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Atari bolsters senior management team as it shifts focus to casual, social, and mobile gaming

Robert Mattes, Owais Farooqui, and Maria Pacheco on board

Atari bolsters senior management team as it shifts focus to casual, social, and mobile gaming
To help Atari during its shift in focus to social, mobile, and casual gaming, the company has strengthened its senior management team with three new faces: Robert Mattes joins as CFO, Owais Farooqui as SVP, and Maria Pacheco as VP, Mobile.

Farooqui and Pacheco have been tasked with developing a cohesive mobile, social, and online strategy for re-introducing its classic IP to a new generation of gamers across smartphones, tablets, and the Web.

Atari is, of course, well equipped in this regard, since its portfolio of games includes such seminal titles as Asteroids, Missile Command, Centipede, Pong, and Breakout.

Visionaries

As a further sign of its growing commitment to casual and social gaming, Atari will be launching this autumn its richest Facebook experience to date in the form of Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter.

“Owais and Maria are innovative managers whose vast online and mobile success aligns with Atari’s goal of creating the best experience for players across all social and casual gaming platforms,” Jim Wilson, CEO of Atari, said.

“As we continue to evolve our business, Owais and Maria will be instrumental in helping us build the digital vision and strategy for the overall Atari brand.”

Mattes, meanwhile, will bring extensive experience from various online and micro-transaction business models to the Atari team, and will be responsible for the firm's finance, accounting, IT and administrative functions.

When Matt was 7 years old he didn't write to Santa like the other little boys and girls. He wrote to Mario. When the rotund plumber replied, Matt's dedication to a life of gaming was established. Like an otaku David Carradine, he wandered the planet until becoming a writer at Pocket Gamer.