Wizards of the Coast LLC, Hasbro Inc., and Atari S.A. have announced the settlement of a complaint against Atari and counterclaims filed by Atari against Hasbro in regards to the Dungeons & Dragons brand. Hasbro and WotC filed suit against Atari in December of 2009 charging that Atari had entered into a banned sublicensing agreement with Hasbro competitor Namco Bandai (see “Hasbro Sues Atari”).

 

In the settlement the digital rights for Dungeons & Dragons have been returned to Hasbro/WotC, though Atari will continue to develop and market several games under license from Hasbro and Wizards, including the #1 Xbox Live hit Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale, and the upcoming Heroes of Neverwinter for Facebook.

 

The acquisition of Cryptic Studios from Atari by Perfect World Entertainment, Inc. has delayed the Neverwinter PC Game that was scheduled for release this year. Perfect World is investing additional effort in the creation of a more immersive Neverwinter game that will be released in late 2012.