Hasbro Sues Atari Over Dungeons & Dragons License
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At issue is Hasbro and subsidiary Wizards of the Coast's allegation that Atari sub-licenced the Dungeons & Dragons digital game rights to Namco Bandai Partners without authorization. Hasbro sees Namco Bandai as a competitor, since both compete in child-focused businesses like collectible card-based games.Namco Bandai? Is this all related to the Neverwinter Nights MMORPG? Or maybe another title altogether?
According to Hasbro's agreement with Atari, that kind of relationship with a competitor is restricted, so Hasbro says it's suing Atari for fraud and five different counts of breach of contract of the D&D licensing agreement. It wants to terminate the agreement and collect compensatory damages.
Namco Bandai Europe signed a deal with Atari in July this year acquiring Atari's European retail distribution business.
But Atari, also known as Infogrames, said in a statement that Hasbro's allegations are unfounded. "Atari has had a long and rich history with the Dungeons and Dragons franchise, investing millions of dollars into numerous critically acclaimed and commercially successful games that have generated significant revenue for Hasbro," said an Atari statement issued Thursday.
In any event, I'd like to see a different publisher with the rights to the Dungeons & Dragons license for awhile, if only to see where they'd take it. Maybe ZeniMax/Bethesda will end up with it? ;)
