Atari, Inc. has completed the sale of Shiny Ent. to Foundation 9 Ent. The sale completes the operational streamlining and portfolio refocus by Atari announced in early 2006.
David Pierce, president/ceo of Atari said, "We now have a centralized organization that can utilize external studio execution while maintaining internal focus on creative development and production."
Atari will retain its current project planning formerly developed by Shiny, including EARTHWORM JIM. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Foundation 9 Ent. (www.F9E.com) is a premier developer of interactive entertainment products and properties, and the largest independent games developer in North America. It has studios in the San Francisco Bay Area, Vancouver, Boston, Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Eugene and Charlottetown. Through its studios and core brands, Backbone Ent., The Collective, Shiny, Pipeworks, ImaginEngine and Digital Eclipse, Foundation 9 Ent. has worked with the largest names in the game publishing world, including Electronic Arts, Konami, Sega, Capcom and Take-Two Interactive. The company creates titles for all age groups and all platforms, through licensed and original IP, as well as contract development. Its studios have developed more than 300 titles, including more than 40 in 2005 alone.
New York-based Atari Inc. (www.atari.com) develops interactive games for all platforms and is one of the largest third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The company's 1,000+ titles include hardcore, genre-defining franchises, such as THE MATRIX (ENTER THE MATRIX and THE MATRIX: PATH OF NEO) and TEST DRIVE; and mass-market and children's franchises, such as Nickelodeon's BLUE'S CLUES and DORA THE EXPLORER and DRAGON BALL Z. Atari Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Ent. SA, the largest interactive games publisher in Europe.
