Atari Acquires Digital Eclipse

Atari introduced that it’s buying retro gaming agency Digital Eclipse for $4 million in money and $2.5 million in Atari inventory. It can additionally pay out as much as an extra $13.5 million in money over the following 10 years based mostly on the efficiency of Digital Eclipse going ahead.

“Digital Eclipse is one of the best on the earth at what they do,” Atari CEO Wade Rosen stated. ” They’ve a deep love and respect for the historical past of the video games trade, and are famend for creating critically acclaimed tasks based mostly on historic franchises. [They] are in good alignment with Atari’s DNA and renewed objective.”

Digital Eclipse is finest recognized right this moment for the interactive online game documentaries that it’s releasing over time on Xbox. The primary, for Karateka, arrived in late August and is a masterpiece, and the agency stated on the time {that a} second title can be prepared by the top of 2024.

However the first has deep roots within the online game trade and it was concerned in retro gaming from the beginning. It was based in 1992, and its earliest merchandise have been Mac ports of basic arcade video games like Defender, Joust, and Robotron: 2084 which have been based mostly on in-house emulators. Newer efforts are based mostly on its Eclipse Engine, which decompiles the code from basic video games after which runs it on fashionable platforms like PCs, consoles, and cell units.

“Our expertise collaborating on Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration was revelatory,” Digital Eclipse president Mike Mika stated. “The belief that Atari confirmed our staff, and our clear mutual love and respect for the content material, positioned us to supply one thing really outstanding. I do know Atari will proceed to champion our strategy and that we are going to be bringing followers thrilling new tasks for years to return.”