Atari acquires Transport Tycoon from Chris Sawyer

Atari have announced they've now acquired Chris Sawyer's Transport Tycoon, as Atari continue building themselves back up.

This follows on from other acquisitions from Atari including the Surgeon Simulator franchise under Infogrames, the Intellivision brand and over 200 games, Totally Reliable Delivery Service, Awesomenauts, Swords & Soldiers and Digital Eclipse and Night Dive Studios.

From the press release: "We are honored that Chris has entrusted us with Transport Tycoon and our team is committed to both honoring and advancing his groundbreaking creation." said Atari Chairman and CEO Wade Rosen.

Pictured - Transport Tycoon, taken by me.

They said they plan to "expand digital and physical distribution, potentially develop new titles or content, and explore brand and merchandising collaborations as part of a long-term plan to preserve and expand this classic sim".

Makes sense for Atari to grab it since they were the publisher for Chris Sawyer's Locomotion too. On top of that Atari also currently control the licensing for RollerCoaster Tycoon as well, although they don't own it as Sawyer still does.

A bit of a colourful history between Sawyer and Atari though, as Sawyer actually sued Atari back in 2005 for unpaid royalties. Atari then counter-sued for damages in 2007, and later it was settled out of court in 2008 with an undisclosed sum paid to Sawyer.

Worth nothing that OpenTTD exists, it's an open source simulation game based upon Transport Tycoon Deluxe, and it's pretty darn popular.