Total Annihilation, Star Control, Master of Orion IPs sold off at Atari auction
Atari has auctioned off several of its prominent video game assets, and if everything is approved by a New York bankruptcy court on Wednesday, popular franchises such as Total Annihilation, Master of Orion, Star Control and Battlezone will have new homes.
Atari has auctioned off several of its prominent video game assets, and if everything is approved by a New York bankruptcy court on Wednesday, popular franchises such as Total Annihilation, Master of Orion, Star Control and Battlezone will have new homes.
Wargaming, creator of World of Tanks, was the winning bidder for the Total Annihilation and Master of Orion series, while developer Rebellion placed the high bid for Battlezone and Moonbase Commander, according to a bankruptcy court document (via Game Informer). Stardock was the high bidder for the Star Control IP. The winning bids were not disclosed in the documents, although the base price for TA was previously listed at $250,000.
Uber Entertainment, which is making a "spriritual successor" of sorts to Total Annihilation in Planetary Annihilation, also bid on the series. It didn't offer enough to secure it, but still has a hope as the backup bidder. Stardock was also listed as a back-up bidder for the Master of Orion IP.
While Atari had several other IPs up for auction as part of its filing for bankruptcy, such as RollerCoaster Tycoon and Test Drive, the only other franchise showing up as having bidders at the auction were Backyard Sports, won by Epic Gear, and the Humongous franchise, won by Tommo. It is possible that deals for the other franchises could be dealt separately, as happened when Nordic Games picked up the Desperados and Silver IPs from Atari last month.
The acquisition of the Total Annihilation franchise for Wargaming would be a reunion of sorts with its creator Chris Taylor, who developed the game for now-defunct Cavedog in 1997. Wargaming purchased Taylor's floundering development studio Gas Powered Games in February, and he is reportedly working on a new project for his new bosses. Before the Wargaming deal, Taylor told Shacknews that he had wanted to get TA from Atari for Gas Powered Games on a few occasions, but talks rarely went anywhere.
The bid by Stardock on Star Control is not surprising, given the company's preference for space strategy games, such as the Galactic Civilization and Sins of a Solar Empire franchises. Company CEO Brad Wardell has previously made clear his love for the series, as well as Master of Orion.
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John Keefer posted a new article, Total Annihilation, Star Control, Master of Orion IPs sold off at Atari auction.
Atari has auctioned off several of its prominent video game assets, and if everything is approved by a New York bankruptcy court on Wednesday, popular franchises such as Total Annihilation, Master of Orion, Star Control and Battlezone will have new homes.-
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I'm a little worried about Rebellion with Battlezone. The last coupke of Battlezone games were from the late 90's by Activision, developed by an internal Activision studio that's probably been disbanded for years. I started playing the first one; it was an RTS-ish first-person game that was a little complex and had more of a learning curve than my patience could bear (but keep in mind that I wanted Doom and Quake, so maybe that's why Battlezone wasn't my kind of game).
I just don't want Rebellion to make another boondoggle like Rogue Warrior. And I don't want it to be a pay-to-win game, or even yet another HD remake of the original (though if they could do a nice detailed vector-style game, I could get into that).
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This is Wargaming and this is all you need know:
http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/5278/000hctgp.jpg
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I hooe the Atari name gets tombstoned, so no other company attempts to drive it into the ground. Look at how many hands that brand passed through: Warner Communications, Hasbro, Infogrames. It barely even has any brand equity (beyond classic franchises that are being auctioned off piecemeal to other companies), and the Atari name has been through about three or four falls from grace (including Hasbro selling off its interests).
Let Atari be in peace, along with ColecoVision, IntelliVision, etc. -
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Battlezone 1 and 2 were the shit! Awesome games, certainly ahead of their time with the fps/rts hybrid genre. I loved being able to choose whether to go rts mode, or command a tank at the line (or artillary) and slaughter everything . Battlezone 1 was a great game, but battlezone 2 nailed it. I still have the game manuals :D Loved how it was designed to look like a top secret document front through back. I must have read through it a dozen times! I wish a worthy sequel was made...note "worthy"...
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