Driv3r was "a half-baked product", says Atari exec

Atari's sales and marketing VP, Nique Fajors, has slammed the third instalment in the publisher's Driver series - just weeks after the franchise was sold off to Ubisoft.

Speaking at Atari's annual press event in LA, Fajors described Driv3r as "a half-baked product that was pushed out the door for revenue reasons."

Driv3r met with a poor critical reaction when it was released for PS2 and Xbox in 2004, and failed to perform well despite a high profile marketing campaign. Series creator Martin Edmondson resigned from his position at developer Reflections in December of the same year, and later sued for unfair dismissal, eventually reaching a US$4million settlement.

A fourth instalment in the series, Driver: Parallel Lines, was received slightly better by the critics - but that didn't stop Atari from selling the franchise and most of Reflections' assets to Ubisoft in a deal worth 19 million Euro.

Fajors went on to state that Atari intends to focus more on quality control in the future, and is seeking to hire development staff who feel "disgust with losing and disgust with being mediocre."

He also revealed that Atari plans to re-release titles from its back catalogue via Xbox Live Arcade, and establish a new Atari Online community.