Atari Pulls Out of E3: Sony Pulling Strings?
- Scribbled on May 13th, 2009 by Jonah Falcon
- Filed in E3, Editorial Content, Industry News, WTF
Atari has announced it would pull out of E3 2009, stating:
Atari has made the proactive decision to attend but not exhibit at this year’s E3 event. Although we feel E3 benefits the entire games business, we are very focused around other selling and marketing initiatives for our upcoming Ghostbusters, Champions Online and other to be announced titles.
It’s a pretty bizarre decision for a company that has just been crawling out of oblivion, with its first strong lineup in probably over a decade. Why would it suddenly bury its games? It’s a pretty strong indicator that Sony has a lot to do with the decision, after Atari sold EU publishing rights to them.
Let’s examine this game by game:
- Ghostbusters: The Video Game: The game is coming out in North America the same day of E3, so E3 won’t really help the title. But Sony would benefit from less publicity for the title in North America, since it’s getting limited time exclusivity in Europe. Why publicize a Wii/Xbox 360/Nintendo DS game that’s being released the same time as the PlayStation 3/Playstation 2 and future PlayStation Portable game? What a coincidence, huh?
- Champions Online: Let’s see: Champions Online is coming out for the PC and Xbox 360, while DC Universe Online will be shown off at E3, which is for the PC and PlayStation 3. What a coincidence, huh?
- Tekken 6: For the first time, Tekken will be on a non-Sony console on same release day. What a coincidence, huh?
- Ready 2 Rumble Revolution: A major exclusive sports title for the Wii. What a coincidence, huh?
One last “coincidence”:
- Phil Harrison is now at the head of Atari; he used to be the PlayStation 3 boss at Sony.
On the other hand, Harrison ruined Sony, ruined Infogrames, and now is ruining running Atari. What a coincidence, huh?
(Thanks, GamesReports.)
May 13th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Harrison ruined Sony, ruined Infogrames ?
are you f—king brain dead or what ?
May 13th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Um, yes. The PS3 is in 3rd place, and will remain there til the Xbox 720 and Wii 2 are released.
Infogrames went Chapter 11.
Please don’t act like the PS3 has had the same success as the PS2. And let’s check the worldwide numbers for the PS3 and PSP while we’re at it.
It’s called “reality”, darling. If Harrison was so good, why was he fired?
May 13th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
man your f—ing delusional, coincidence, huh?
(The fox is always the first to smell his own hole. – Jonah Falcon)
May 13th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
JESUS CHRIST!!!!!
Harrison was the head of SCEWWS,you know the BEST 1st party studios of the 3 platform holder,see he did his job better than anyone else
BTW how is your Dreamcast?!
(My quad-core PC is just fine, thanks. – Jonah Falcon)
May 13th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Since When is Tekken 6 an atari IP ??? its a Namco Bandai games properties and unles s I’m wrong they are developing it and they are publishing it. Correct me if I’m wrong but if I’m right get your facts straight
[htwww.gamesindustry.biz/articles/atari-officially-pulls-out-of-e3
Upcoming titles from Atari include Tekken 6, a new title from Q Entertainment with the working title of QJ and Ready 2 Rumble Revolution for the Wii. - Jonah Falcon]
May 13th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Lol, are you high o_o’ ?
May 13th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Paranoid much?
[No, just observant. - Jonah Falcon]
May 13th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
You forgot to mention how this site is called Game Stooges!
What a coincidence, huh?
You guys are retarded!
May 13th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
MY E3 prediction for the PS3
- Next INSOMNIAC’s game is a new IP, not a Resistance or Rachet & Clank sequel.
- MORE PS3 RPGs and MMO’s
-The Team ICO’s game and Twisted Metal.
-More Feature to the PSN and HOME.
-NEW PSP HARDWARE and many NEW GAMES for it.
-SLY COOPER 4 and a New game from Guerrilla.
-WARHWAK 2 and Dave Jeffe’s new game.
For 360,
-A lot of multiplatform titles.
-GTA4 second DLC (Boring)
-Many sequels
May 13th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
LOL Phill did not get FIRED, he was the one that wanted to try new grounds. Phill worked with Sony since the early 90’s so he had a lot to do with the PS1’s and Ps2’s great success. If anything he is a mastermind when it comes to the video game industry. Oh and just to clear things out, Phill did an amazing job with the PS3’s launch, with all the negativity that kept on steaming from Sh&^ heads like your self, Sony needed someone strong and capable of sustaining the PS business until the sh&^ storm calmed down.
Infogrames had many unwise decisions under their belt, decisions Phill had no control over.
And Teken6 is to be published by Namco, because well Namco owns the IP, *sigh* do some research before you come out looking like an internet clown.
May 13th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Seriously I red this article, left in disgust. Then came back… REALLY???? I’m not trying to be mean but this is litteraly one of the worst articles I’ve read on the internet. I mean you even kept repeating
“What a coincidence, huh?”
How old are you 5? I know this will definitely get modded. But still you should know.
May 13th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Wasn’t Atari going under before Harrison took the reigns of the company, and wasn’t that the whole point of him going there, to save the damn place? I think your giving Sony way too much credit. Also the only two games I’m interested and care about that you listed are Ghostbusters and Tekken 6, but what does Tekken 6 have to do with Atari as that is Namco Bandai property?
May 13th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
OK, is this serious?
First of all, Namco is developing/publishing Tekken 6 in NA/Japan, and Tekken 6 will be there regardless of whether Atari is not.
Your R2R Wii reasoning doesn’t make any sense. Wii and 360 exclusives are coming from several different publishers. R2R hasn’t been a good franchise in 10 years. Why break a sweat over that game?
Champions Online, again, several other MMOs will be shown. Further, neither game is due out any time soon anyways.
Also, if Phil Harrison being at Atari is some sort of conspiracy, what does that make Peter Moore at EA?
Anyways, thanks for the laugh.
May 13th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Wow…this is simply the stupidest thing in the world.
First of all to the moron saying PS3 is third, check out the average consoles sold per year and tell me which one averages the least.
Second, and on to the “article”, just saying coincidence after a sentence doesn’t actually make it a coincidence. You need a thing called evidence or at least some valid theory. All you did was saying coincidence.
gamestooge.com in Microsofts pocket, publishing anti-PS3 article…coincidence huh?
Idiot.
[Ad hominem abusive. For one, I don't get paid at all by anyone. - Jonah Falcon.]
May 13th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
What a stooge this writer is. This article is full of holes. Garbage.
May 13th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I hope you guys defend your mothers and wives as passionately as you’re defending Harrison. Who gives a damn where he worked at in the past. The fact that he is head of Atari and Atari has been in the cellar for some time now, it is strange that he wouldn’t want to market his products.
So instead of cussing this guy out, STFU and try and understand his point you imature clowns.
May 13th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Terrible misinformed article by a poor excuse for a journalist. It’s also shameful that you felt the need to edit people’s comments Jonah, very childish.
[No edits. Just making comments. - Jonah Falcon]
May 13th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
“Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion” is published by Atari in Europe under their Infogrames Entertainment label, so at E3 walk over to the Namco Bandai booth and play it there.
Ever tried Google before? Or at least visited the publisher homepage by lets say, simply adding a .com to its name? To show your readers that you were at least trying to put a good article together?
May 13th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
This is so uninformed it’s fascinating. Utter, utter trash – be sure to check back later when it’s been proved how wrong this nonsense is.
May 13th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
since when does atari have tekken its namaco’s franchise
May 13th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
haha you’ve worked the droids in a frenzy. They can’t argue those BOLD coincidences so they attack you as a reporter.
I think you spelled it out clearly that those games Sony are publishing exclusively are being pulled from the company. Sony are a dirty underhanded bunch, they proved it when the got into the console business and both Nintendo and Sega felt it. I don’t put this past them at all.
May 13th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
This is the worst article I’ve read in all my life. That is a true accomplishment.
I’ll never return to this website ever again. What a coincidence, huh?
May 13th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
omg your “article” makes no sense
just some Sony hater trying to create more hate
it makes sense getting out of E3
see their games are good, but not SUPER AWESOME! so it will be buried under the hype of games like God of war 3, Possible MGS5 and Heavy rain and so on
getting out of E3 so that you can get the attention at another time = smart
May 13th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Harrison ruined Sony you say? Deary me, I wonder how you’ve even gotten into games journalism. Ah well, what can you do when anyone with a website and the basic ability to string words together can consider themselves to be a journalist.
Wii – 49.64M
360 – 30.28M
PS3 – 22.20M
Want to compare next the Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube and Xbox numbers from the last gen? – Jonah Falcon
May 13th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Please stop sending these non-news things to sites like n4g. It’s cluttered with enough BS as it is…
[You mean like this? Thanks, but no thanks. I'll post my own unbiased, informed editorials. Feel free to debate the article and not the site nor me. - Jonah Falcon]
May 13th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Why do you guys keep on commenting? The writer is obviously retarded. If he was smart he would realize that Sony really has no initiative to keep Atari from E3 because Atari has about oh maybe 1 good game coming up not including Tekken 6. I’m not including Tekken 6 because it is developed by Namco Bandai and not Atari and if you don’t believe me Mr. Falcon, look it up on Gamestop or IGN or any other gaming website for that matter because they all say that Namco is publishing Tekken 6. (I’m guessing you wrote this stupid uniformed article so you could get some page views for your pathetically unknown website)
[Matt, if you're going to call me "retarded", at least post your real email address.
Oh, by the way:
- Jonah Falcon]
May 13th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
I don’t get the approach and logic of this “article”, to come to the conclusion that Sony are behind Atari pulling out of E3 without any evidence or at least a “source revelation” is pretty lame journalism.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to come to the conclusion that as a company still struggling financially, the propect of spending BIG in E3 outweitghs the possible rewards for Atari in the long run!!!
On the Tekken 6, Atari are only the publishers for the game outside of Japan, and Namco Bandai are the developers, and as we all know publishers come and go !
[What's your point here? - Jonah Falcon.]
Please stick to the facts!
May 13th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
I’m still trying to figure out how not having Champions Online being shown off while DC Universe Online gets E3 publicity helps Atari.
May 13th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Lots of words, still no explanation why Sony don’t want Atari at E3.
[That's true if you can't read. - Jonah Falcon]
May 13th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
A couple of things…
First – Jonah is right. Atari IS handling the European release of Tekken 6. You can see it on their own website here:
http://www.uk.atari.com/ps3/tekken-6-303.html
Note, this has nothing to do with Japan or North America, as far as I’m aware Namco/Bandai are still handling the release there.
Now, as to the E3 appearance, I think it has less to do with Sony and more to do with Atari’s ownership, Infogrames.
Infogrames closed the deal with Atari in October, but even before then they’ve been hemorrhaging cash.
I simply don’t think they have the money to do E3 right and as Jonah pointed out, their key title is Ghostbusters and there’s no point showing it at E3 since it will be available at retail.
May 13th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
There goes this sites credibility lol.
May 13th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Look at this garbage ass website. This is the first time Ive seen the writer of the article come into the comments section just to defend his worthless, no evidence, all speculation article. Looks like this is the first and last time Ill be visiting.
[And if I'm right? PS. Plenty of writers post in the comments section. See: Joystiq, for one. - Jonah Falcon.]
May 13th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Wow. Your a moron dude. First you cant even get what games are being published by Atari. Instead you want to throw in Tekken 6 which is a Namco game. How about you pull the 360 controller out of your ass and go find another job. You suck as a writer and let’s hope this site gets shut down.
May 13th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
peter moore worked for microsoft and now for EA.
What a coincidence, huh?
May 14th, 2009 at 12:34 am
Oh Jonah you pathetically simple minded blogger. You call yourself informed…to be informed you actually have to have some information, not something that ends with a rhetorical question that doesn’t prove anything (except that you are really struggling).
Oh, I am still waiting for you to average out the year by year sales of consoles to tell me which console is really in third place.
[Jordan? Wanna help this guy out?
By the way, Cayal, d&d.com is not an email address. - Jonah Falcon.]
May 14th, 2009 at 12:45 am
The article may not have been the best, but you guys need to lay off a little bit. Maybe this was his first article or something of that nature. We don’t know, so please relax. If you don’t like whats written, click the back button on your browser.
Honestly, I didn’t think it was that bad. I’ve seen worse, for sure.
Good luck, Jonah.
May 14th, 2009 at 12:51 am
Whoever wrote this article is a stooge. When is gaming journalism (or journalism, period) going to grow up, where info isn’t based on rumors but just plain facts.
[I'll be 39 in July. How old are *you*? - Jonah Falcon.]
May 14th, 2009 at 12:56 am
@ Cayal
Using North American numbers the Wii, 360 and PS3 have been on sale head to head for 29 months.
Out of those 29 months the PS3 has come in second place FIVE TIMES. It’s been in third place the remaining 24 months. It’s never been in first place.
The 360 placed first 3 times and 2nd 21 times. It only placed third 5 times.
The Wii placed first 26 / 29 times, 2nd 3 times. It’s never placed third.
The three months where the 360 outsold the Wii were 11/2006, 12/2006 and 9/2007.
The five months where the PS3 outsold the 360 were 1/2008, 2/2008, 5/2008, 6/2008 and 7/2008.
In other words:
The PS3 has never outsold the Wii and has only placed second in 5 months out of 29.
Sounds like 3rd place to me!
May 14th, 2009 at 1:03 am
Totally off-topic, but has anyone noticed how the PS3 is selling in Japan? It’s ousold the Wii many weeks in a row now. And, by many, I mean around ten. Hehe.
:]
May 14th, 2009 at 1:06 am
English is not even my native language but this f—ing idiot seriously pissed me off to the point im writing a comment about it. Get your facts straight if E3 is at the US where NAMCO is the publisher of Tekken why the hell would it be a problem for atari to be at E3. Want a coincidence? no high profile games or New IPs avaiable for them to show >.<
Coincidence huh?
You sir take too much oxygen, die already so it doesn’t gets wasted scrub.
[Who has no high profile games? Atari? Are you serious? Ghostbusters, Champions Online, etc. - Jonah Falcon.]
May 14th, 2009 at 3:06 am
The Nintendo Wii isn’t exactly direct competition to Sony. Not marketing Ghostbusters would mean less sales in America, thus less income from Royalties to Sony, even if it’s multiplatform there, it still wouldn’t make sense for them to stop Atari from Marketing it. Tekken 6 is published by Namco/Bandai in America, meaning it’ll be at E3 regardless.
The only argument that would make a slight chance is the Champions online vs. DC Universe one, although that’s not much in comparison with what they would gain if Atari was there.
May 14th, 2009 at 3:44 am
Of course there’s no competition between the Wii and PS3 – no competition at ALL. The Wii’s sold more than twice as many PS3’s worldwide, in fact, 125% more. That’s not competition – that’s a blowout.
And please don’t try to make it sound like they’re too different. The consumer dollars went to the Wii, not the PS3.
There’s a reason a book was written 2 years ago in Japan about how Sony botched it with the PS3.
Funny how the PS3 was competing with the Wii according to Sony — until the Wii blew its doors off. Then Sony changed its tune and started bleating it wasn’t in competition with the Wii; ditto Microsoft, by the way.
May 14th, 2009 at 6:01 am
You Know the first coment is in blue the second is in white then the next blue and then the next white, Coincidence? huh?
Seriously though all slagging aside Jonah, you brought it on yourself lol.
You have valid points to make m8 but its soo general its hard to really call it news. Right now there are so many under handed dealing going on in the games industry that there are so many thing we could relate to a coincidence that we would need a website called coincidence.com. Microsoft will no doubt have some really good scoop under its belt a bit like the FFXIII thing from last year( the worst kept secret ever lol) Sony will have something to and Nintendo will err hang on I dont to rats asses about nintendo.
You’ll could end up sitting there working out conspiracy theorys too.
I have noticed that your average joe demands only two things from a gaming news website, your own opinion is not one of them lol. They either want the facts or rumours with a reliable source.
this whole article could have been rumour based and it would have not generated any of the hatred lol.
But by making it seem like a personal opinion, all hell breaks loose.
You have a nice day now jonah
PS. Nice hits for the site ?
May 14th, 2009 at 6:06 am
What are all you whining about? You don’t hear Atari complaining about it. They wanted him there remember?
Atari are still rebuilding there capitol and they don’t need to drop more expenses out on the show when they can get Sony do it if for them (and others). You’ll still see Atari games on the floor and publications that run throughout the conference. Just like every other E3. Just because the company is not participating, it does not mean that they don’t have a sponsor promoting their stuff.
Why assume it as a negative? Geez
May 14th, 2009 at 6:45 am
no point in showing it?
well than why are they showing inFamous.
thats out on the 26th of may thats before the 2nd of june isent it?
i can smell the BS from a mile away, so wake up and smell the coffee.
May 14th, 2009 at 6:46 am
yup and thats why the ps3 has out sold the wii in jappan since the beginning of 2009
May 14th, 2009 at 7:56 am
it’s a train of consequences and the last stop is the armageddon.
May 14th, 2009 at 8:27 am
sorry but you aren’t informed. this is one of the real reasons :
http://www.edge-online.com/news/namco-bandai-to-swallow-atari-europe
May 14th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Holy shit, I hate sony fanboys. This may not have been the best article i’ve ever read, but some kid literally told this Jonah fella to like go kill himself. and the rest of you are pieces of trash for like going overboard with your comments.
I think it would have been helpful to Atari to be at E3, personally, so it probably is weird that they aren’t going.
Good luck, Mr. Falcon, I feel sad you’re getting so much shit flung at you for stating your opinion, which is shady bizz. Have fun!
May 14th, 2009 at 9:45 am
[...] Atari Pulls Out of E3: Sony Pulling Strings? [...]
May 14th, 2009 at 10:22 am
So I take it the recent announcement regarding Atari leaving Continental Europe and changing gears to become an online centric content developer in the US is Sony’s fault too.
May 14th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Jordan Lund
Get a map. North America isn’t the world.
So your logic fails as does the entire premise of this article.
Once again, I ask, average out the total WORLDWIDE sales of the 360 and PS3 consoles and tell me what is truly selling the least per year.
Jonah – d@d.com isn’t an email. Good powers of investigation, I’m sure it took a while to work that out. Whatever happened to the Mail (will not be published) policy hmmm?
[What is means is you failed to provide us with a proper email, which means we have no obligation to post your comments. We haven't published your email address - just a fake one. This will be your last comment til you provide a valid one. - Jonah Falcon]
May 14th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
This site is awesome!
May 14th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Phil Harrison didn’t ruin Sony. Following his career with Sony, he was instrumental in the success of the PS1 and the PS2, and Phil Harrison did what he could to keep the PS3 going. It was Phil Harrison that told the Japanese Big-Wigs that casual gaming was the wave of the future, before the Wii gained so much popularity, and Phil was told by them that Casual Games have no market.
And Phil Harrison stepped down to lead Atari because he felt like he was spinning his wheels at Sony with nothing going on. So he decided to go to a studio where he could make the games he thought should be made.
May 14th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
360 is the best, you are the best, can I have your autograph?
May 14th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
You should just delete this article and highly consider not making more.
May 14th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/05/14/atari-finished-in-europe-namco-taking-over/
The real reason is that Atari is closing down in Europe. Namco will now be publishing Tekken in Europe, that’s also why Sony is publishing Ghostbusters in Europe. There is no conspiracy here. Atari is in dire financial trouble and just can’t afford to go there.
May 14th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
@Jonah Falcon: Please, you’re trying to throw sales figures at me as proof of what?
There’s not a marketing exec in the world that can do anything about the current gen numbers for the PS3. Studied carefully, it’s not a product that lends itself to consumerism and once the ball dropped about the price, the fate was sealed a long time prior to its release.
Phil Harrison’s involvement in SCEE was the reason why the PlayStation 2 brand is still an established force to be reckoned with. In an increasingly souring relationship (between the press, consumers and SCEE) of the PlayStation brand (due the PS3), the man maintained a great deal of poise.
Atari and Infogrames are the same company; well, the Infogrames group owns Atari. If Harrison “ruined” that company, as you claim (show me some reports please), I wonder what would give investors and the board any inclination to hire him to head it.
In addition, while I do not condone the anti-competitive behaviour regarding publishing rights for the EU, I can partly understand one of the reasons. Firstly, which is easy enough to guess: Sony acquired the rights through financial means. It’s simply business. What makes up for it is that Atari earns the majority of its revenue in the EU region (71% for the FY07/08). Sony would probably have used that to leverage itself more than anything else. It’s a less risky venture and I’m sure they payment was in kind for the loss in sales across other platforms.
I am currently waiting to get a comment from Atari.
May 14th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
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May 14th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
I offer you @Jonah much kudos for making me spend all of five minutes writing that response. And then all of a sudden, common sense resumed. Why? I decided to take a look at the rest of the site. Do carry on. I hear that N4G might be compelled to open a fiction/rant/creative writing/i-thinks-i-is-jurnaliztz section. I’ll recommend this article and site to be the first ones there
.
May 14th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Thanks for the interesting read. There’s a lot in here that I had no idea about. Take care and God bless.
May 15th, 2009 at 8:21 am
“Get a map. North America isn’t the world.”
Just wondering, does Sony earn extra points for selling in Japan? When you can sell more units in a single November *or* December in North America than you can in an entire YEAR in Japan….
May 16th, 2009 at 12:18 am
Poor poor Jonah, still struggling with the simple things.
First of all you lack of ability to answer the simple questions is astounding. I guess truth does hurt.
Second, Japan matters in the overall scheme of things. For example, looking at the April NPD numbers where the 360 sold more then the PS3. Sure.
Now we add in the Japan numbers.
Add them together and guess what? The PS3 outsold the 360…well isn’t that something?
Of course, when the PS3 has been selling at a better rate then the 360 in its existence (better year over year sales, hit 20 million much quicker then the 360 did etc.), it’s not that surprising, you just have to look at the whole picture.
But Jonah, continue to ignore the facts for baseless speculation, it’s all just coincidence, huh?
May 18th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
[...] must wonder if this will give DC Universe Online even more lead time, in addition to having E3 all to itself. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
May 29th, 2009 at 9:03 am
[...] Worldwide Studios. Make of that what you will, especially in light of Harrison’s decision to pull Atari from E3 this year. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share [...]