New Chronicles of Riddick Game Picked Up By Atari News

Atari has announced that it has picked up the publishing and distribution rights for The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, which is set for release during the spring of 2009 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Initially billed as a remake of the cult classic film tie-in game, Escape from Butcher Bay, Assault on Dark Athena is now set to offer a new chapter to the Riddick saga as well as online multiplayer and remade content from the 2004 Xbox and PC game.

Vivendi Games originally had publishing rights for the project, under development at Tigon/Starbreeze Studios, which were then dropped by Activision Blizzard in the wake of last year's high profile Activison and Vivendi merger.

According to a Variety report, Atari is paying Activision Blizzard a flat fee for the property to cover a portion of Vivendi Games' previous development costs. The same report also suggests that Atari has picked up the in limbo Ghostbusters game previously under the Vivendi Games label.  

Dan Aykroyd, who lends his voice to Terminal Reality's Ghostbusting project, had previously suggested that Atari has rescued the game, but these latest reports cite sources close to Atari that estimate a summer 2009 release in line with the film's 25th anniversary.

There are also suggestions that Atari has acquired the rights from Universal Pictures to publish further games of these film properties, should these two forthcoming releases be successful.