Cryptic acquired for $50m

Atari’s has sold its Californian studio Cryptic for $50 million to China’s online gaming giant Perfect World, the company has said.

Cryptic was acquired by Atari 2008 for $27 million, and went on to build MMO titles such as Star Trek Online and Champions Online.

However, the studio has been losing Atari money for over two years, though trends suggested it may have pulled into profit by the end of the year.

Atari said it was dropping the firm in-line with its strategy of fewer but more profitable releases and further expansion into casual online and mobile games”.

For the full story, head over to Develop.

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