Atari closes Hunt Valley Studio

Atari corporate today confirmed the closure of its Hunt Valley Studio, which was formerly the independent publisher/developer MicroProse. The studio had recently completed work on Dungeons & Dragons Heroes, but had a long history of development on games that have gone down in the books as best-sellers and award-winners. Those titles include Sid Meier's Civilization, Civilization II, Railroad Tycoon, Colonization, and Pirates.

Nancy Bushkin, Atari vice president of corporate communications, said, "I can confirm that the Hunt Valley Studio, which we manage on behalf of Infogrames Entertainment, was closed. The team there had successfully completed work on their sole project, D&D Heroes, and they had no other titles under way, making this a straightforward business decision. "

She went on to confirm that 35 employees were laid off and that the company is "in discussion with a handful of [those] people regarding other positions."