Jack Emmert weighs in on the Atari buyout announcement
by Kyle Horner 
Dec 9th 2008 at 4:30PM
Filed under: New titles, News items, Star Trek Online, Champions Online
Massively: How will the Atari acquisition change or affect the 2k Games publishing agreement for Champions Online?
Jack Emmert: I'm afraid I can't comment on this. I can only say that I enjoy working with 2k games; they're a great company and even better people.
Can you give us a bit of background on Cryptic's relationship with Atari? Where did the idea for this collaboration emerge?
This evolved after numerous discussions. John Needham, our CEO extraordinaire, had been doing the rounds to look for funding opportunities. We crossed paths with David Gardiner and Phil Harrison of Atari; all of us really hit it off. One thing led to another...and here were are!
This is obviously a very positive step for Cryptic. Can you speak to what kind of benefits you see in your new relationship with Atari?
Atari has a great pool of resources – PR, marketing, distribution, etc. Atari also has a number of terrific IP's that would make great MMO's. Mostly, this acquisition allows Cryptic to focus solely on the business of making great MMO's.
Is this going to alter the beta and release schedules for any Cryptic projects?
Not at all. We're still moving ahead with Champions – Q2 next year, and STO later in the year. Development priorities are the only thing that can shift those dates.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Zan said on 7:42PM 12-09-2008
"John Needham, our CEO extraordinaire, had been doing the rounds to look for funding opportunities"
That's a little scary, glad they found it. I think this is good news, I don't know about anyone else, but I like Atari (at least the name from my Atari 2600 memories ) :)
Hope it doesn't have a negative impact, but funded is way better than unfunded...
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Wjowski said on 8:31PM 12-09-2008
Not the same Atari. The 'Atari' brand name's pretty much been passed around like a joint at a frat party ever since the Atari company itself crashed and burned.
Max said on 5:16PM 12-11-2008
Could it be, simply 2 companies just trying to dig each other out, waiting for the cave in.
Myself, am "impatiently" waiting for the release of Star Trek Online, but now with this new news should we actualy hold our breaths.
Time will tell.
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