DEC. 9. 2008 • Atari paid $28 million, plus $20 million in sales-related incentives, to purchase City of Heroes developer Cryptic Studios. While NCsoft retains control of that franchise, Atari gains other Cryptic IP in development, and will retain all of the studio’s 150 employees.

Impact: The larger retail publishers have been late to the online game and are now desperately trying to buy their way in. There was actually a battle to acquire Cryptic Studios, and surprisingly Ubisoft was outbid by Atari. Atari has somehow managed to not only stay alive, but actually pay good money for a proven developer in these tough economic times. Meanwhile, Ubisoft is still in the market to buy some proven online development talent.