Atari Interactive

Logo as Hasbro Interactive

Hasbro Interactive was formed late in 1995 to allow Hasbro to enter the video game market. Several Hasbro properties, such as Monopoly and Scrabble, had already been made into successful video games by licensees such as Virgin Interactive. With Hasbro's game experience, video games seemed like a natural extension of the company and a good opportunity for revenue growth. Hasbro Interactive's objective was to develop and publish games based on Hasbro properties.

In January 1997, the company announced they would publish games for the PlayStation.[1]

In 1997, revenues increased 145% going from US$35 million to $86 million.[2] Hasbro Interactive was growing so fast that there was talk of reaching $1 billion in revenues by 2002.[2] and began to engage in some other video game licensing, such as licensing Frogger from Konami. They sought to use Hasbro board game brands and Wizards of the Coast properties as leverage to increase revenues.

Hasbro Interactive embarked on both internal and external development, and acquired some smaller video game developers and publishers along the way. On February 23, 1998, JTS sold the Atari brand name and intellectual properties of Atari Corporation to HIAC XI, Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary created in Delaware for the purpose of the purchase.[3] Hasbro Interactive then renamed HIAC XI, Corp. as Atari Interactive, Inc. in May 1998 and would use the Atari brand name to publish retro-themed remake titles.[4] On the 21st of that month, Hasbro announced that a remake of Centipede would be released for the PC and PlayStation.[5] Throughout 1999 and 2000, games like The Next Tetris, Missile Command, Pong: The Next Level, Q*Bert, Glover, Nerf Arena Blast and Breakout would be released under the Atari branding.

On August 4, 1998, the company acquired the rights for 300 games when they purchased Avalon Hill for $6 million,[6] and followed this up on August 14 by purchasing MicroProse for $70 million.[7] With those acquisitions Hasbro Interactive revenues increased 127% in 1998 to $196 million and profits of $23 million.[2] In July 1999, the company purchased UK-based educational software publisher Europress.[8]

In 1998, Hasbro signed an agreement with Majesco Sales, whereas Majesco would publish/distribute games under a licensing agreement for various Nintendo consoles, notably the Game Boy Color.[9] Majesco and Hasbro also worked on the Sega Dreamcast adaptation of Q*bert.[10]

In April 1999, the company secured a licensing deal with Namco to develop and publish titles based on over 11 Namco franchises.[11]

Hasbro Interactive became the number 3 video game publisher within three years of its founding. But in 1999, Hasbro Interactive lost $74 million on revenues of $237 million a growth of just 20% over the previous year.[2] Late in 1999 with several game projects underway and dozens of new employees, many of whom moved just to work for the company, Hasbro Interactive shut down several studios in a cost-cutting move. The studios affected included the former MicroProse offices located in Alameda, California, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A game development company, Vicious Cycle Software, was started by employees laid off in the North Carolina Hasbro Interactive studio closing. In 4 years, Hasbro Interactive's revenue increased 577%.

By the middle of 2000, the dot-com bubble had burst, Hasbro share price had lost 70% of its value in just over a year and Hasbro would post a net loss the first time in two decades.[2]

Faced with these difficulties, on December 6, 2000, Hasbro announced they would completely sell off their Hasbro Interactive division to French software company Infogrames.[12] The sale included nearly all of their video game related rights and properties, the Atari brand and Hasbro's Games.com division, developer MicroProse and all of its software titles up to that point except for the Avalon Hill property. Hasbro Interactive's sale price was $100 million, $95 million as 4.5 million common shares of Infogrames and $5 million in cash.[13][14] Under the terms of the sale agreement, Infogrames gained the rights to develop games based on Hasbro properties for a period of 15 years plus an option for an additional 5 years based on performance.[14] The deal was completed on January 29, 2001. Majesco had ended its relationship with Hasbro once Infogrames took over the gaming company.[15]

Following the purchase of the company, Infogrames renamed the company to Infogrames Interactive, Inc., alongside rebranding many of their subsidiaries under the name as well.[16][17]

In May 2003, with Infogrames planning to rebrand all their subsidiaries under the Atari brand name, the existing Atari Interactive, Inc. subsidiary was merged with Infogrames Interactive, Inc. and gained the Atari Interactive, Inc. name, being a wholly owned subsidiary of Infogrames Entertainment, SA (IESA).[18][19] At the same time, the Infogrames, Inc. subsidiary licensed the Atari name and logo from Atari Interactive and changed its name to Atari, Inc.[20] using it to develop, publish and distribute games for all major video game consoles and personal computers under the Atari brand. Atari SA still maintains ownership of the original Atari properties received through Hasbro which are kept in their Hasbro Interactive originated placeholder, Atari Interactive, Inc.[19]

On June 9, 2005, Hasbro bought back the digital gaming rights for their properties from IESA for $65 million.[21][22] Within the deal, Hasbro purchased back the video game rights to Transformers, My Little Pony, Tonka, Magic: The Gathering, Connect Four, Candy Land and Playskool, while obtaining a 10-year exclusive deal to produce video games based on Monopoly, Scrabble, Game of Life, Battleship, Clue, Yahtzee, Simon, Risk and Boggle, alongside an expanded separate deal with the Dungeons & Dragons franchise. This ten-year deal excluding D&D was soon shortened, as on August 10, 2007, Hasbro announced they had signed a new casual game deal with Electronic Arts.[23]

On January 21, 2013, Atari, Inc. and Atari Interactive, Inc. (collectively, the "Companies") filed petitions for relief under Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.[24] All three Ataris emerged from bankruptcy one year later and the entering of the social casino gaming industry with Atari Casino.[25]