Crispy Gamer News

(Contributors: Adam Oldakowski - Managing Director GOG.com, Hal Halpin - ECA President, Tom Ohle - CD Projekt RED, Rich Carlson - Digital Eel, Eric Holmes - Radical Entertainment, and Game Trust members Evan Narcisse, Gus Mastrapa, David Chapman and James Fudge)

Crispy Gamer wraps up its Top 21 News Stories of 2008 with our top 7 news stories. See what stories were the most interesting and had the most impact on the game industry and gamers in 2008. We start with #7 right now.  Also be sure to check out #8 - 14 and #15 - 21, if you haven’t already.

Next: #7 –>

According to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Take Two Interactive spent close to 11.1 million dollars to fend off EA’s hostile take-over. Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick, who fought hard against being acquired by EA for a good portion of 2008, presided over a large decline in the company’s stock price - well before the economy at large had a chance to put it to its lowest 52 week ever: $8.50. The stock, which rose to nearly $28 a share, fell dramatically after EA gave up on acquiring the company.

Shortly after EA walked away many analysts said that Take-Two had made a mistake. Of course, given the economic climate we are now in, that position is hard to justify: EA has had its own share of hardships recently and has cancelled projects, closed studios and - most recently - laid off over 1000 workers.. If not for the banking and mortgage industries, who knows what state both companies would be in..

And you thought those argyle socks from grandma were a bad Christmas present. Last week, CBS Interactive gave employees something even worse: an axe, wrapped in a not-so-pretty pink slip.

Layoffs at the media giant affected nearly every division of CBS Interactive, including the company’s video game news outlet, GameSpot. Word of the cuts started rolling in last week, with a number of employees unexpectedly finding themselves out holiday shopping one minute and job hunting the next. While layoffs have been confirmed throughout CBS Interactive and the former CNET Networks divisions, CBS is refusing to release specifics on the number of firings.

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In recent month, publishers everywhere have been picking at the castoffs of the Activision/Blizzard merger. First, THQ snatched up 50 Cent:Blood on the Sand. Then came the news that Atari had gobbled up the rights to both The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena and Ghostbusters. However, one game whose fate was left in limbo was the Double Fine produced, Jack Black starring, heavy metal action game, Brütal Legend. Today, we finally learned its fate.

Earlier this morning, Double Fine and Electronic Arts announced that they have signed an exclusive publishing agreement to bring Brütal Legend to headbanging gamers worldwide next Fall. Crafted by video game icon, Tim Schafer, Brütal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, played by Jack Black, who somehow gets tossed through time and space (a la Army of Darkness) to a mythical world ruled by Rock n’ Roll.
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Y’know, maybe it’s just me, but I remember a time not too long ago when Atari seemed to be on life support with Death knocking at the company’s door. Well, I’d love to get some of the vitamins it’s been taking these days, because Atari didn’t just slam the door in Death’s face, but it’s hit the ground running.

First came word that the publisher had picked up two major released in the aftermath of the Activision/Vivendi merger, Ghostbusters and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. Now the company has put together a deal to acquire California based MMO developer Cryptic Studios, lock, stock, and barrel.

Cryptic Studios, which first made a name for itself with the superhero themed MMO title,City of Heroes, has been on a major roll recently. The company eventually sold off its stake in City of Heroes to NCsoft, and was on tap to develop a new MMO for the PC and 360 for Microsoft, based off the Marvel Comics stable of characters. Although the Marvel deal fell apart, due to Microsoft and Marvel being unable to agree on the direction of the game, Cryptic decided not to abandon the superhero MMO formula, using its capital to buyout the popular pen and paper role-playing property, Champions, and starting development of the upcoming MMO, Champions Online. And if that wasn’t enough, Cryptic also managed to score itself another big property, with the development of a new MMO based on the Star Trek universe.

According to a statement released today to investors, Infogrames (Atari’s parent company) will shell out an upfront payment of $27.6 million, with an additional estimated “maximum earn-out” totaling another $27.5 million in cash and Infogrames stock. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a clause in the deal which could give Cryptic shareholders another $20 million bonus in cash or Infogrames stock if Champions Online and Star Trek Online both outperform an undisclosed target in online revenue for 2010-2011.

“We share a common vision with Atari and their leadership team.” said John Needham, Chief Executive Officer of Cryptic Studios, “With our game development and online platform technology skills, we’re very excited about the opportunities that this unique combination with Atari creates. I am committed to helping Atari grow into a leading online game company and look forward to being part of the team.”

According to David Gardner, CEO of Infogrames, “The acquisition of Cryptic Studios brings to Infogrames an outstanding creative organisation, with a proven track-record of success in the fast-growing MMO category. Cryptic’s success is founded on leading-edge technology and the vision of a seasoned executive management team. I am impressed with the tools and technology that Cryptic has developed to make MMOs less expensive to build. Creating vast worlds and interesting interactions can be very people intensive but with the use of Cryptic’s toolset they have a proven way of cutting average production costs in half. This is exactly the type of company we wanted to acquire in order to build Atari for the 21st century.”

Late in the day yesterday, Ubisoft announced that it was picking up one of the casualties of the Activision Blizzard merger, and has acquired the assets and all of the personnel of Sweden- based studio Massive Entertainment, as well as the World In Conflict RTS brand.

“We are delighted to welcome the talented team of creators at Massive into the Ubisoft family,” said Christine Burgess-Quemard, executive director of worldwide production studios at Ubisoft. “Ubisoft is growing at an intense pace and our strategy is to ensure the strength of our global creative teams. Massive has put together a group of some of the most confirmed and recognized creators in the industry and I know that their talent and innovation will allow them to seamlessly integrate into our worldwide network of production studios.”
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Who you gonna call? Apparently, Atari.

Confirming recent rumors, Atari officially announced this morning that it has secured the publishing rights to the hotly anticipated Ghostbusters: The Video Game after it went MIA from Vivendi during the post Activision/Blizzard merger fallout. The game will be released next year, timed to coincide with Sony Pictures’ planned 25th anniversary celebration of the film’s original theatrical release.
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