The firm wants the US business, and three other companies, Atari Interactive Inc., Humongous Inc. and California U.S. Holdings Inc, to be treated as a separate entity from the French operations and has filed bankruptcy on them all in one case in a New York court.

Atari is the firm that gave the world Pong around forty years ago. It has shown its face in gaming circles ever since. It wants to continue its successes, but in a different way. In a statement the firm said that splitting is the best way of keeping things together.