Bargain hunters can run outside and do a dance in the streets because starting on June 1st. Atari will be reducing the price points of their games to $19.99. No big deal, you say? It is a big deal because they will be discounting their entire line of present-gen titles to this new low price. This would include all of Atari’s current gen titles in the PS2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance and GameCube games. Most of Atari’s PC games will also fall into this category with the exception of recently released titles such as Dungeons and Dragons Online.
The price reduction of their old library of games is to make way for their next gen titles. The new price program is named "GamersFirst." So what sort of titles can we expect at this new low price? You’ll be soon seeing Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, Dragaon Ball Z: Tenkaichi, Indigo Prophecy, Test Drive, Matrix and a host of others on Atari’s magical low price list.
Business-wise, Atari has had a very rough time in the game industry. They reported losses which amounted to over one-third of its total revenues, according to their third quarter financial statements. Added to this, NASDAQ has threatened to pull Atari off of their stock listings because Atari shares have dipped below the required minimum stock share price of $1.00. With the new lower prices of their current-gen game catalogue, Atari is hoping to drum up some much needed revenue to keep their company afloat.
