Atari has signed an agreement to purchase Night Dive Studios, the developer of the upcoming remake of System Shock.
The acquisition was announced last night (March 23) and Atari will pay 4 million pounds ($5 million) in cash and 4 million pounds in new Atari shares.
Announcing the agreement, Atari announced that it plans to expand its catalog of games and use its own Night Dive engine, which makes it easier to play old games on modern platforms.
Atari owns a long list of retro games, and Night Dive Studios is best known for its upcoming remake of System Shock, as well as remastering and porting old games such as Shadow Man, Quake, Turok and Doom.
“Night Dive’s proven track record and successful experience in commercializing retro IP aligns well with Atari’s strategy,” said Wade Rosen, chairman and CEO of Atari. “I am confident that their combination of talent, technology and intellectual property will contribute to Atari’s future success.”
Meanwhile, Night Dive executives Stephen Kick and Larry Cooperman stated, “Night Dive and Atari have a long history together, and we know that Atari shares our passion for retro games and our focus on creating high-quality new and updated games that pay homage to the original IP.”
“As we strive to grow our business and expand our capabilities, we can’t think of a better long—term partner than Atari,” they added.
The announcement came two weeks after Night Dive announced that the release of System Shock would be delayed for several months.
However, the studio also shared the release date of the PC version of the remake, which is scheduled to launch on May 30.
“We had hoped to release the game to the market by the end of March, but it turned out to be beyond our reach; after all, we are just people (unlike Shodan!),” explained Night Dive.
As for other gaming news, Valve has officially introduced Counter-Strike 2.
