Corylea said:
Atari/Namco is declaring bankruptcy. I wonder if that will have any effect on things.
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I'm not sure Namco Bandai is affected by the Atari affair; they bought out Atari's Europe operations in 2009.
The Leftpondian side of this case is a strategic bankruptcy by Atari US. It's aimed at getting Atari US assets out of the hands of Atari SA before they sink and take the US company down with it. Atari US has already secured funds to continue operations.
US companies pull stunts like this pretty often. Bankruptcy is used as a means of getting out from under onerous contracts or arranging a sale of assets free of inconvenient debts. It does not mean the company is going to cease operation.
As for Atari SA, the French parent, French bankruptcy law is also favorable to bankrupt companies and favors doing what can be done to maintain the bankrupt company as a going concern in the hands of present management (a "continuation plan") or the hands of a willing buyer (a "transfer plan"). A company that shows no prospect of being rehabilitated in these ways will be liquidated.
So this isn't automatically a smoke signal that spells out "Atari is going down now". But Atari SA is having difficulty raising capital from anybody at all, and unlike THQ, neither company has much in the way of attractive assets, so they may well cease operations before the end of the year.