I suspect Atari is kicking themselves about now.

[Willem]

Originally posted by sophist
I don't think Atari is looking that the Civ4 sales and thinking OMG!!!!!11111 They got money for selling it. They had to have had some clue what the expected sales were and what they were walking away from. They might not be the sharpest knives in the drawer, but they're not as dumb as the OP thinks.

The thing is that the game is getting near perfect reviews. Game publishers would kill for a title like that. Civ 4 could very well end up being the game of the year, with lots of sales potential for it's expansions, and Atari let it slip through their fingers. Had they kept it, in the long run they would probably have made alot more money than they did by selling it off.

[Sirian]

That's what Take2 expected.

Here's hoping they knew what they were doing.

[spy14]

Lets hope Take 2 can release finished products.

When Atari ruin their reputation (this isn't long away I predict), whose good name will they poach then? Commodore?

[Willem]

Originally posted by Sirian
That's what Take2 expected.

Here's hoping they knew what they were doing.

So far so good I'd say. A few technical problems to overcome, but everyone seems to love the game otherwise. Looks like you guys did a great job.

[Willem]

Originally posted by spy14

When Atari ruin their reputation (this isn't long away I predict), whose good name will they poach then? Commodore?

You call that a good name? Look in the dictionary under mismanagement and you might see Commodore as one of the definitions.

[Provost Harrison]

DIE, INFOGREED, DIE!

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by spy14
When Atari ruin their reputation (this isn't long away I predict), whose good name will they poach then? Commodore?

They should get a name they cannot spoil any further. What about Microsoft?

[duodecimal]

Atari wasn't exactly a shining beacon of well-designed console releases. The release of "ET" is legendary in the annals of apocalyptic failure. It brought down the entire industry in the early 80s, far worse than the thoroughly buggered MOO3.

[Antic]

If they made Civ4 Starforce protected it would have sold even more.

I hate starforce with a vengence. Bloody virus that slow computers or worse. But fact is that it gets people to the stores instead of pirating.


Atari/infogrames = crap.

MOO3 anyone? They wouldnt let the devs of that game patch it into working state, instead they cut funding for patches and wrote it down as a loss.

[Standup]

It's difficult to know though whether Take 2 will even make a profit on Civ4. Good reviews and good sales have to be off set against the licence, development costs, marketing etc. It's not always the biggest selling games that make the most profit. It could be the deal Firaxis sold gives them most of the profits.

sales

Its a much shorter version of the original but despite huges sales of Harry Potter, Scholastic isn't making much money out of it.

[mrmitchell]

Guys, I don't know Atari's financial situation, but it could well be that they needed the hard cash from selling Civ etc. to simply continue operating.

[spy14]

Originally posted by Willem


You call that a good name? Look in the dictionary under mismanagement and you might see Commodore as one of the definitions.

This is very true, but when you mention Commodore, people think of the Amiga (A500+ - lawnmower of supercomputers!!) - and they go gooey with nostalgia. Same as when you say Atari, people think of the ST.

[Adagio]

Originally posted by Antic
If they made Civ4 Starforce protected it would have sold even more.

I hate starforce with a vengence. Bloody virus that slow computers or worse. But fact is that it gets people to the stores instead of pirating.

Actually it has the opposite effect, less people buy it because of it

If Civ IV was starforce protected I'm 99% sure that I wouldn't buy it, while now because I've testet it I'm 100% I'm going to buy it

And I know others who feel the same way. There's several games I would love to play (and buy if they were good), but because of their protection I'm staying away from them

[Willem]

Originally posted by spy14


This is very true, but when you mention Commodore, people think of the Amiga (A500+ - lawnmower of supercomputers!!) - and they go gooey with nostalgia. Same as when you say Atari, people think of the ST.

I used to be a loyal Commodore fan, I got as far as an Amiga 2000. I wouldn't consider any other machine and laughed at all those DOS users who had to peck their instructions into a CLI. Well who's laughing now eh?

[spy14]

Originally posted by Willem


I used to be a loyal Commodore fan, I got as far as an Amiga 2000. I wouldn't consider any other machine and laughed at all those DOS users who had to peck their instructions into a CLI. Well who's laughing now eh?

Workbench ruled! It's also rumoured that the greatest version of Civ 1 was the amiga's offering... I'm only 24, but if I ask any under 20's now, they question me as to what an amiga actually is. "amiga? is that spanish?"