Despite messages to the contrary earlier this year, Atari has said that it is still supporting retailers.

Speaking at the publisher's Atari Live event in London today the company's CEO, David Gardner, said of Atari's plans for online, "that doesn't mean Atari is not in the retail business. We have not excluded retailers."

"We provide world class distribution", he went on. Phil Harrison, Atari's president, added, "Online is an accelerator for growth in our market, especially retail boxed product. In future retailers can still sell boxes, but instead of selling data they could represent play time. That's a natural evolution of this industry and nothing to be afraid of."

This comes following Gardner stating that in five years 90% of Atari's product will be online.

^{Source: MCV}