Atari gets Cryptic, Star Trek Online due in '10

By Guy Cocker, Tor Thorsen, GameSpot UKPosted Dec 9, 2008 6:41 am PT

One week after unveiling an ambitious slate of releases, resurgent French publisher acquires developer of City of Heroes and Champions Online; sci-fi MMORPG now two years out.

Last week, journalists and retailers were invited to London's O2 arena for a major press event held by Atari. Although the French publisher marked the occasion with announcements of new distribution deals and previews of games such as Ghostbusters, an even bigger announcement came today. San Francisco Bay-based developer Cryptic has been fully acquired by Atari, becoming the once-destitute company's first in-house massively multiplayer developer.

Atari will keep on Cryptic's 150-odd employees, as well as all of the company's properties, technology and work-in-progress. This includes two console-PC MMORPG projects: the superhero-themed Champions Online, due in 2009, and Star Trek Online, which is now set to launch in 2010. The release also teased another upcoming game from the developer, which will be revealed in the near future.

Cryptic has previously developed City of Heroes and City of Villains, which earned more than $100 million in lifetime revenues for the studio and the game's Korean publisher, NCsoft. NCsoft purchased the City of Heroes/Villains license outright in 2007, giving Cryptic seed money for a now-canceled Marvel Comics MMORPG that was to be published by Microsoft. That project went on to become Champions Online, based on Hero Games' classic pen-and-paper role-playing title, and 2K Games signed on as publisher in July.

Atari's announcement did not mention 2K Games, and reps for the company had not returned requests for comment as of press time. An Atari rep gave the following statement: "Regarding the existing deal between Cryptic and Take-Two (2K Games) for Champions Online, Atari's acquisition of Cryptic is obviously new information for Take Two and we are talking to them to secure the best future for the game. More information will be coming soon."

The Cryptic news is a rare bright spot in a cloud of bleak announcements in the MMOG space. At the end of November, Age of Conan developer Funcom revealed that it was axing an unspecified number of jobs. In the same week, NCsoft announced that it would shut down Tabula Rasa in February 2009, just after Hellgate: London closes on January 31. On the upside, Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King sold 2.8 million copies in just 24 hours--equating to some $108 million in sales.

46 Comments

  • LordChimera

    Posted Jan 23, 2009 2:12 pm PT

    Star Trek online on 360..........BOOOYAAAH!!!!!!!!!! Best gaming news i've heard in a while. I hope they do it well.

  • Swampthing

    Posted Dec 13, 2008 5:21 am PT

    The folks at Cryptic should be devoting more time to improving their CITY OF HEROES/VILLAINS titles instead of working on CHAMPIONS ONLINE... Based upon the previous shown on GAMETRAILERS TV, this new game looks terrible. Characters are tiny, shown from overhead perspective. Looks like a cheap $2 whore to me...

  • The_Maitomies

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 9:52 pm PT

    nice, can't wait for the new MMORPGs to hit the consols

  • OneNeo1

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 9:49 am PT

    Definitely can wait for ST:O if it means it will be fantastic, Champions looks interesting, so will wait and decide when more gameplay video is available to watch.

  • shadowblade99

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 8:18 am PT

    Some good news there.

  • Koal_Jadian

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 7:15 am PT

    World of Warcraft is destroying the industry - no other games can come out or be successful so we're stuck with old crappy graphics and no advancement in the MMORPG sector.

  • animeownage

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 6:11 am PT

    Another delay... well STO is either never comming out or Atari will find some way to ruin it. *good bye crule world*

  • StromileSwiftee

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 1:33 am PT

    whew... for a moment I thought Champions wouldn't come until '10. Here's to Fall of '09!!!

  • the_martian

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 1:30 am PT

    Over at STO's official site, the Devs have said that they are aiming for Fall 09 and that nothing has changed in either Champion's or STO's development.

  • geldonyetich

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 1:21 am PT

    Just so long as Atari doesn't feel like screwing around with Cryptic's game design genius, I don't mind the merger so much. On the other hand, if they pull an old school EA versus Origin move here, I'm crying bloody tears.

  • RavageGT

    Posted Dec 9, 2008 4:35 pm PT

    I hope they do Champions Online well for the Xbox 360, I liked CoH/V a lot because it was more on making a awesome superhero as opposed to trying to get the best equipment and gear.

  • BloodMist

    Posted Dec 9, 2008 4:34 pm PT

    Well that's great, means there's practically zero chance of yet another promising MMO going under.

  • Media_Mind

    Posted Dec 9, 2008 4:30 pm PT

    thats sooo far away

  • dkpunk

    Posted Dec 9, 2008 4:29 pm PT

    And WAR keeps picking up steam *joy*

  • trodeback

    Posted Dec 9, 2008 4:20 pm PT

    Star Trek online's release date is starting to sound like Halo the movies release date.

  • stangen

    Posted Dec 9, 2008 3:24 pm PT

    star trek online sounds like a snooze fest like the movies.

  • shufflezoom

    Posted Dec 9, 2008 3:12 pm PT

    ghostbusters,Ridick Assault on Dark Athina , Witcher white wolf , Baldur's Gate, Star Trek Online,Phil Harrison . One thing to say , welcome back Atari!

  • chikahiro94

    Posted Dec 9, 2008 2:55 pm PT

    I'm reasonably sure they're not aiming to compete with WOW in any way, shape, or form. Notice that CO and STO are pretty much focused, niche titles.

  • halowarrior_117

    Posted Dec 9, 2008 2:18 pm PT

    I think I will buy KOTOR Online before I get Star Trek Online. But dont get me wrong i love star trek but I prefer star wars.

  • djmillard2

    Posted Dec 9, 2008 1:01 pm PT

    you try to cut off one of WoW's heads.... and you just get pwned

Champions Online Quick Links

Summary | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Answers | Forum

advertisement
advertisement
Click Here
Champions Online Boxshot
Champions Online

Game Stats

Full Game Details »Close
Also on

Games you may like…

Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

See More Similar Games
advertisement
Click Here