NEWS - Thursday, July 24, 2003

Atari Posts Strong Video Game Sales
Atari Posts Strong Video Game Sales in June; Significant Gain in Market Share for First Half of 2003 Atari, Inc., one of the world's largest publishers of interactive entertainment software, ranked #2 among third-party video game publishers (#3 among all video game publishers) in June 2003, with four of the Top 25 video game titles in that month, according to The NPD Group, Inc. Atari's Enter The Matrix(TM) (PS2) was the #1-selling title in June, significantly outpacing its nearest competitor. The Company's latest installment in its hugely successful Dragon Ball Z(R) franchise, Dragon Ball Z(R): Legacy of Goku(TM) II (GBA), ranked #9, while Enter The Matrix (Xbox) and Dragon Ball Z(R): Ultimate Battle 22(TM) (PSX) came in at #16 and #22, respectively. According to The NPD Group, Inc., Enter The Matrix ranked #1 among all PS2 titles for the month, #2 among all Xbox titles, and #6 among all GameCube titles, while Dragon Ball Z: Legacy of Goku II came in at #5 among all GBA titles, and Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 took the top spot among all PSX titles. For the first six months of 2003, Atari nearly doubled its market share in dollar sales, rising to the #2 slot among third-party publishers, as compared with #6 in the first half of 2002, and ranking #4 among all publishers, as compared with #8 in the first half of 2002. In the January-June period, Enter The Matrix (PS2) was #4 among all top-selling titles and the highest ranking title for the PS2 platform, according to The NPD Group, Inc./NPD Funworld/TRSTS Video Games Service. Other Atari stand-out performers among the top-selling titles for the period included Dragon Ball Z(R): Budokai(TM) (PS2) which came in at #13; Enter The Matrix (Xbox), which claimed the #15 slot overall and was the highest-ranking Xbox title industry-wide in the period; and Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 (PSX), which ranked #25. By platform, from January-June, Atari's top sellers included Enter The Matrix, the #1 title for both the PS2 and the Xbox, and the #5 title for the GameCube; Dragon Ball Z(R): Legacy of Goku(TM), which claimed the #20 slot among all GBA titles; and Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22, the #1 PSX title.Source: http://www.xboxaddict.com/