Sponsored By

Struggling U.S. publisher and Infogrames division Atari has announced former movie and music exec David Pierce as President and Chief Executive Officer, assuming CEO resp...

Simon Carless, Blogger

September 5, 2006

1 Min Read

Struggling U.S. publisher and Infogrames division Atari has announced former movie and music exec David Pierce as President and Chief Executive Officer, assuming CEO responsibilities previously held by Infogrames founder Bruno Bonnell, as the company attempts a further turnaround. According to the company, Pierce "assumes responsibility for the operational management of Atari and will partner with Mr. Bonnell to achieve strategic objectives of the Company", but Bonnell will continue to serve as the Company's Chairman and Chief Creative Officer (CCO), steering the creative vision for Atari. Atari's recent past has been beset with difficulties, including the sale of a number of major franchises and developers, including Timeshift, Stuntman, Driver, and the Reflections and Paradigm development studios. More recently, the company has been conducting a fight against NASDAQ delisting, since it is out of compliance with the NASDAQ stock market's rule that its stock maintain a $1.00 price. Pierce's background includes executive management experience with major entertainment companies such as Universal Pictures, MGM, Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment, and served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Sony kids' music and video arm Sony Wonder. "Atari has been a cornerstone of a global cultural movement that forever changed how we experience entertainment. It's an honor for me to have the opportunity to contribute to Atari's exciting future," stated Mr. Pierce. "There's a heritage of expectation that demands a high level of responsibility to our consumers and the interactive entertainment industry. I look forward to collaborating with the gifted and passionate individuals at Atari to build on that heritage and raise the bar on what consumers can expect."

About the Author(s)

Simon Carless

Blogger

Simon Carless is the founder of the GameDiscoverCo agency and creator of the popular GameDiscoverCo game discoverability newsletter. He consults with a number of PC/console publishers and developers, and was previously most known for his role helping to shape the Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Conference for many years.

He is also an investor and advisor to UK indie game publisher No More Robots (Descenders, Hypnospace Outlaw), a previous publisher and editor-in-chief at both Gamasutra and Game Developer magazine, and sits on the board of the Video Game History Foundation.

Daily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inbox

You May Also Like