Naast giganten als Havas Interactive en Electronic Arts behoort ook Infogrames tot een van de grootste gamepublishers die er bestaan. In het verleden verwierf dit oorspronkelijk Franse bedrijf vooral bekendheid met games als Alone in the Dark en de daarop gebaseerde klonen.

De LAtimes ging wat dieper in op de historie van dit bedrijf en zocht wat feiten uit. In July, Infogrames opened a Los Angeles office to tap into the Hollywood scene. With Bell as the point man, Infogrames nabbed the gaming licenses for the movies "La Femme Nikita" and "Men in Black," as well as for the Peanuts comic strip. Infogrames also is negotiating for the gaming rights to "M:I-2" and "The Terminator."

The company's Los Angeles office, which has fewer than 30 employees, will grow to more than 100 over the next year and will become the publishing center for Infogrames' North American operations, Bell said.

"It's a tough industry, but they're not a little company coming out of nowhere. They're one of the top European publishers, and they've done this before with acquisitions in the U.K. and elsewhere," said Ed Williams, an analyst with Gerard Klauer Mattison. "There's every reason to believe they can be succe ful in North America."Een intere ant artikel als je wat meer backgroundinfo wil lezen over gaminghistorie.