Atari reforms: Harrison out, Bushnell in

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell has rejoined his former publisher through appointment to its board of directors, while other board members such as Phil Harrison have now officially left the company.

Bushnell – a widely-applauded entrepreneur who helped establish the home console business – will join the company along with online business veteran Tom Virden.

Those two appointments come as former PlayStation WWS boss Phil Harrison now officially resigns from the company, joined by outgoing board member David Gardner.

Both Harrison and Gardner had been central in reinventing the Atari brand. Joining the group in 2008, their plans were building momentum but were quickly dashed as Namco Bandai swooped in to acquire the business.

Harrison found himself no longer the Atari president, while Gardner resigned as CEO soon after. As their tenure on the Atari board has expired, both have now left the company completely.

Now Atari is in the process of reinventing itself once again, with the firm praising the appointments of Bushnell and Virden.

We are convinced that their deep industry, technology and online business knowledge will be a substantial addition to the strategic insight of our board”, said the group.

Nolan Busnell said he was very excited to be reacquainted with Atari at a time when it is poised to make interesting strides in key growth areas of the games industry”.

He added: The company and its iconic brands have always been important to me, and I look forward to further guiding them at the board level.”