Atari - Loses D&D License - Reverts back to Hasbro

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aries100

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Atarai have lost the D&D License to Hasbro due to a lawsuit going back to 2009, Gamebanshee tells. Here's the full press release, courtesy of Gamebanshee:
HASBRO AND ATARI RESOLVE DUNGEONS & DRAGONS RIGHTS DISPUTE
August 15, 2011 (Renton, WA) – Wizards of the Coast LLC, Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) and Atari, S.A. announced today the settlement and resolution of the complaint against Atari, S.A. and the counterclaims filed by Atari, S.A. against Hasbro, Inc. filed in December 2009 in regards to the Dungeons & Dragons brand.
Digital licensing rights for Dungeons & Dragons have been returned to Hasbro. Atari will continue to develop and market several games under license from Hasbro and Wizards, including the #1 Xbox LIVE® hit Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale and the upcoming Heroes of Neverwinter for Facebook. Additional settlement details remain private.
In addition, the acquisition of Cryptic Studios by Perfect World Entertainment Inc. from Atari in July 2011 has delayed the Neverwinter PC Game scheduled for release later this year. Perfect World will be investing in a more immersive experience for release in late 2012.
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More information.
 
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Daggerdale and a Facebook game: It's not lice they were doing justice to D&D anyway. Glad they lost it. Can't be much worse now, unless Hasbro starts making only a line of D&D games exclusive to Cricket cell phones....
 
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they just had bigger lawyers than atari! besides they are both economic giants who hoard the rights for this engine of great games, holding everyone else from using it and ruining the fun for everyone, it should be public domain!
 
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I'm just happy to see Atari out of the picture. I've always hated their involvement in D&D and, especially, Neverwinter Nights.
 
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After seeing the crap that called Daggerdale, I really appreciate Hasbro's decision. Whether it's a good decision or not, only time will tell. I don't think we'll see a D&D licensed, single player, deep AAA product RPG in the future. If only Hasbro licensed the D&D to some indie firms, but it seems inlikely. Maybe Bethesda buy the rights and we will see a new Oblivion with Drizzt. :)
 
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Twotricks said:
This day should be celebrated !
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INDEED my friend, indeed! Finally this scam company Atari is rid of a Liscense they only made shit with. It is such a shame that a great and popula liscense like D&D was so badly treated, and even for the Cryptic (STO & CO) disasters I hold Atari is high responsibility!

This will be a day long remembered!
 
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So who will they license to now is the question? I wonder if EA will be interested and put Bioware on it again.
 
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rikus said:
besides they are both economic giants
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Er.. are you talking about the same Hasbro and Atari as the rest of us? They are both relatively small.

Atari have done D&D proud overall, shame recent things haven't been great, but when the likes of Bioware are going to EA it was good to see Obsidian given the chance to make the type of game in NWN2 that other publishers deem non-viable. And good work nurturing The Witcher into a viable gaming franchise, even if it looks like other people might take it on further, Atari had the initial belief in the project.

So I wonder what next? I can't see much publisher demand for a AAA D&D game, the only niche I can see at the moment is an indie-like - dungeons of deldthingy or avadon-esque. Lower development costs but with old-school charm, rather than trying to make a modern style game on a budget.
 
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Thank god, it's over. The decline of Atari over the last decade was nearly as horrible as that one of Interplay. Atari today is far away from the company that originally developed games like Outcast or Alone in the Dark (the original one).

Don't think, EA is going to buy that license. They stated, they would concentrate on own IPs and step away from licencse products. In fact, Harry Potter is the last one (if you don't count the sport licenses).

Maybe TimeWarner could be interested? Activison no way, Ubisoft has already a strong Fantasy/RPG collection.
 
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You know, given that they have a relationship with CD Projekt I had always held out a vain hope that Atari would let them do a D&D game. Ah well. We'll see what becomes of it now. I can't imagine one of the larger companies actually producing something not action oriented but who knows?
 
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aries100 said:
Didn't Obsidian say the would be interested in making another Icewind Dale game? Maybe this was hint to Hasbro….
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I hope that will be the case. But if they will make it I also hope it won't be like Dungeon Siege 3. At his latest interview Feargus said the time when you spend one hour in character creation screen at the beginning of the game, was long passed and today RPGs has to be accessible to newbies.
 
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Gokyabgu said:
I hope that will be the case. But if they will make it I also hope it won't be like Dungeon Siege 3. At his latest interview Feargus said the time when you spend one hour in character creation screen at the beginning of the game, was long passed and today RPGs has to be accessible to newbies.
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I remember that comment too but I don't see what's so difficult about just having a 'quick start' that auto rolls a more or less balanced party for the hopelessly lazy and attention deficient and then have an optional advanced mod where you can do it yourself.
 
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