Ubisoft will pay Atari $24 million for the IP and technology rights of the Driver franchise. The agreement will also give Ubisoft “most of the assets” and all of the personnel of Driver developer Reflections Interactive.
Atari said that this move is a part of its reshuffle plan, which was started in the middle of a string of poor financial results. Even though Atari will hang on to the most recent Driver: Parallel Lines until the end of the year, it will keep the sell-off rights for the rest of the franchise only for a three month period. Atari feels that its Test Drive franchise is its key driving game series, and believes the sale of Driver is a step in refocusing on core products.
The deal will be sealed before the end of their second fiscal quarters ending September 30, 2006