Remaster specialist studio Nightdive is being acquired by Atari

Posted on March 25, 2023

Nightdive Studios, the team behind retro game remasters such as Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition and modern ports of DOOM 64 and Quake, is being acquired by Atari. Atari is paying $10 million to acquire the studio, half of that in cash, and half in company shares. Up to $10 million will be additionally paid over the next three years depending on Nightdive’s performance.

“This is a big win for our team! As we look to continue producing high-quality, new, and remastered games that do justice to the original IP; we could think of no better long-term partner than Atari.” writes Nightdive Studios on Twitter.

Wade Rosen, Chairman and CEO of Atari, has stated that “NightDive’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.”

In purchasing Nightdive, Atari will be acquiring not just the company’s catalogue of games and future projects, but also its proprietary KEX Engine, which is Nightdive’s key to making classic games from the 1990s playable on modern hardware. Although Atari is hardly the gaming industry juggernaut that it was in decades past, the company is still active in revisiting its classic library through projects like the Atari VCS console. For a company whose history is so synonymous with the early days of the gaming industry, acquiring a company specialising in remasters makes a good deal of sense.

It is anticipated that the acquisition will be finalised in April 2023. Nightdive’s existing projects, including remasters of System Shock 2, and Rise of the Triad, are not expected to be impacted by the acquisition.