog or keep on their staff, just the rights to the game that the numbers probably said they have a chance to turn a major profit on."

Considering Phil Harrison's position in Atari and previous position in Sony it's perfectly feasible that HE came to THEM. Them being Sony.But yes, without the full details neither of us can be sure entirely."