Ubisoft Acquires Driver And Reflections Studio

[Shawn Andrich]

Ubisoft Acquires Driver And Reflections Studio

Ubisoft officially took over the Driver [http://www.atari.com/driv3r/] franchise today along with most of the personnel and assets from Reflections Studio. Ubisoft President Yves Guillemot seems pleased about the purchase, stating, "This striking acquisition allows us to enter the driving game segment, one of the most important segments in the video game industry." Despite poor sales and reviews of the sequels, the series has sold over 14 million units worldwide. Ubisoft paid $24 million for all assets.

This marks another franchise acquisition for Ubisoft, who last year purchased [http://www.ubisoftgroup.com/index.php?p=59&art_id=60&vars=c2VuZGVyPUFMTCZjb21faWQ9MTczJmZpbHRlcl90eXBlPSZmaWx0ZXJfbW9udGg9JmZpbHRlcl95ZWFyPQ%3D%3D] the successful Far Cry license from Crytech and turned it into a profitable series.

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[Demiurge [deprecated]]

Development costs on the Driver franchise must amount to $50 and a case of beer. I can't think of any other reason they've made it this far.

 

[Russ Pitts]

Development costs on the Driver franchise must amount to $50 and a case of beer. I can't think of any other reason they've made it this far.

Excellent marketing materials. I have a scale replica of a Pontiac Le Mans on my desk emblazoned with Driver logos. It's actually pretty cool. Almost makes me want to play the game.

 

[Demiurge [deprecated]]

So what does Atari have left? I can't think of any high level IPs they can work with. I can't even think of any mid-sized ones.