French publisher Infogrames, parent company to Atari, has been forced to reschedule a shareholder meeting
for the third time, as less than the necessary 20 percent of shareholders attended the event last week.
The meeting was to have discussed the company’s proposed restructuring plan, which aims to resolve the company’s debt problem – previously put at as much as €197 ($250m).
The plan includes a €74 million ($94 million) rights issue, in order to ensure that Infogrames will be able to both continue operations and execute on its new financial plan. If successful, the complex plan will result in €55 million ($70 million) in surplus cash on top of eliminating the group's current debt.
"I regret that we haven't been able to convince our shareholders," said CEO Bruno Bonnell in an official statement. "With this plan, Infogrames has a real chance to restart and therefore create value, which can't happen except with this support”.
The company has now been forced to reschedule the event once again, this time for November 15th. In the meantime the company’s share price has continued to plummet, with no other major releases scheduled for the remainder of the year, following a mediocre performance from the hotly tipped
Test Drive Unlimited on Xbox 360.
[UPDATE] - Atari's PR director Andrea Schneider has written to us to refute our characterization of Atari's catalog for the remainder of the year.
She notes, regarding the perceived lack of major releases: "On October 31 we are releasing
Neverwinter Nights 2 for the PC. This is the sequel to one of the best-selling and most popular RPG games to date and the entire community is extremely excited about this upcoming release. In November, we will also release the first
Dragon Ball Z game for the Wii platform –
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2.
DBZ is one of the most successful franchises of games out there. The Wii version is highly anticipated and has been generating great press coverage."
She continues: "As we move further into Atari’s fiscal year, we will also be releasing
Arthur & The Invisibles, the video game (multiple platforms) that will coincide with the release of Luc Besson’s upcoming live action/animation film in January. We also have
D&D Tactics for the PSP,
Bullet Witch for the Xbox 360,
Silverfall for the PC and
Test Drive Unlimited for the PC, PSP and PS2 (all February releases)."
Regarding the second statement on
Test Drive Unlimited, Schneider comments: "
TDU is not a mediocre performer in any country. According to NPD,
Test Drive Unlimited is currently number 4 in the US for Xbox 360. Last week, Microsoft listed
Test Drive Unlimited as the fifth top-played Xbox Live-enabled game. In addition, the game has been receiving great reviews from around the world and is currently averaging an 82% on GameRankings and MetaCritic."
