slikmar Posted December 9, 2008 Report Share Posted December 9, 2008 Cryptic bought up by Atari. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3171726 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakSpade Posted December 9, 2008 Report Share Posted December 9, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... Cryptic bought up by Atari. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3171726 Well, hopefully this will keep them from collapsing under the stress of this economy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted December 9, 2008 Report Share Posted December 9, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... yes and another level of fingers in the pie to slow things down I wonder how this will affect DOJ in the future should there be a time limit current license that sold the Champions IP to Cryptic and then licensing back to DOJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjcurrie Posted December 9, 2008 Report Share Posted December 9, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... yes and another level of fingers in the pie to slow things down I wonder how this will affect DOJ in the future should there be a time limit current license that sold the Champions IP to Cryptic and then licensing back to DOJ DoJ's license for using the Champions IP is in perptuity. However, that license can be bought out by Cryptic/Atari for a large fee payable to DoJ -- this is according to Steve and Darren. And if this does happen, Hero Games will just create a new superhero universe to use with its product and rename its superhero genre book. The one area where I could see this deal having an effect on Hero is if Atari decides that its people in addition to Cryptic's need to be part of the approval process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted December 9, 2008 Report Share Posted December 9, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... yeah that was my fingers in the pie comment DoJ's license for using the Champions IP is in perptuity. However, that license can be bought out by Cryptic/Atari for a large fee payable to DoJ -- this is according to Steve and Darren. And if this does happen, Hero Games will just create a new superhero universe to use with its product and rename its superhero genre book. The one area where I could see this deal having an effect on Hero is if Atari decides that its people in addition to Cryptic's need to be part of the approval process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted December 9, 2008 Report Share Posted December 9, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... Always worries me when a company that was having problems, can buy another one. But I haven't been following Atari lately, maybe they're better off than they were a few years back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... IIRC, Atari has had some successful products lately, most notably for our purposes the long-running Neverwinter Nights line. They haven't had a lot of success with MMORPGs, though; Dungeons & Dragons Online Stormwatch was a disaster of epic proportions. They've had a long-standing connection to Wizards of the Coast, and have overall made money from the endeavor. That said, they are an independent company (no Hasbro ownership) and have a solid record of transposing RPG mechanics to computerized formats. The name may still be linked to the first videogame boom and bust, and to a doomed line of microcomputers (they made the first computer I almost bought back in 1988 -- I chose the imported PC-compatible Amstrad instead, and they ended up losing out to PCs ion the marketplace), but Atari does have a good understanding of the market and a decent capital base. Barring catastrophe, this should work out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Celt Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... "I got a bad feeling about this." Of course we have no idea what is going behind the scenes, but I thought things were going well for Cryptic. I don't want to be but I'm thinking doom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... a friend of mine who was recently hired by Cryptic back at the beginning of November said "Only in great ways. Very excited and upbeat about the acquisition!" there may be more fingers in the pie when it comes to approving things but it looks to be that they are keeping the same crew so there will not be a need to get others up to speed to take over "I got a bad feeling about this." Of course we have no idea what is going behind t"he scenes, but I thought things were going well for Cryptic. I don't want to be but I'm thinking doom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiva13 Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... The problem that comes up with the aquisition of Cryptic by Atari is that the license that Hero Games has with Cryptic may not apply anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... it would still apply just that if Atari does not want DOJ doing anything else they will have to pay a hefty sum to buy out the forever license that Cryptic signed and if that where the case DOJ would just have to start a new superhero IP I think this is more the case of a Atari trying to get 2 maybe 3 winners under it's belt(not know what the 3rd unnamed MMO is) The problem that comes up with the aquisition of Cryptic by Atari is that the license that Hero Games has with Cryptic may not apply anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... I think rjcurrie covered it quite well. I don't see this impacting DOJ except possibly in work flow of Cryptic's area that DOJ can use. And unless Cryptic was having problems, the best course for Atari will be to let them do what they've been doing. Yea, that could be a naive statement, but one can hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiva13 Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... it would still apply just that if Atari does not want DOJ doing anything else they will have to pay a hefty sum to buy out the forever license that Cryptic signed and if that where the case DOJ would just have to start a new superhero IP I think this is more the case of a Atari trying to get 2 maybe 3 winners under it's belt(not know what the 3rd unnamed MMO is) Atari bought Cryptic out. Completely. All properties belonging to Cryptic now belong to Atari. The contract was between DOJ and Cryptic. Not Atari and DOJ. I believe there is a severe questionable area regarding what Atari can do with what is now its exclusive property. Or even if they have to pay even a slight bit of heed to DOJ at all. Yes, DOJ could create a new Supers IP. But that IP will not have the same weight that the Champions IP did. DOJ would be starting completely over. Name recognition counts for a lot. The new Supers IP would need time to be established. And there is no guarantee it would actually succeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Celt Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... Atari bought Cryptic out. Completely. All properties belonging to Cryptic now belong to Atari. The contract was between DOJ and Cryptic. Not Atari and DOJ. I believe there is a severe questionable area regarding what Atari can do with what is now its exclusive property. Or even if they have to pay even a slight bit of heed to DOJ at all. Yes, DOJ could create a new Supers IP. But that IP will not have the same weight that the Champions IP did. DOJ would be starting completely over. Name recognition counts for a lot. The new Supers IP would need time to be established. And there is no guarantee it would actually succeed. When purchasing a company out-right, I think you also purchase whatever ongoing contracts they have. It isn't like Cryptic closed shop and Atari is now cherry-picking the assets it wants. They bought the whole kit'n'kaboodle. That's the good and the bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... When purchasing a company out-right' date=' I think you also purchase whatever ongoing contracts they have. It isn't like Cryptic closed shop and Atari is now cherry-picking the assets it wants. They bought the whole kit'n'kaboodle. That's the good and the bad.[/quote'] I agree with this. Otherwise, what good would most contracts be for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... I can only offer a previous response by Steve to someone postulating just this sort of scenario: What if Cryptic gets bought out by Blizzard or NC Soft or Bungie or Microsoft? Or worse yet' date=' my mother - she throws superhero stuff in the garbage![/quote'] There are contractual provisions in place for things like this. I won't swear they cover every possible thing that could ever happen' date=' but I think we're OK.[/quote'] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... 1 of 3 things can happen 1 it all stay as is and the worry is over nothing 2 Atari dumps the Champions IP to go for some other 3 Atari say to DOJ this is ours now so go away(in which case they will have to honor the contract with DOJ and pay them off) as for a new IP yeah the Champions IP has over 25 yrs of background so it will take a while to build a new one it but then the characters from 1st edition have not been seen since 3rd edition and the current characters are not the same as the 4th edition ones as those have changes alot in the change from 4th to 5th the thing is when Atari bought up Cryptic they bought the license also if they want it changed they will have to hammer out a new one now granted this may be a way to intro 6th edition with a new supers universe it would mean DOJ would have to start fresh so a new iconic mega villian would need to be written up but then DOJ could write up a few and see who flys the best with the pubkic Dr D was not the only mega villian when they first put out the enemies books Atari bought Cryptic out. Completely. All properties belonging to Cryptic now belong to Atari. The contract was between DOJ and Cryptic. Not Atari and DOJ. I believe there is a severe questionable area regarding what Atari can do with what is now its exclusive property. Or even if they have to pay even a slight bit of heed to DOJ at all. Yes, DOJ could create a new Supers IP. But that IP will not have the same weight that the Champions IP did. DOJ would be starting completely over. Name recognition counts for a lot. The new Supers IP would need time to be established. And there is no guarantee it would actually succeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... I can only offer a previous response by Steve to someone postulating just this sort of scenario: Thanks, LL That does help settle my worries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... 1 of 3 things can happen 1 it all stay as is and the worry is over nothing 2 Atari dumps the Champions IP to go for some other 3 Atari say to DOJ this is ours now so go away(in which case they will have to honor the contract with DOJ and pay them off) The one that worries me is 4) Everything stays the same contractually, but approval from Atari for RPG books is slowed down to a crawl. Cryptic still has approval and such on things (IIRC) - it could really nail the RPG but keep the MMO going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... so far if there has been been with Cryptic ithas been slight from the view from here(on the boards and from what DOJ has posted on the home page) hopefully it will add only a week or 2 if that The one that worries me is 4) Everything stays the same contractually, but approval from Atari for RPG books is slowed down to a crawl. Cryptic still has approval and such on things (IIRC) - it could really nail the RPG but keep the MMO going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Watts Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... I talked with Cryptic today, and feel quite assured that nothing in particular is going to change in our current relationship with them. Atari seems solidly behind the current titles and seems uninterested in making any changes, our approval process has not changed, and frankly the ten-year-old in me is entertained that Dr. Silverback is now owned by the makers of Pong. dw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... I talked with Cryptic today' date=' and feel quite assured that nothing in particular is going to change in our current relationship with them. Atari seems solidly behind the current titles and seems uninterested in making any changes, our approval process has not changed, and frankly the ten-year-old in me is entertained that Dr. Silverback is now owned by the makers of Pong. dw[/quote'] Thanks for the update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... I talked with Cryptic today' date=' and feel quite assured that nothing in particular is going to change in our current relationship with them. Atari seems solidly behind the current titles and seems uninterested in making any changes, our approval process has not changed, and frankly the ten-year-old in me is entertained that Dr. Silverback is now owned by the makers of Pong. dw[/quote'] This has me working on some different ideas for characters now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... I talked with Cryptic today' date=' and feel quite assured that nothing in particular is going to change in our current relationship with them. Atari seems solidly behind the current titles and seems uninterested in making any changes, our approval process has not changed, and frankly the ten-year-old in me is entertained that Dr. Silverback is now owned by the makers of Pong. dw[/quote'] Good to hear. And yes, suddenly my mind is flashing back to some old Atari games Of course, I adored the more recent "Neverwinter Nights" stuff , so that also gives me hope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Re: And the old shall swallow the new... I talked with Cryptic today' date=' and feel quite assured that nothing in particular is going to change in our current relationship with them. Atari seems solidly behind the current titles and seems uninterested in making any changes, our approval process has not changed, and frankly the ten-year-old in me is entertained that Dr. Silverback is now owned by the makers of Pong. dw[/quote'] Yeah, it would have been better if it'd been Nintendo, though. Think "Donkey Kong's Smarter Brother" cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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