Infogrames Reports Loss, Adds CFO

French-headquartered publisher and developer Infogrames, which also owns U.S. division Atari and kids game firm Humongous, has announced a loss of 16.7 million euros ($19.7 million) for the half ending September 30, improved from last year's 26.1 million euro ($30.8 million) loss. However, much of this gain was due to the single-time sale back to Hasbro of its digital rights, which gave the company a net gain of 36.6 million euros ($43.1 million) and helped offset a much larger loss. The company had previously reported second quarter revenue of 70.2 million euros ($82.96 million), down from 99.8 million euros ($117.94 million) in the same period a year ago, but has now also released its half-year revenues, down 52 percent to 125.7 million euros ($147 million). Talking in a French press conference, news agency Reuters reported Bonnell as commenting: "This year Christmas will be complicated because there will be market disruptions tied to arrival of new consoles and also because some games makers are aggressive on prices ahead of Christmas." It's clear that the Shiny-developed Matrix: Path Of Neo continues to be one of Infogrames/Atari's key Christmas titles, and, revealing initial worldwide shipments of 1.5 million, Bonnell commented: "Shipments are satisfactory. But we have not won the war yet... We must be cautious... It will be an interesting competition to know if one wants to become an ape or a god." The company also announced the appointment of Thierry Dettloff to the position of Group Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Infogrames Entertainment, Thierry Dettloff served as an associate of Deloitte Finance in Paris, and as Chief Financial Officer at Rémy Cointreau and Alliance Santé.