Atari has purchased the RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 publishing rights from Frontier Developments for $7 million.
Atari, which has a long-term CurlerCoaster Tycoon licensing settlement with franchise creator Chris Sawyer, stated it’s now the only writer of all main titles throughout the CurlerCoaster Tycoon franchise, together with Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic, Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, Rollercoaster Tycoon Deluxe, Rollercoaster Tycoon Joyride, Rollercoaster Tycoon World, Rollercoaster Tycoon Puzzle, and Rollercoaster Tycoon Touch.
The massively profitable Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 was developed by Frontier Developments, the UK studio behind Elite: Dangerous and Zoo Tycoon, and launched in 2004. It’s out there now on PC, Mac, iOS, and Nintendo Switch, however Atari stated it plans to broaden digital and bodily distribution, and “explore brand and merchandising collaborations as part of a long-term plan to bring the franchise to new heights.”
“As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of Rollercoaster Tycoon with Chris Sawyer, I am really pleased that we can unite this important and successful title in the series with the rest of the franchise,” stated Wade Rosen, Chairman and CEO of Atari. ”This goes to create new alternatives for Atari as we proceed the great work completed by Frontier, and produce advantages to the followers of video games throughout the Rollercoaster Tycoon franchise.”
The sale brings in much-needed money for Frontier, which has struggled lately after a string of video games didn’t hit gross sales projections. In November, (*3*) following poor launch gross sales of its real-time strategy game Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin. The studio has additionally suffered a spherical of layoffs.
In a trading replace issued this week, Frontier stated gross sales of its video games since January have been “in-line with expectations”, with Jurassic World Evolution 2 and Planet Zoo main the charge. The current console release of Planet Zoo noticed “strong player engagement”, with complete gross sales up to and together with the day of release better than the gross sales achieved by Planet Coaster when that game got here out on consoles in November 2020.
According to Frontier, publishing CurlerCoaster Tycoon 3 generated $1.5 million in revenue per 12 months for the reason that firm acquired the rights in 2018. The $7 million sale is made up of $4 million of up-front money and $3 million of deferred money. “The proceeds of the disposal will be utilized by the Company for general working capital purposes,” Frontier stated.
Frontier's money place grew to £23.4 million as of March 31, 2024, up from £19.9 million as of December 31, 2023. Cash acquired during that three month period included the $4m of up-front consideration due from the sale of the CurlerCoaster Tycoon 3 publishing rights and the primary tranche of the video video games tax reduction money credit score associated to the FY23 UK tax returns, Frontier stated.
As for the long run, Frontier stated it “remains comfortable” with its earlier steerage. In a earlier replace, Frontier stated it was refocusing on artistic management simulation video games (CMS). With this in thoughts, Frontier has confirmed three future CMS video games, with one releasing in every of the following three financial years. Alongside this it would proceed to develop and assist its current portfolio of video games, together with Elite Dangerous, F1 Manager, and Realms of Ruin.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can attain Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].