Perfect World Acquires Champions Online Developer Cryptic Studios

Major Chinese MMO maker Perfect World has acquired Cryptic Studios, developer of Champions Online and originally owned by Atari. Atari revealed earlier in the month that it was divesting its interest in the studio, calling Cryptic Studios a "discontinued operation." Cryptic had been part of Atari since a 2008 acquisition. Perfect World has acquired a 100 percent equity interest in Cryptic Studios, paying approximately €35.0 million ($50.3 million) for the studio. Michael Chi, chairman and chief executive officer of Perfect World, said of the move, "This strategic acquisition will add attractive game titles to our portfolio, which will help us further penetrate into the U.S. and global online game markets." "More importantly, Cryptic Studios' highly reputable development team and its technology platform will further strengthen our well-established R&D capabilities. We deem this as another noteworthy achievement of our global expansion efforts." Atari said that the divestiture of the studio followed the company's focus "on key owned and third-party strategic franchises and expansion into emerging game platforms." Perfect World posted improved financials this month, noting that some recent releases helped increase revenues for the first quarter of 2011 and drove profit margins higher than the the same period in 2010.