Perfect World Acquires Cryptic Studios

Despite being let go by Atari recently, Cryptic Studios has quickly found a new home.  GamePro.com has reported that Chinese MMO developer and operator Perfect World has announced its purchase of the studio team that created Star Trek Online and Champions Online. 

Perfect World will be paying approximately €35 million to purchase the company from Atari, who are keen to explore “emerging game platforms” and focus on “key owned and third-party strategic franchises.”

“We are very pleased to sign the agreement to acquire Cryptic Studios,” said Michael Chi, Chairman and CEO of Perfect World. “This strategic acquisition will add attractive game titles to our portfolio, which will help us further penetrate into the US and global online game markets. More importantly, Cryptic Studios’ highly reputable development team and its technology platform will further strengthen our well-established R&D capabilities. We deem this as another noteworthy achievement of our global expansion efforts.”

The acquisition of Cryptic provides some great leverage and market positioning for Perfect World.  Better known for its free-to-play (F2P) titles, the purchase strengthens the Perfect World brand, and more importantly, adds some recognizable game titles to its arsenal.  With Champions Online recently shifting to F2P, it’s hard to argue that Perfect World is the wrong fit for Cryptic.  However, the future of other titles such as Star Trek Online and City of Heroes, has yet to be determined.