Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announces that it has concluded an agreement with Atari, Inc. and Reflections Interactive Limited to acquire the intellectual property and technology rights to Driver, the world acclaimed franchise, as well as most of the assets and all of the personnel of Reflections Interactive Limited. The acquisition will be completed for a cash price of 19 M€ ($24 M U.S. per exchange rate of $1.27 to 1€ as of 7/13/06).
The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Ubisoft’s second quarter of fiscal 2007.
"We are thrilled with this acquisition which will allow us to add a prestigious title to our catalog and to enter into the driving games segment, one of the most important segments in the gaming industry. With more than 14 million units sold throughout the world, Driver is one of the most successful brands in the history of video games. We look forward to leveraging the unique knowledge of the Ubisoft studios to ensure that Driver will be one of the leading brands of the next generation of consoles," said Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer of Ubisoft.
You know Atari must be financially really struggling to sell the driver brand, they pretty much don't have anything else brand wise worth selling now. Codemasters left them recently and I think the last big name studio still with them is eidos. Not sure if they own them or just publish their games.
They were doing well till they changed their name to Atari, that brand is cursed...
