At the close of business last night, Atari reported a first quarter net loss of $7.1 million compared to a loss of $32.8 million for the same period last year.

The sale of Timeshift, Stuntman, Driver and its Reflections studio has helped Atari to claw back the deficit. Chairman and chief creative officer Bruno Bonnell made the following statement:

“We previously announced plans to streamline our portfolio of titles and our operations. Atari continues to execute on its strategic objectives.”

“Further, we are starting to see the results from our previously announced cost savings initiatives as we have reduced general and administrative expenses by 32 per cent in our fiscal 2007 first quarter as compared to the prior year’s first quarter,” he added.

Bonnell appears optimistic about the future of Atari and with the immenent releases of some great looking titles, most noticeably, Alone In The Dark, Neverwinter Nights 2 and Test Drive Unlimited, they'll be hoping for a strong end to 2007.