Matt Martin
09:23 (BST)
03/10/2006
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Foundation 9 acquires Shiny Entertainment from Atari
Development team working on unannounced movie tie-in
Growing developer Foundation 9 Entertainment has acquired Shiny Entertainment from struggling publisher Atari.
The move sees Foundation 9 bolster its ranks of core brands as it becomes a major player in North American games development, with 20 titles currently in the works.
"Shiny Entertainment fits well with the current studios of Foundation 9 and aligns with our long-term goals for the future," said John Goldman, chairman and CEO of the company.
"The studio has tremendous talent and experience working with big Hollywood franchises and will be working with us on a major, as-yet-undisclosed day and date release. The Shiny team will only add to our capabilities and technology base," he added.
The Shiny team will now co-locate with Foundation 9 studio The Collective, responsible for Atari's recently released title Mark Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure.
The acquisition helps solidify Foundation 9's position has the largest independent developer in North America, with Shiny joining Foundation 9's other internal studios The Collective, Backbone Entertainment, Pipeworks, ImagineEngine and Digital Eclipse.
Atari has now completed the restructuring process it begun early this year in order to raise capital, a move that has already seen the publisher sell Driver developer Reflections to Ubisoft.
"The sale of Shiny Entertainment completes the final phase of our strategic restructuring," said David Pierce, president and CEO of Atari.
"We now have a centralised organisation that can utilise external studio execution while maintaining internal focus on creative development and production."
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