Atari Not Exhibiting at E3

It seems that publisher and distributor Atari will not be exhibiting its videogames at the E3 trade show, which is set to take place between June 2 and 4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

A spokesperson for Atari has talked to Joystiq and apparently said that “other selling and marketing initiatives” are more important for the company as it is preparing to release high profile videogames like Ghostbusters and the MMO Champions Online. Its president has also confirmed the news. It seems that the company is also getting ready to unveil other videogames.

The Entertainment Software Association, which is running E3, is listing Atari as one of the companies that have already reserved a booth at E3, which this year is again opened to the public after two years of moving to Santa Monica.

Even if Atari chooses not to exhibit its videogames, it can still be a part of E3, displaying its wares to journalists and other interested parties. This year’s E3 is set to be attended by around 40,000 people and all the major gaming companies will be present in Los Angeles, showing off their latest products to the world.

Recently, Infogrames, which at the moment owns Atari, talked about wide ranging plans destined to restructure the company. The distribution arm is set to be sold off to Namco Bandai, which gains a presence in the West, while Atari should move to a digital distribution model for the videogames that it publishes.

Atari has also passed on the rights to publish the upcoming Ghostbusters to Sony, which has made the game a PlayStation exclusive in PAL territories. The game is still slated to be published by Atari on the North American market. The release is scheduled for June and the game is one of the first of those orphaned by the Activision Blizzard merger to reach gamers.