Atari Extends Dungeons & Dragons Licence News

Atari's parent company Infogrames Entertainment has today confirmed an extension to the licensing deal with Hasbro over iconic Role-Playing brand, Dungeons & Dragons through to 2017.

The deal covers current and future D&D titles, including the Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate, together with the Dungeon & Dragons Online game, and the upcoming D&D: Tactics for PSP.

"This agreement represents a reaffirmation of our partnership with Hasbro. It is an important step in our business strategy that will allow us to keep and strengthen a franchise with significant potential, while giving the Group additional resources to invest in the relaunch of its publishing business. Dungeons & Dragons is one of the Group's historic intellectual properties on which we plan to expand our business, relying on one of the largest and most active gamer communities in the world of video games," commented Patrick Leleu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

In addition, the company has sold back its rights to nine Hasbro brands: Monopoly, Scrabble, Risk, Game of Life, Clue, Yahtzee, Battleship, Boggle and Simon. The re-sale has generated over $19 million, though Atari, Inc. will only see $4 million of that.