Atari to acquire Cryptic Studios

Atari is to acquire Cryptic Studios, the Californian MMO studio which previously developed NCsoft’s City of Heroes.

Speaking about the transaction, David Gardner, CEO of Atari, said: “The acquisition of Cryptic Studios brings to Atari an outstanding creative organisation, with a proven track record of success in the fast growing MMO category. Cryptic’s success is founded on leading-edge technology and the vision of a seasoned executive management team.”

The acquisition of Cryptic Studios comes as a significant boon to Atari’s hopes of becoming the leading publisher of online games. “This is exactly the type of company we wanted to acquire in order to build Atari in the 21st century,” confirmed Gardner.

As well as giving the publisher all of the proprietary IP, including the Champions Online and Star Trek MMOs currently in production, Atari will also benefit from ownership of Cryptic’s powerful in-house engine, scalable content development tools and online server architecture.

“We share a common vision with Atari and their leadership team,” said John Needham, CEO of Cryptic Studios. “With our game development and online platform technology skills, we’re very excited about the opportunities that this unique combination with Atari creates. I am committed to helping Atari grow into a leading online game company and look forward to being part of the team.”

To fund the new acquisition Atari is planning to issue bonds giving access to the company’s capital.