Atari is reported to have acquired Cryptic Studios, the developer which created City of Heroes, and who is currently working on Champions Online, Star Trek Online, and a third unannounced project, $28 Million plus an extra $20 Million in potential sales incentives.

LYON, FRANCE – 9 December 2008 – Infogrames Entertainment, the parent company of Atari, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to fully acquire Cryptic Studios Inc., one of the world’s leading developers, publishers and operators of Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games.

The transaction encompasses all of Cryptic’s proprietary IP, tools, technology and work-in-progress and integrates all members of the leadership team and employees into Infogrames. This acquisition is a critical step in the implementation of Atari’s strategy to become a leading online game developer and publisher.

Cryptic is currently developing three unique MMO franchises, planned for release over the next three years on PC and next-generation consoles, including Champions Online to be released in 2009 and Star Trek Online to be released in 2010. A third game currently in development will be announced in the near future.

Established in 2000 and headquartered in Los Gatos, California, USA, Cryptic has a proven track record of delivering successful MMO franchises (City of Heroes and City of Villains sold to NCSoft) generating over USD 100 million in lifetime revenues and up to 180,000 peak subscribers.

Read more here.

 Hey news guy! =). Thanks for keeping us posted on the latest events, but should Aguire be Acquire?

Funny , though Atari (the new Atari..not the olden days one) is considered failing company. I can help but feel that most games i buy ,play and enjoy are published by Atari....

28 mil is not much money compared to gigantic Bioware deals , etc ...

But Cryptic is great developer, and let see what all this Atari deal means ?

Remember Atari is owner of D&D property ;)

Atari/Infrogrames has a nasty hit it and forget it Philosophy twoards the games they launch, this does not bode well for STO or Champions.

Hopefully the deal allows Cryptic to stay in charge of their games because if not then I think this is a deal that leads to failure. I don't trust Atari.

Yea I'm a bit scared for cryptic but I love Atari and what they've been doing with DDO hasn't been bad so...this might actually be a good thing for both Atari and Cryptic.

Bye Bye Champions Online..

Because of waiting for Infogrames ( they don't deserve the moniker Atari ) to finish their "Oh so spectacular" DRM, a finished pack for NWN2 has been sitting for over a year after it was supposed to be released ( pretty much screwing the indy devs, Ossian, who made the adventure pack, ). Go to the NWN2 official boards and see how people feel about "Atari". Even better, go to "Atari"s own boards and see.

Or how about Alone in the Dark, which was so unfinished and unplayable that they can't sell it in bargain bins.

Infogrames doesn't care one iota about game quality or their customers, they care about money. And considering they are pretty much BANKRUPT, I find it amusing that they buy another company when they can't even keep themselves in the black.

At least with NWN2, they were paired with a developer almost as inept as them ( Obsidian ). Now they get to drag Cryptic down into the mire with them also.

And if you think there will be ANY customer service with Infogrames, you might as well get that thought out of your head right now. Again, go look at the "Atari" forums and see their level of "customer service".

Please go to the Champions site http://www.champions-online.com/

All Cryptic staff are being kept on as well as all those in management and Atari has announced they will not interfere in the development of the game.

It seems after this was anounced at the champions site alot of people were starting to get nervous about this buy out and what it could mean for the champions game.So one of the Admins had to respond to all the questions being asked.Go to the web site and check out the forums on this topic.

Originally posted by Batmanlives

Please go to the Champions site http://www.champions-online.com/

All Cryptic staff are being kept on as well as all those in management and Atari has announced they will not interfere in the development of the game.

It seems after this was anounced at the champions site alot of people were starting to get nervous about this buy out and what it could mean for the champions game.So one of the Admins had to respond to all the questions being asked.Go to the web site and check out the forums on this topic.

 

Every publisher swears they won't interfere. Whether they keep their word or not is something else altogether. And frankly, Infogrames is not known for their honesty or forthrightness. I would still say a high level of caution should now be observed when it comes to Champions Online and Star Trek Online.

Don't grab any pre-orders for these games. Definitely wait until after release and the reviews come out.

Originally posted by Zorvan

Originally posted by Batmanlives

Please go to the Champions site http://www.champions-online.com/

All Cryptic staff are being kept on as well as all those in management and Atari has announced they will not interfere in the development of the game.

It seems after this was anounced at the champions site alot of people were starting to get nervous about this buy out and what it could mean for the champions game.So one of the Admins had to respond to all the questions being asked.Go to the web site and check out the forums on this topic.

 

 

Every publisher swears they won't interfere. Whether they keep their word or not is something else altogether. And frankly, Infogrames is not known for their honesty or forthrightness. I would still say a high level of caution should now be observed when it comes to Champions Online and Star Trek Online.

Don't grab any pre-orders for these games. Definitely wait until after release and the reviews come out.

Name one instance were a publisher said they would not interfere with a company and then broke that promise. Even the fiasco that happened with Vanguard was all about Sigil, and had nothing to do with SOE.

Well, hopefully Atari will make things more stable.

Originally posted by Roosevelt

Originally posted by Zorvan

Originally posted by Batmanlives

Please go to the Champions site http://www.champions-online.com/

All Cryptic staff are being kept on as well as all those in management and Atari has announced they will not interfere in the development of the game.

It seems after this was anounced at the champions site alot of people were starting to get nervous about this buy out and what it could mean for the champions game.So one of the Admins had to respond to all the questions being asked.Go to the web site and check out the forums on this topic.

 

 

Every publisher swears they won't interfere. Whether they keep their word or not is something else altogether. And frankly, Infogrames is not known for their honesty or forthrightness. I would still say a high level of caution should now be observed when it comes to Champions Online and Star Trek Online.

Don't grab any pre-orders for these games. Definitely wait until after release and the reviews come out.

 

Name one instance were a publisher said they would not interfere with a company and then broke that promise. Even the fiasco that happened with Vanguard was all about Sigil, and had nothing to do with SOE.

How about Infogrames saying Obsidian had full development control over games, but then Infogrames forced out both KotOR 2 and NWN 2? How about making a deal with Ossian ( indy devs ) to make an adventure pack for NWN 2, and then forcing the game to be  pushed back over a year from release date because they decided it would have to have a brand new type of DRM. And now that the newest Obsidian expansion pack has been released, Ossian is STILL waiting for theirs to come out.

Gee, only needed one example to show Infogrames may not stick to their word.

How about that?
 

OMG no, another one bite the dust...............

Originally posted by Roosevelt

Originally posted by Zorvan

Originally posted by Batmanlives

Please go to the Champions site http://www.champions-online.com/

All Cryptic staff are being kept on as well as all those in management and Atari has announced they will not interfere in the development of the game.

It seems after this was anounced at the champions site alot of people were starting to get nervous about this buy out and what it could mean for the champions game.So one of the Admins had to respond to all the questions being asked.Go to the web site and check out the forums on this topic.

 

 

Every publisher swears they won't interfere. Whether they keep their word or not is something else altogether. And frankly, Infogrames is not known for their honesty or forthrightness. I would still say a high level of caution should now be observed when it comes to Champions Online and Star Trek Online.

Don't grab any pre-orders for these games. Definitely wait until after release and the reviews come out.

 

Name one instance were a publisher said they would not interfere with a company and then broke that promise. Even the fiasco that happened with Vanguard was all about Sigil, and had nothing to do with SOE.

LOL name one developer EA has bought out that they have not done that to. Here is a hint; The first online game company, I can think of, that was bought out and this done to was Kesmai/Gamestorm.

While mergers are a business reality, the fact of the matter is rarely anything good comes from them.

Originally posted by Batmanlives

Please go to the Champions site http://www.champions-online.com/

All Cryptic staff are being kept on as well as all those in management and Atari has announced they will not interfere in the development of the game.

It seems after this was anounced at the champions site alot of people were starting to get nervous about this buy out and what it could mean for the champions game.So one of the Admins had to respond to all the questions being asked.Go to the web site and check out the forums on this topic.

 

what you say is true, and i have read the information on it and it sounds good. but the style of manigment will be the life or death of cryptic. i hope im wrong. i hope cryptic can survive the buyout. but i fear we are seeing the end of a great game maker .
 

Atari has the publishing and distribution channels that Cryptic doesn't have, and Cryptic has products being cooked up that Atari doesn't have.

it's a win-win for both. Atari probably will not have a say in the development at all, this is probably just a publishing /distribution deal.

Hey is worst comes to worst with this we still have DC online

Speaking of DC i wonder what they think about this

So much for Champions Online being successful. Thanks alot for selling out guys. :(

Good thing i can see comming from all this is the fact that Atari holds right to D&D , Faerun , and Baldurs Gate !

Baldurs Gate MMO by Cryptic , anyone ?

Originally posted by Lobotomist

Good thing i can see comming from all this is the fact that Atari holds right to D&D , Faerun , and Baldurs Gate !

Baldurs Gate MMO by Cryptic , anyone ?

After seeing the atrocious sequels to Bioware games made by another company under Infogrames wings ( could you imagine an mmo by Obsidian? ), I'd rather not. The sad thing is, with the sad direction SW:TOR is currently taking with micro-transaction payment schemes and whatnot, I'm not sure I even want an mmo done by Bioware itself nowadays.

Originally posted by Zorvan

Originally posted by Lobotomist

Good thing i can see comming from all this is the fact that Atari holds right to D&D , Faerun , and Baldurs Gate !

Baldurs Gate MMO by Cryptic , anyone ?

 

After seeing the atrocious sequels to Bioware games made by another company under Infogrames wings ( could you imagine an mmo by Obsidian? ), I'd rather not. The sad thing is, with the sad direction SW:TOR is currently taking with micro-transaction payment schemes and whatnot, I'm not sure I even want an mmo done by Bioware itself nowadays.

 Pretty sure Atari is behind Obsidian always pushing out crappy half finished buggy games. I really feel sorry for cryptic.

  With EA and Atari behind the scences of pretty much every new MMO these days things are looking pretty damn dark. 
 

Originally posted by Lobotomist

Good thing i can see comming from all this is the fact that Atari holds right to D&D , Faerun , and Baldurs Gate !

Baldurs Gate MMO by Cryptic , anyone ?

 Atari would just make sure it would be rushed and pushed out the dorr buggy and half finished. Sorry thanks but no thanks, better to have good memories of the old games, then modern junk and frustration with a Atari version of Balders Gate MMO.

Originally posted by Koolaider

Well, hopefully Atari will make things more stable.

 Oh really? with their 200+ million dollar debt how do you figure that?

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6157491.html

 You can bet Atari will force anything half playable out the door the min they can figure they'll make a profit on thier investment