It’s no secret that Atari has been under the gun these past years. The once-great development house needs some serious help and and their latest financial reports confirm that fact quite nicely. They went ahead and released their 4th quarter figures and while they reported a loss once again, it was considerably less than a year prior.

A year ago their quarterly loss totaled $61.7 million, compared to this year’s $3.7 million loss for the quarter. When looking at the fiscal year figures, the trend continues. Last fiscal year, Atari claimed a net revenue of $80.1 million with a net loss of $23.6 million, coming to $1.75/share. This is in comparison to last year’s net revenue of $122.3 million and net loss of $69.7 million, which comes to $5.17 per share.

So what does this mean to the average gamer? It means that Atari didn’t do a whole lot in the past year. Nothing worthwhile, that is, thus the smaller losses. It also means that Phil Harrison’s new baby needs to churn out some high-quality content if they want to have any kind of impact on the gaming industry in the coming months and years. Atari needs to really come through with some of promises they’ve been making in terms of innovative online options, and they need to do it quickly.

I’d say that Atari needs to bank rather highly on the upcoming release of Alone in the Dark and concentrate on making that game a true powerhouse this year. However, if that game flops, we might all be getting invitations to Atari’s funeral in the very near future.