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Hasbro Interactive

American video game production and publishing company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hasbro Interactive
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For information on the Atari brand and its history, see Atari. For the current video game publisher, see Atari, Inc. (1993–present).

Hasbro Interactive, Inc. (Currently named Atari Interactive, Inc.) is the former video game subsidiary of board game and toy manufacturer Hasbro.[1] Originally formed in 1995 and headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts,[2] Hasbro Interactive initially published titles based on existing owned Hasbro IP, such as Monopoly and Mr. Potato Head before branching off into publishing third-party properties such as Frogger.

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Following buyouts of Atari's assets, MicroProse and Avalon Hill in 1998, Hasbro Interactive became one of the largest video game publishers in the world; however, after major financial struggles and losses corresponding from the Dot-com bubble, Hasbro sold the entirety of Hasbro Interactive, excluding Avalon Hill, to French holding company Infogrames Entertainment SA in December 2000. Following the closure of the sale, the company was renamed as Infogrames Interactive, Inc. and its purpose was reduced to becoming a copyright holder for properties formerly published under the company, with publishing transferring over to other Infogrames subsidiaries. After becoming Atari Interactive, Inc. in May 2003, it currently fulfills as the owner of the Atari brand name.

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History

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As Hasbro Interactive

Early history

Hasbro Interactive was formed late in 1995 to allow Hasbro to enter the video game market. Several Hasbro properties, such as Monopoly and Scrabble, had already been made into successful video games by licensees such as Virgin Interactive. With Hasbro's game experience, video games seemed like a natural extension of the company and a good opportunity for revenue growth. Hasbro Interactive's objective was to develop and publish games based on Hasbro properties.

In January 1997, the company announced they would publish games for the PlayStation.[3]

Strong growth (1997–1999)

In 1997, revenues increased 145% going from US$35 million to $86 million.[4] Hasbro Interactive was growing so fast that there was talk of reaching $1 billion in revenues by 2002.[4] They began to engage in some other video game licensing, such as licensing Frogger from Konami. They sought to use Hasbro board game brands and Wizards of the Coast properties as leverage to increase revenues.

Hasbro Interactive embarked on both internal and external development, and acquired some smaller video game developers and publishers along the way. On February 23, 1998, JTS sold the Atari brand name and intellectual properties of Atari Corporation to HIAC XI, Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary created in Delaware for the purpose of the purchase.[5] Hasbro Interactive then renamed HIAC XI, Corp. as Atari Interactive, Inc. in May 1998 and would use the Atari brand name to publish retro-themed remake titles.[6] On the 21st of that month, Hasbro announced that a remake of Centipede would be released for the PC and PlayStation.[7] Throughout 1999 and 2000, games like The Next Tetris, Missile Command, Pong: The Next Level, Q*Bert, Glover, Nerf Arena Blast and Breakout would be released under the Atari branding.

On August 4, 1998, the company acquired the rights for 300 games when they purchased Avalon Hill for $6 million,[8] and followed this up on August 14 by purchasing MicroProse for $70 million.[9] With those acquisitions Hasbro Interactive revenues increased 127% in 1998 to $196 million and profits of $23 million.[4] In July 1999, the company purchased UK-based educational software publisher Europress.[10]

In 1998, Hasbro signed an agreement with Majesco Sales, whereas Majesco would publish/distribute games under a licensing agreement for various Nintendo consoles, notably the Game Boy Color.[11] Majesco and Hasbro also worked on the Sega Dreamcast adaptation of Q*bert.[12]

In April 1999, the company secured a licensing deal with Namco to develop and publish titles based on over 11 Namco franchises.[13]

Losses and dot-com bubble burst (1999–2000)

Hasbro Interactive became the number 3 video game publisher within three years of its founding. But in 1999, Hasbro Interactive lost $74 million on revenues of $237 million a growth of just 20% over the previous year.[4] Late in 1999 with several game projects underway and dozens of new employees, many of whom moved just to work for the company, Hasbro Interactive shut down several studios in a cost-cutting move. The studios affected included the former MicroProse offices located in Alameda, California, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A game development company, Vicious Cycle Software, was started by employees laid off in the North Carolina Hasbro Interactive studio closing. In 4 years, Hasbro Interactive's revenue increased 577%.

By the middle of 2000, the dot-com bubble had burst, Hasbro share price had lost 70% of its value in just over a year and Hasbro would post a net loss for the first time in two decades.[4]

Sale to Infogrames (2000–2001)

Faced with these difficulties, on December 6, 2000, Hasbro announced they would completely sell off their Hasbro Interactive division to French software company Infogrames Entertainment SA.[14] The sale included nearly all of their video game related rights and properties, the Atari brand and Hasbro's Games.com division, developer MicroProse and all of its software titles up to that point except for the Avalon Hill property. Hasbro Interactive's sale price was $100 million, $95 million as 4.5 million common shares of Infogrames and $5 million in cash.[15][16] Under the terms of the sale agreement, Infogrames gained the rights to develop games based on Hasbro properties for a period of 15 years plus an option for an additional 5 years based on performance.[16] The deal was completed on January 29, 2001. Majesco had ended its relationship with Hasbro once Infogrames took over the gaming company.[17]

Infogrames Interactive/Atari Interactive

Following the purchase, Infogrames renamed Hasbro Interactive, Inc. as Infogrames Interactive, Inc., and rebranded many of its subsidiaries under the Infogrames brand. The company ceased work as a full publisher, with these responsibilities transferring over to sibling company Atari, Inc. in North America, which had a similar pattern of renamings from GT Interactive and Infogrames, Inc. The company at this point only existed as a license and copyright holder for any properties formerly published under Hasbro Interactive[18][19], alongside new titles published under the Hasbro licensing deal, as well as continuing to own the Atari name and brands through the Atari Interactive subsidiary. In October 2001, Infogrames Interactive, Inc. licensed out the Atari brand to Infogrames' North American and European operations, which would allow them to publish new games under the brand.[20]

In May 2003, following the success of this initial run of Atari-branded products, Infogrames Entertainment SA announced that it would rebrand all its subsidiaries under the Atari banner. To prepare for this change, the existing Atari Interactive, Inc. subsidiary was merged with Infogrames Interactive, Inc. and gained the Atari Interactive, Inc. name, being a wholly owned subsidiary of Infogrames Entertainment, SA (IESA).[21][22] while the Infogrames, Inc. subsidiary licensed the Atari name and logo from Atari Interactive and changed its name to Atari, Inc.[23] using it to develop, publish and distribute games for all major video game consoles and personal computers under the Atari brand. Infogrames would still maintain ownership of the original Atari properties received through Hasbro, which are kept in their Hasbro Interactive originated placeholder, Atari Interactive, Inc.[22]

Following major money losses throughout Infogrames Entertainment SA, the company began to sell most of its operations to pay off its debt. On June 9, 2005, the company reevaluated its licensing agreement with Hasbro by selling back its fifteen-year video game licensing agreement for $65 million. Hasbro re-acquired the rights to produce video games based on the Transformers, My Little Pony, Tonka, Connect Four, Candy Land and Playskool IPs, alongside Wizards of the Coast IP Magic: The Gathering; while securing Atari a seven-year license for titles based on the Hasbro board game portfolio, consisting of Monopoly, Scrabble, Game of Life, Battleship, Clue, Yahtzee, Simon, Risk and Boggle. Atari's exclusive video game license for Dungeons & Dragons was extended for another ten years, allowing Atari to continue publishing titles based on the franchise.[24][25]

With continued money problems, in July 2007, Atari announced it had sold back the remainder of its Hasbro agreement to them for $19 million.[26] The following month, Hasbro announced they had entered into a new multi-year casual publishing deal with Electronic Arts.[27] However, Atari retained its Dungeons & Dragons license and also announced to publish a video game based on Jenga under the franchise owners Pokonobe Associates.[28]

In December 2009, Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast filed a lawsuit against Atari SA for a breach and violation of their exclusive video game contract for Dungeons & Dragons after the company sold their international distribution arms to Namco Bandai Games earlier in the year and supplying a distribution agreement with them, proclaiming that it violated their licensing agreement. Atari responded back by saying the allegations were "unfounded" and that Hasbro was attempting to unfairly obtain the license rights back.[29][30] In August 2011, the lawsuit was settled out of court with Hasbro reclaiming the licensing rights back from Atari, while Atari could continue to publish new Dungeons & Dragons titles under a non-exclusive agreement.[31]

On January 21, 2013, all of Atari SA's North American subsidiaries, including Atari Interactive, Inc., filed petitions for relief under Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in an attempt to separate itself from its profit-losing parent company.[32] They emerged from bankruptcy one year later.[33]

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Subsidiaries

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Hasbro Interactive published and distributed its own titles in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. Outside these markets, distribution was handled by various third parties including Ubi Soft in France, Leader S.p.A. in Italy, CD Projekt in Poland and Brasoft in Brazil.

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Published games (as Hasbro Interactive)

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Main article: List of Hasbro Interactive video games

Under the Hasbro Interactive name, the company published over 160 games on several interactive media.[43] Included among them are:

References

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