The parent company of Atari, Infogrames Entertainment, has entered into an agreement to acquire Cryptic Studios, a developer, publisher and operator of massively multiplayer online games.

Infogrames will acquire all of Cryptic’s proprietary IP, tools, technology and work-in-progress, while integrating all members of its leadership team and employees. The move is a strategic step for Atari, as it seeks to become a leader within the online gaming industry.

David Gardner, chief executive officer of Infograme, said: “The acquisition of Cryptic Studios brings to Infogrames and outstanding creative organisation, with a proven track-record of success in the fast-growing MMO category.

“Cryptic’s success is founded on leading-edge technology and the vision of a seasoned executive management team. I am impressed with the tools and technology that Cryptic has developed to make MMOs less expensive to build.

“Creating vast worlds and interesting interactions can be very people-intensive but with the use of Cryptic’s toolset they have a proven way of cutting average production costs in half. This is exactly the type of company we wanted to acquire in order to build Atari for the 21st century.”