Infogrames

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Infogrames Entertainment SA (IESA) was an international holding company headquartered in Villeurbanne, Lyon, France. It owns controlling interest in Atari, Inc., headquartered in New York, N.Y., USA, and Atari Europe. It was founded in 1983 by Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet using the benefits from an introductory computer book. Through its subsidiaries, Infogrames produces, publishes and distributes interactive games for all major video game consoles and computer game platforms.

The founders wanted to christen the company Zboub Système, but were disuaded by their juridical consultant [Author excerpt] from Daniel Ichbiah, La saga des jeux vidéo. Vuibert. 2004. ISBN 2-7117-4825-1. They then, according to Bonnell in a TV interview, used a mix-and-match computer program to suggest other names, one of which was "Infogramme": a portmanteau of the French words "informatique" (information technology) and "programme" (a computer program). The final choice, "Infogrames", was a slightly modified version of that suggestion, and is pronounced [ˌɪnfo'græmz] in IPA pronunciation.

The company logo is an armadillo (tatou in French), chosen when the company was moved to Villeurbanne. Bonnell comented: "This dinosaur (sic) is our symbol. The armadillo always survives to the changes of his environment, from the thawing of the ices, to the worst of the heat waves".

Infogrames, Inc. was also the name of the official North American subsidiary of Infogrames Entertainment SA. It was founded in 1993 as GT Interactive, and purchased in 1999 by Infogrames. In 2001, Infogrames, Inc. purchased and absorbed Hasbro Interactive, which encompassed Microprose, Atari and Game.com. In October 2001, Infogrames announced that it was "reinventing" the Atari brand with the launch of three new games. On May 7, 2003, Infogrames officially reorganized its US subsidiary as a separate entity known as Atari, Inc.. It named its European operations to Atari Europe, and kept the main holdings company as Infogrames Entertainment.

In late 1980s Infogrames was noted for its French computer games that featured often original game ideas and occasionally humorous content. Since 1996 Infogrames/Atari has acquired many companies in the video games market. In addition to GT Interactive and Hasbro Interactive, they include: Ocean Software, Gremlin Interactive, Accolade, and Shiny Entertainment.

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External links

[Neowin.net]
[Atari] profile on MobyGames

Infogrames

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