Namco Bandai swallows ATARI Europe

Namco Bandai purchased a 34 percent stake in ATARI Europe last year and are now expected to purchase the rest from ATARI parent Infogrames, effectively buying out the company.

The company's UK marketing boss David Miller stated, “We believe that DP will become a wholly-owned Namco Bandai games company soon, but this process requires time and we will comment further when we have an anticipated closing date."

It gets even more complicated, though: Distribution Partners (which PTB points out "sounds like a company name just a few steps removed from Universal Worldwide International Consolidated Regional Industries Limited, Inc.") will be handling the newly-owned releases in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

More, ATARI will still have its UK branch in London, while its American headquarters will become an "online-centric content producer". The times they sure are a-changin'.