Atari and Hasbro Settle D&D Lawsuit; Neverwinter Delayed

[Andy Chalk]

Atari and Hasbro Settle D&D Lawsuit; Neverwinter Delayed

Atari and Hasbro have settled their legal beef over the rights to Dungeons & Dragons but the launch of the online RPG Neverwinter [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002I0HI3M] has been pushed deep into next year.

Back in December 2009, Hasbro, the parent company of Wizards of the Coast, filed a lawsuit [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/96934-Hasbro-Sues-Atari-Over-D-D] against Atari over allegations that it had sublicensed certain D&D rights to Hasbro competitor Namco Bandai Partners, a breach of its own licensing contract. Atari called the whole thing "meritless," naturally, and claimed that Hasbro was simply looking for a quick and dirty way to get the D&D rights back from Atari. Thus the lawsuits flew.

All is now well, however, as the companies announced yesterday that all claims and counterclaims have been settled and resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Digital licensing rights to Dungeons & Dragons have been returned to Hasbro, while Atari will continue to make "several" games under license, including Heroes of Neverwinter [http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Daggerdale-Pc/dp/B002I0JLEQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313507041&sr=8-1].

But the bad news is that Neverwinter, the upcoming online RPG for the PC that was originally slated for launch later this year, has now been pushed back to late 2012. The delay isn't actually related to the court case, however, but the recent sale of Cryptic Studios [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110502-Cryptic-Studios-Bought-By-Chinese-MMO-Operator] to Perfect World Entertainment. The sale of Cryptic apparently puts Neverwinter in the hands of Perfect World, which said it "will be investing in a more immersive experience."



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[Kevlar Eater]

Like always, whoever won (or settled, in this case), we lose.

 

[Per Kaas]

Indeed... D&D hasn't been good after they came out with 4th edition. And the way they raped the Forgotten Realms setting makes me sad. Haven't bought a single D&D book since the launch of 4th ed.... :/

 

[RoBi3.0]

Like always, whoever won (or settled, in this case), we lose.

I don't look at this as a lose. Atari has been horridly mismanaging its DnD games for quite sometime. Daggerdale is a complete and utter piece of crap that doesn't even follow the DnD rules it claims to implement. Given Atari's disposition for forcing Developers to prematurely launch games I think that it is safe to say that Cryptic Neverwinter RPG was going to be shit as well. Hope Perfect World will take the time gained by the delay to polish Neverwinter into something that is not a steaming turd.

Now the Wizards has complete control over the DnD IP hopefully they will follow that same course they have with Magic The Gathering, and maintain tighter control over the IP in general which in the case of M:TG has lead to stellar games.

 

[Rawne1980]

Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale

That is not a game.

That is pixelated torture.

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

Oh great, so much for a nice Neverwinter game =(

Like always, whoever won (or settled, in this case), we lose.

Oh and this

 

[Nimzar]

So I guess this means NWN1 premium mods are not ever going to be available again.

 

[Macgyvercas]

At least DDO is still going to be around. I'm quite fond of that game.

 

[Antari]

Like always, whoever won (or settled, in this case), we lose.

Actually .. this is some of the best news ever. Avoidance of Cryptic's mediocrity is the best thing they could have done. Delays are welcome as there will be a much more immersive experience when they get done with it.

 

[thiosk]

After the abortion of daggerdale, I'd try to get the rights back too.

 

[tautologico]

Like always, whoever won (or settled, in this case), we lose.

Actually .. this is some of the best news ever. Avoidance of Cryptic's mediocrity is the best thing they could have done. Delays are welcome as there will be a much more immersive experience when they get done with it.

Indeed, if this means Neverwinter online won't be as lackluster as the other Cryptic MMOs, it's very good news.

 

[sosolidshoe]

Like always, whoever won (or settled, in this case), we lose.

I don't look at this as a lose. Atari has been horridly mismanaging its DnD games for quite sometime. Daggerdale is a complete and utter piece of crap that doesn't even follow the DnD rules it claims to implement. Given Atari's disposition for forcing Developers to prematurely launch games I think that it is safe to say that Cryptic Neverwinter RPG was going to be shit as well. Hope Perfect World will take the time gained by the delay to polish Neverwinter into something that is not a steaming turd.

Now the Wizards has complete control over the DnD IP hopefully they will follow that same course they have with Magic The Gathering, and maintain tighter control over the IP in general which in the case of M:TG has lead to stellar games.

Yep, regarding Neverwinter; depending on the reading of that quote from Perfect World, it could be construed that PW are going to force Cryptic Studios to put some actual effort into the game, rather than just porting some fantasy assets into their existing engine and then expect the playerbase to come up with all the content through their mission generator(ie, what Cryptic did with the Star Trek license).

 

[RoBi3.0]

Like always, whoever won (or settled, in this case), we lose.

I don't look at this as a lose. Atari has been horridly mismanaging its DnD games for quite sometime. Daggerdale is a complete and utter piece of crap that doesn't even follow the DnD rules it claims to implement. Given Atari's disposition for forcing Developers to prematurely launch games I think that it is safe to say that Cryptic Neverwinter RPG was going to be shit as well. Hope Perfect World will take the time gained by the delay to polish Neverwinter into something that is not a steaming turd.

Now the Wizards has complete control over the DnD IP hopefully they will follow that same course they have with Magic The Gathering, and maintain tighter control over the IP in general which in the case of M:TG has lead to stellar games.

Yep, regarding Neverwinter; depending on the reading of that quote from Perfect World, it could be construed that PW are going to force Cryptic Studios to put some actual effort into the game, rather than just porting some fantasy assets into their existing engine and then expect the playerbase to come up with all the content through their mission generator(ie, what Cryptic did with the Star Trek license).

I can only hope so, someone needs to make Cryptic actually put effort into taking peoples money.