Infogrames : We are NOT a Major

Infogrames Entertainment chairman and CEO, Patrick Leleu, was speaking to French newspaper Les Echos today announced a new Atari 'portal', more development for Wii, a release date for Alone in the Dark, and the fact that this won't make his company any money for fiscal year 2008.

He also hoisted the company's battle banner for the short to medium term: it has "Wii will follow!" written all over it: "In keeping with the brand’s image and the market’s dynamics, Infogrames’ goal for the next three to five years is to become a well-known publisher of family games, not just a company famous among an elite gamer population", says Leleu.

Keeping an eye on fiscal year 2008/2009, however (an admission that 2007/2008's figures were poor) he also announced that Alone in the Dark would not ship in March (inside the current fiscal year) but instead would be moved to May 2008.

Says Leleu, "Its development is nearing completion but some scenes in this fully immersive game deserve to be more polished and we will not take any shortcuts. Of course, this will not help our sales for this year". It certainly won't, but it will, of course, also not see any potential profits from the high-anticipated game lost in the monetary woes of the last year. Remember, this was a period wherein subsidiary Atari was forced to admit that even it felt it might not be able to continue. It makes sense then to push all profits into the next year.

It makes even more sense if you don't simply ruin the look of a year (Fiscal 2007-2008) in which, as he points out, "as publishers, we have released no games for the Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox360 consoles.

"However, we have a dozen projects in the pipeline for those two systems scheduled for the coming year. As for our Wii and DS games, which accounted for a large share of our business this year, their number will double from 15 to 30 next year, thanks to investments made in 2007."

He even went as far as to explain how these new titles would reach the world: "An 'Atari. com' portal is soon going to be accessible, offering a series of specially developed games for playing online or downloading. We are going to enter into partnerships with specialized sites in order to expand our global reach". Digital downloads - that should cut even more cost - those associated with giving money to retail.

Back to the casual gamer. Apparently, his own company is not seen as a 'major' in hardcore circles - and everything to do with 'elite' gamers is - well - a bit too hard and a bit too expensive. "

In publishing, we have the opportunity to do three things. The first is to spend on the Group’s major traditional properties, such as Alone in the Dark, Test Drive, or Dungeons and Dragons.

"We are scheduling regular releases for those best sellers, but we will not position ourselves exclusively on 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."

Finally - and strangely, on the finance front, the translation of the interview sent by Atari to the video games media also contains one question and answer regarding a possible Infogrames stock split:

"Q) What about Infogrames’ plan for a reverse stock split? Please note that, in my view, this topic is of no interest and could just as well be dropped from the interview.

A) A reverse stock split can only take place during a period of stability. It could not be carried out at the end of 2007 because of the bond issue, but there will be a reverse stock split."

We've got to say why the interviewer would ask a question and then immediately declare no interest in it? We are trying to find out.