Atari's restructuring is speeding up. Atari began its radical restructuring effort on October 5 when Atari’s French parent Infogrames demanded that Atari remove five members from its Board of Directors and appoint a Chief Restructuring Officer. Ten days later, Atari appointed four new board members and appointed Curtis Solsvig III as the company’s Chief Restructuring Officer.

Today, Atari announced in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the current Chief Executive Officer of Atari, David Pierce, has resigned. While Pierce undoubtedly resigned so that he would receive a decent severance package, it seems unlikely that this was an entirely voluntary departure. CRO Solsvig will take over Pierce’s responsibilities while Atari searches for a new CEO.

Furthermore, Atari announced some of its plans to rearrange its business in an effort to bring Atari back to profitability. Atari has agreed, in principle, with Infogrames not to do any more production or quality assurance for its French parent. Instead, Atari will focus on publishing and distributing games from its partners (particularly games from Infogrames).

Also, Atari has licensed its Test Drive franchise to Infogrames for the next six years. Infogrames will owe royalties to Atari, but Infogrames will pay Atari a $5 million advance on its royalties immediately. Because Atari and Infogrames are related companies, this licensing agreement is a creative way of moving cash from Infogrames to Atari so that Atari can continue operations.