Atari: Eden Games "has not closed"
Confusing reports, publisher has sin.
Eden Games, maker of Alone in the Dark and Test Drive Unlimited, "has not closed", owner Atari has clarified - and Test Drive Unlimited 2 support isn't in jeopardy.
"We want to make it clear that the studio has not closed and that we will continue to support the console and PC games of Eden Games, notably Test Drive Unlimited 2," an Atari statement, issued to Eurogamer, read.
Confusion arose last week when Atari's yearly money report talked of Eden Games undergoing a divestment process. In the financial world, divestment - the opposite of investment - generally means a preparing a company to be jettisoned (sold or broken into assets).
Atari also referred to the Eden Games business as "in the process of being disposed of". But never did Atari explicitly state that Eden Games was to close, as we pointed out at the time.
Atari's new statement explained that the Eden Games divestment process fitted with the "exploiting our popular intellectual property library on mobile devices [and online and licensing]" company strategy.
Does that mean Atari will keep Eden Games open to turn Test Drive Unlimited into a mobile and web game? Or is Atari going to take the IP it wants from Eden Games and then close the studio? Or something else entirely?
The new statement doesn't clear this up. We're only told Eden Games "has not closed", past tense, and that support for the studio's games will continue while "this [divestment] process is under way". There's no forward-looking declaration of Eden Games' health.
The full statement:
"Our earnings statement contained a report about the divestment of Eden Games. We want to make it clear that the studio has not closed and that we will continue to support the console and PC games of Eden Games, notably Test Drive Unlimited 2, while this process is under way. The divestment is in line with our previously stated strategy of exploiting our popular intellectual property library on mobile devices, where he have seen strong initial success, and via online games and licensing."