Similar to what happened to THQ earlier this year, the assets of the bankrupt Atari corporation are being split apart and auctioned off to the highest bidders. According to legal documents posted to Scribd, World of Tanks publisher Wargaming and PC strategy game developer Stardock are among the parties interested in claiming Atari’s name and rights.
Wargaming is reportedly trying to acquire the rights to Atari’s Total Annihilation and Master of Orion franchises. Stardock, the developers of the Sins of a Solar Empire series, has also placed bids on the Master of Orion series, as well as the Star Control franchise. Other bidders for Atari’s assets include Uber Entertainement, the creators of Monday Night Combat, and On The Go Technology LLC, which is apparently some sort of mortgage/real-estate company that’s interested in dabbling in iOS/mobile development.
This bankruptcy auction is the latest in a long line of sales for the “Atari” name and assets: the company that went bankrupt earlier this year wasn’t the original Atari, but a completely separate French company that merely acquired the Atari name about a decade ago — before they were called Atari, the company previously went by the name of Infogrames, and before that, GT Interactive. This “new” Atari was probably best known for publishing the original Neverwinter Nights as well as most of the last-gen Dragon Ball Z Budokai fighting games. They also published the first three games in Driver series, which is now owned by Ubisoft.
The original Atari company — the group responsible for Pong and the Atari 2600 — was split up and sold off to different owners in 1984, following the so-called “Great Crash” of the games industry in ’83. Since then, ownership of the Atari name and assets has changed hands numerous times, and it looks like the unlucky brand may have yet another new owner soon.
