May for Alone in the Dark

By Robert Purchese Published 17 January, 2008

But Atari fed up with hardcore market.

Atari has ended speculation and confirmed a May release for Alone in the Dark on 360, PC, Wii and PS2.

A little later than its expected March release, but earlier than the rumoured September slip. PS3 offering missing in action, presumably still "to follow".

Confirmation comes by way of an interview with Infogrames/Atari big boss Patrick Leleu in French newspaper Les Echos.

Interestingly, all the recent Atari US problems seem to have taken its toll, and Leleu suggests the publisher has had enough of the hardcore market and competition within.

"We are scheduling regular releases for those [Alone in the Dark, Test Drive, Dungeons & Dragons] best sellers, but we will not position ourselves exclusively in this segment aimed at experienced gamers, which requires larger investments where competition from majors is increasingly fierce and where development cycles are getting longer, actually too long for us," admitted Leleu.

All of which sounds rather foreboding, especially as Wii and PS2 ports of Alone in the Dark have seemingly been knocked up in no time since their unveiling last November.

"Alone in the Dark will be a major release. But the company's survival does not hinge on the success of that game, although we do hope it sells millions of copies," offered Leleu as reassurance. If indeed it is reassuring and not a pre-emptive warning in disguise.

Its master plan? Casual games; the segment of the gaming market making a bigger name for itself each and every day. Probably because it makes shed loads of money for seemingly less effort.

"An Atari.com portal is soon going to be accessible, offering a series of specially developed games for playing online or downloading," he went on to reveal.

The aim is to become a well-known publisher of family games in the next three to five years. And, while Atari will try to remain independent and profitable, if a good enough offer for a merger comes along then it just might take it.

"Of course, with the sector consolidating, should a good opportunity to create value present itself, we would take a close look at it, but that's another story..."

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • redlander #1 4 years ago

    "Atari has ended speculation and confirmed a May release for Alone in the Dark on 360, PC, Wii and PS2 in May"

    May and May

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #2 4 years ago

    Where? Liar!

    Well spotted.

  • kissthestick #3 4 years ago

    Leleu suggests the publisher has had enough of the hardcore market and competition within.

    muahahaha!

  • Redeye #4 4 years ago

    not-Atari in 'we're a bit crap, really' non-shocker.

  • jellyhead #5 4 years ago

    That's what i was going to say, RedEye. Atari abandons hardcore market because the casual market will buy any old dross whereas the hardcore gamer actually wants playable products that Atari just cannot deliver.

    Bye then Atari, see ya and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out! \0/

  • dllord #6 4 years ago

    So basically they can't be arsed to put in the effort to make real next gen games and would rather churn out party games for the Wii because its cheaper and easier!

    Lazy set of bastards!

  • Mr_Bison #7 4 years ago

    F**ing Atari...where is my PS3 version????

    Company with name Atari goes bust for 3rd time story..

  • muscleblade #8 4 years ago

    I am pretty sure the 360 version with its long development time will be great. I really like what ive heard about it so far. The newly announced versions developed by another company will be inferior. The PS3 version will be a poor port of the 360 version. Still very good for a PS3 game.

  • markypants #9 4 years ago

    So is there going to be a new Test Drive on the horizon?

  • SomaticSense #10 4 years ago

    'Atari prefers big bucks potential of cheap crappy casual games and Wii mini-game releases, over - not quite as much profit earning but higher chance of critical success - expensive genuine games' shocker.

    I know Atari aren't exactly Nintendo when it comes to quality releases, but this is still a very bad sign of where the gaming industry is headed. Expect more companies to be taking this tack over the next few years as profit is more important to these companies now than making good games.

  • Triggerhappytel #11 4 years ago

    Atari are going out of business - surely it's only a matter of time now. They seem to be convinced that the casual market guarantees better sales, but that's not necessarily true - look at the relative failure of recent casual games like Boogie or RealPlay. The casual market is growing all the time and offering more and more choice, which obviously gives more competition in that field as time goes by.

    I also agree with Jellyhead and SomaticSense. Particularly with SS; I think publishers are going to invest more and more money in the casual market, likely at the expense of the hardcore. Look at all the shit Ubisoft have been publishing recently - their ratio of good games is only about one in four at the moment.

  • barnard666 #12 4 years ago

    It makes sense that publishers are doing this, they want to be in a safe sector of the market. I don't think it's a good thing, if there isn't as much competition in the hardcore market, the quality of the products will undoubtedly be reduced.

  • Vin #13 4 years ago

    That's Nintendo quality control for ya.

  • SomaticSense #14 4 years ago

    Saying that though, Nintendo are going the same way. It was made pretty clear in recent Edge articles that they will be concentrating more on casual games as well.

    I, for one, will completely give up gaming once this approach reaches it's zenith. I can't abide cheap and crappy casual games, mini-game compilations, rhythm action titles, or kareoke games. Once devs wake up to the fact that these offer them higher profit margins and give up on the expensive 'epic' titles, then I'm out.

  • mooseman721 #15 4 years ago

    If you want to sell millions, make it so it's not crap. It's simple really, hardcore gamers buy lots of games, just not shit ones.

  • The-Bodybuilder #16 4 years ago

    >"Its master plan? Casual games; the segment of the gaming market making a bigger name for itself each and every day. Probably because it makes shed loads of money for seemingly less effort."

    Yep, my wii fear is slowly being realized.
    I cannot imagine a world without "hardcore" games like mass effect, COD4, mario and metroid.

    People who think this just applied to crappy atari are in denail. Atari, EA (like'wem or not, they are the biggest) even ninty have admitted they will be going the casual route. If shareholders of other publishers see the competition making more money with less effort, money, and time, do you think they'll stand for it?
    Edited by 1 at 17/01/08 @ 14:12

  • Nithron #17 4 years ago

    What was the point in buying the name Atari when you're not actually Atari? It's really kind of pathetic...

  • jellyhead #18 4 years ago

    Nithron, to con people like me who have fond memories of gaming with Atari from years past.
    I never fell for it though, thankfully.

  • Feanor #19 4 years ago

    There's still more than enough great games to keep anyone busy unless they're unemployed and don't sleep.

  • jellyhead #20 4 years ago

    There'll be even more now that Atari won't be poisoning the well. :)

  • DanWhitehead #21 4 years ago

    Pretty much every game that the games industry was founded on (many of them made by, ooh, Atari) would be derided as "casual" were they produced today. Maybe I'm just sad because I remember when we just called them "games", and played them for fun, and didn't give a stuff whether they were "hardcore" or not.

  • Pulsar_t #22 4 years ago

    If you want to sell millions, make it so it's not crap. It's simple really, hardcore gamers buy lots of games, just not shit ones.

    Bollocks. How well did Okami sell again?

  • SomaticSense #23 4 years ago

    "Next few years? It's been happening for ages. "

    I mean companies completely giving up on 'traditional' games. It's leading up to that point for a while, your right, and has ramped up significantly since the advent of mobile phone games and - regrettably - the Wii. But soon companies will completely stop producing the more expensive games and solely concentrate on casual games.

    It'll be a sad day when that happens, and as a gaming fan I'll refuse to put any of my money in their pockets. I've been a gamer since I got my first gaming machine (the Speccy) in the late-eighties, and to see it go the way it's going and seeing my hobby start to be phased out purely to cater for the people who couldn't really give a shit, makes my blood boil.
    Edited by 2 at 17/01/08 @ 20:06

  • George-Roper #24 4 years ago

    @Nithron

    "What was the point in buying the name Atari when you're not actually Atari? It's really kind of pathetic..."

    Because Infogrames, at the time, were being aligned with shit, poorly developed, under tested games. They desperately needed a rebrand and bought Atari for that very purpose.

    Atarigrames should just fuck off and die, properly. They bought out and fucked over MANY classic UK developers, which included Ocean and Gremlin, without any long-term plan for how it would pan out. A classic case of Escom (if anyone recalls that failure).

  • Drakron #25 4 years ago

    Infogrames still did some good games, like "Alone if the Dark".

    Also they got Atari from Hasbro Interactive, that was back in 2001 after the dotcom burst ... and true, Infogrames future does not look well, this statements reminded me of Interplay.

    Also Infogrames is a example of how the gaming industry is simply advancing into the abyss ... you might cry about old developer houses but really, how long does a developer house last these days? what we seen 10 years ago is what we see now ... nothing changed except the names.