Atari to acquire Night Dive Studios

Atari has announced that it will acquire Night Dive Studios in its entirety.

Night Dive is a developer and publisher well known for restoring and publishing retro video games on modern consoles. They have worked on over 100 titles, including re-releases of fan faves like System Shock, Doom 64, and Quake in their KEX engine.

The proprietary KEX engine technology allows the studio to make classic games run on modern hardware, while also allowing them to enhance the titles in various ways. Atari confirmed as part of their acquisition that it intends to use that backend software and the studio’s expertise to better leverage their library of IP in support of a retro-focused growth strategy.

Night Dive Studios was purchased for an initial consideration of $10 million USD, which will be paid half in cash, and half in newly issued shares of Atari. It also includes an earn-out of up to $10 million USD for the previous owners of Night Dive Studios, which will be paid out in cash over the next three years based on the studio’s performance under its new ownership.

The acquisition is expected to be completed by April 2023, and has already been approved by Atari’s board unanimously.

“Night Dive’s proven expertise and successful track record in commercializing retro IP is well-aligned with Atari’s strategy and I am confident that their combined talent, technology and IP portfolio will contribute to Atari’s future success.” said Wade Rosen, chairman and CEO of Atari. 

“Night Dive and Atari have a long history together and we know that Atari shares our passion for retro games and our focus on producing high-quality new and remastered games that do justice to the original IP.” added Stephen Kick and Larry Kuperman, principals of Night Dive Studios.

“As we look to grow our business and expand our capabilities, we could think of no better long-term partner than Atari.”

Alongside the acquisition of Night Dive Studios, Atari has also stated that it plans to create convertible bonds equivalent to €30 million, in order to gain capital for growth and refinance its existing debts.