The Atari Group provides an update on recent business developments and its perspectives on the occasion of the Game Developer...
18 Março 2019 - 5:12PM
The Atari Group provides an update on recent business developments
and its perspectives on the occasion of the Game Developers
Conference 2019 in San Francisco
The Atari Group provides an update on
recent business developments and its perspectives on the occasion
of the Game Developers Conference 2019 in San
Francisco
Press release – Paris & New York,
March 18, 2019 at 9pm CET – On the occasion of the Game
Developers Conference (« GDC »), one of the industry’s
largest annual events being held in San Francisco until March 22,
2019, the Atari Group provides an update on recent developments for
its four business units and their perspectives.
- Atari Games: the video games division, led by
Jean-Marcel Nicolai, represented 84% of Group revenues in the
fiscal year 2017/2018 and constitutes the Group’s DNA. Atari Games
continues its strong growth thanks to RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch,
the launch of new games and new licensing agreements.
- Atari VCS: the hardware division, led by
Michael Arzt, will start contributing to Group revenue in the
fiscal year 2019/2020, as initially expected. The Atari VCS will
now be powered by the new, more powerful AMD Ryzen chip. The
incorporation of the new processor will lead to a delivery at the
end of 2019 of the pre-orders made through the Indiegogo platform,
with a commercial launch in 2020. Discussions with distributors are
ongoing.
- Atari Casino: the regulated online real-money
gaming division, led by Frédéric Chesnais, represented 10% of Group
revenues for the fiscal year 2017/2018, mainly through licensing
activities. Atari Casino has strengthened its partnership with
Pariplay through the acquisition in December 2018 of a 2.5%
stake in the latter in exchange for the extension of the ongoing
game licensing agreement. Pariplay is one of the Group’s partners
in the development of the Atari Lotto project.
- Atari Partners: the fourth division is that of
partnerships and technology. Led by Frédéric Chesnais, it
represented 6% of Group revenues for the fiscal year 2017/2018.
Recent developments include notably (i) in the blockchain domain,
the redefinition of the contract with Infinity Networks and the
development of two new projects, and (ii) a review of the
participation in Kizzang.
At the holding company level of Atari
SA, the Group is working on a secondary listing on the
Nasdaq First North segment in Stockholm.
Frédéric Chesnais, Atari CEO, said: « The
Game Developers Conference always represents a good opportunity to
review our recent achievements and the outlook for each aspect of
our business, each of them advancing at their own pace and
following a specific cycle. Our objectives for the next few years
are clearly identified: continue our investments in games, our DNA;
establish Atari VCS as a platform of reference, supported by a
strong online community; develop Atari Casino through selective
opportunities; position ourselves for the long-term in the
blockchain space, by developing decentralized platforms in the
Entertainment space alone or with partners. Finally, to further
improve our visibility, we are studying a possible secondary
listing of the Atari shares on the Nasdaq First North segment in
Stockholm, which is already home to a number of well-known
videogame companies.”
Atari Games:
- RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch is celebrating its
two-year anniversary this month and continues its strong
performance with an average of 175,000 daily active users and over
20 million downloads since the game’s release. It has been enriched
with several game updates and was recently launched in South Korea
and Japan in fully localized versions, managed directly by the
Atari Group. The Chinese version is operated by a local partner and
has just been featured in the App Store in China.
- RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures released on
December 13, 2018 on Nintendo SwitchTM and became the first game in
the RollerCoaster Tycoon franchise to be available on Nintendo’s
new flagship console. The game is a casual game, including over 120
different types of attractions that players can build while playing
on their TV or on the go. Press outlet Gaming Age gave the title an
A review grade. As a result of its success, a PC version of the
game has been developed and an exclusive distribution agreement
will be announced during GDC.
- Citytopia, a new city-building simulation
launched worldwide on iOS on January 31, 2019. The game
launched with a global feature by Apple on the App Store, a
four-star rating and has reached over 380,000 downloads. The
Android version will launch on Google Play after GDC.
- Foodgod’s Food Truck Frenzy, is a match3
puzzle mobile game developed in partnership with Foodgod (Jonathan
Cheban). The game is currently in soft launch in Australia, New
Zealand and Denmark. The rollout in further countries on the App
Store and Google Play will start the week following GDC.
- Days of Doom is one of the first
post-apocalyptic survival RPGs on mobile platforms, iOS and
Android. The game was launched on February 20, 2019 first in select
territories.
- Ninja Golf an action-oriented mobile game
based on the Atari classic features combative golfing and deadly
ninjas. The game will launch in March 2019 first in select
territories.
- In the licensing activities, the Group is
continuing to actively work on the conclusion of definitive
agreements. Tastemakers LLC, has launched a series of arcade
machines under Atari license in a compact design, and as a result
of the success of these machines the licensing agreement with the
company has been extended until 2024. Concerning the licenses for
televised game shows, where the Atari Group has developed 2
concepts Player Up and Codebreaker, (with a net asset value of
€1.8M), the economic potential of these projects will be assessed
based on definitive distribution and licensing agreements currently
under negotiation.
Atari VCS:
- Over the past several months, the engineering team behind the
Atari VCS project has worked in close collaboration with the teams
of chip manufacturer AMD on the system architecture. In order to
deliver the best possible user experience, the Atari VCS will now
be powered by the more powerful AMD Ryzen chip. This new processor
from AMD’s latest generation will replace the model originally
selected in 2017 and will significantly improve the performance of
the VCS, notably offering enhanced native 4K video
capabilities.
- The incorporation of the new processor will lead to a delivery
at the end of 2019 for pre-orders made through the Indiegogo
platform, with a commercial launch in 2020. The VCS will start
contributing to Group revenue in the fiscal year 2019/2020, as
initially expected.
Atari Casino:
- Pariplay, Ltd: The Group has strengthened its
partnership with Pariplay through the acquisition in
December 2018 of a 2.5% stake in the latter in exchange for
the extension of the ongoing game licensing agreement.
- Atari Lotto: In order to pursue the
development of the activity, Atari is working on Atari Lotto, a
subsidiary dedicated to direct and indirect exploitation of casino
games, scratch games and small lottery games on mobile and online
platforms. The Group is working on a specific fundraising plan,
which is described hereafter.
Atari Partners:
The Atari Group remains fundamentally convinced
of the long-term potential of the blockchain technology and has
decided on the one hand to redefine its licensing agreement with
INL in a mutual agreement, and on the other hand to pursue two
specific projects, a game financing platform and an Atari Lotto
platform. INL’s approach is much broader, which justifies the
existence of two very targeted projects with different
dynamics.
- Infinity Networks Limited (INL). Atari is in
the process of renegotiating the agreement with INL, taking into
consideration the recent evolution of the blockchain and
cryptocurrency space as well as INL’s specific requirements. Atari
would increase its stake in INL from 15% to 30% with a limited cash
investment, while also redefining INL’s commitments, with a brand
licensing agreement over 10 years combined with near-term
development milestones and a quarterly payment schedule of
royalties.
- Atari Capital is a game financing platform
under development. The platform would utilize blockchain technology
to automate the distribution of game revenues to their investors.
Atari is studying with Entoro Capital a potential private placement
of preferred shares of Atari Capital, an entity currently in
formation, which will be entitled to dividend distributions based
on the performance of the games financed through the platform. This
fundraising would not lead to any dilution at the level of Atari,
SA.
- Atari Lotto is an online real-money gaming
platform, utilizing blockchain technology to track certain
payments. The main target is Europe, through the agreement with
Pariplay, Ltd, as well as specific opportunities in Africa under
local operating licenses. Atari Lotto notably benefits from the
license obtained from Kizzang for a duration of 10 years. Atari is
studying with Entoro Capital a potential private placement of
preferred shares of Atari Lotto, an entity currently in formation,
which will be entitled to dividend distributions based on the net
revenues generated by Atari Lotto and which could be converted into
no more than 10% of the share capital of Atari Lotto. This
fundraising would not lead to any dilution at the level of Atari,
SA.
- Kizzang. Atari has built a minority stake in
Kizzang during the fiscal year 2016/2017 through the exchange of
Kizzang shares against a 5-year Atari game license. In fiscal year
2017/2018, Kizzang granted Atari a 10-year license covering patents
and related assets, which will be used by Atari Lotto. The book
value of the license is nil, although it offers promising
perspectives. The royalties due for this license can be paid up to
two thirds of their amount by remitting shares of Kizzang valued at
their acquisition cost. The Securities and Exchange Commission
having recently filed a complaint against Kizzang’s management for
fraud for raising cash from certain investors other than Atari,
among other things, the Group will reevaluate this minority stake
(€2.0 million as of September 30, 2018), taking into account that
the value of the Kizzang shares can also be considered as an
advance on royalty payments for the license.
Atari SA – Project of a secondary
listing of the shares on the Nasdaq First North segment in
Stockholm
Atari, SA has applied for a secondary listing of
the Atari SA shares on the Nasdaq First North segment in Stockholm,
an exchange that is home to a number of well-known video game
companies. This listing will be achieved without any issuance of
new shares, but through the listing of existing shares, which will
be placed in a retail offering in Sweden for an amount around €1
million.
These existing shares will come from a share
buyback on the French market, through the implementation of the
share buyback program authorized by the General Meeting of
Shareholders on September 28, 2018. A description of this share
buyback program limited to a maximum amount of €1 million will be
published by way of a separate press release prior to its
implementation.
In order to guarantee the delivery of these
shares in Sweden and to provide the company with full flexibility
in its implementation of the share buyback program Ker Ventures,
the holding company of Frédéric Chesnais, has given its approval to
the Board of Directors for a temporary non-remunerated stock loan
that would cover the maximum amount of the placing.
Disclaimer
There is still inherent uncertainty in the
completion of these projects, their operating budget and financing
plan, and the failure of these assumptions to materialize may
affect their value.
About Atari
Atari, comprised of Atari SA and its
subsidiaries, is a global interactive entertainment and
multiplatform licensing group. The true innovator of the video
game, founded in 1972, Atari owns and/or manages a portfolio of
more than 200 games and franchises, including globally known brands
such as Asteroids®, Centipede®, Missile Command® and Pong®. From
this important portfolio of intellectual properties, Atari delivers
attractive online games for smartphones, tablets, and other
connected devices. Atari also develops and distributes interactive
entertainment for Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo game consoles. Atari
also leverages its brand and franchises with licensing agreements
through other media, derivative products and publishing. For more
information: www.atari.com and www.atari-investisseurs.fr Atari
shares are listed in France on Euronext Paris
(Compartment C, Code Isin FR0010478248, Ticker ATA) and are
eligible for the Nasdaq International program in the United
States (OTC - Ticker PONGF).
Contacts
Atari - Philippe Mularski,
CFO
Calyptus - Marie Calleux Tel +33 1 83 64 61 57 -
pm@atari-sa.com
Tel + 33 1 53 65 68 68 – atari@calyptus.net