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.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
soulsource 
Nov 5
Quoting: Liam DaweI'm not a lawyer - no clue what attack vectors would exist if Atari had a reason to. However, I don't think it would be in their interest to target the project. But maybe some weird legal necessity?Quoting: soulsourceI hope this isn't bad news for the OpenTTD project.Why would it be? It's an original open source project.
Caldathras Nov 5
Quoting: suchsuch is correct. To my knowledge, Chris Sawyer has never expressed a public opinion regarding the various open source projects related to his software. Chris' legal team has always been very attentive to the protection of his interests. I have read the opinion issued by his legal team. While it is written in a manner intended to protect Chris' interests, there is nothing in it to suggest that they are hostile enough to take legal action at the first opportunity. If they were so inclined, they would have already done so as Chris retains the trademark and IP rights to RCT. The license agreement with Atari would not prevent them from taking action.Quoting: Leahi84The real problem is if Sawyer ever takes the rights to RCT away from Atari. Apparently he's extremely hostile to OpenRCT2's existence and will go after it if Atari ever loses the rights. So it's in everybody's best interest that Atari keeps the rights, or is able to outright purchase the rest of his games from him.Atari bought the publishing rights to RCT this year, apparently. Sawyer's alleged stance quoted here and there seems more lawyer than human (and indeed appears to be signed to that effect), so I hope that's not his actual (informed) take on the situation. Extremely dispiriting and about as out of touch if that were the case.
For general knowledge, Atari purchased the publishing rights for RCT3 this year, not the trademark and IP rights for the RCT franchise. They already have the publishing rights for the other RCT games.
Last edited by Caldathras on 5 November 2024 at 6:59 pm UTC
Caldathras Nov 5
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