Ubisoft nabs Atari's Driver license, drops $24M in deal

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jul 14th 2006 at 12:55PM }

Atari has sold the rights to the Driver franchise to Ubisoft for roughly $24 million. The deal will be completed during Ubisoft's second fiscal quarter, which ends September 30, 2006, and includes the acquisition of developer Reflections Interactive Limited, along with most of the studio's assets.

Now the onus is on Ubisoft to steer this franchise out of the junkyard. Good luck.

Tags: Atari, Driver, Ubisoft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

martin @ Jul 14th 2006 1:02PM

Now if people could quit calling it a GTA clone and realize that GTAIII is a Driver clone.

Retro @ Jul 14th 2006 1:07PM

You know, I'm actually glad about this. I'm sure Ubisoft can really make this game a good franchise again.

Babylonian @ Jul 14th 2006 1:21PM

Honestly, DRIV3R was severely underrated. IMO, Parallel Lines was actually worse than Driver 3, with the INEXPLICABLE REMOVAL of the best feature in the game: the movie editor. They gave you a variety of camera angles, options, film speeds, and on the Xbox version you could upload them and show them to friends. That, to me, made Driver 3 worth playing, and they somehow chose to take it out for the sequel.

SydRocks @ Jul 14th 2006 1:25PM

Maybe they bought it just to cancel the project all together. I would celebrate.

Revolution @ Jul 14th 2006 1:30PM

Hopefully there won't be a number in between letters this time.

D4IVER

Chris @ Jul 14th 2006 1:30PM

@ Martin

Driver - Release Date: Jun 30, 1999
Grand Theft Auto - Release Date: Feb 28, 1998

James @ Jul 14th 2006 1:39PM

If they let any of those guys who made 187: Ride or Die near that franchise, consider it dead.

daniel @ Jul 14th 2006 1:45PM

#5 the original gta was quite different to gta 3 onwards

scott @ Jul 14th 2006 1:53PM

The Question is, When did Driver go 3D ala GTA3?

Fall3n13 @ Jul 14th 2006 2:02PM

Driver has always been 3D since the first one. While the first GTA was a 2D game.

I think you can't compare either game because GTA is an open game surrounded with the the whole gang plot

while.

Driver has always been about an undercover cop who plays as a driver for the gang to work their way into bringing them down.

To me Both games are good and i hope they make Driver as good as the first one was.

Obebogie @ Jul 14th 2006 2:06PM

8. "The Question is, When did Driver go 3D ala GTA3?"

Driver has always been 3D.

1. "Now if people could quit calling it a GTA clone and realize that GTAIII is a Driver clone."

How do you come to that conclusion? I can't see much GTAIII lifted from the first 2 games of the driver series other than perhaps the perspective? But then thats a standard viewpoint for all car games.

The ZeroCorpse @ Jul 14th 2006 2:09PM

The question is: When did Driver stop being about driving, and start being about getting out of the car and running around?

Driver was a good car chase game. Then they ruined it by trying to emulate GTAIII.

Driver needs to go back to basics. Adopt damage like in the Burnout series, pick up intense multiple-car chases like in Need For Speed Most Wanted, and keep the missions about being undercover as a bad guy DRIVER. No on-foot missions. No shooting. Just using driving skill in a big sandbox city environment to get away from the cops by eluding them or causing them to wreck.

They need to think BLUES BROTHERS, SMOKEY & THE BANDIT, and CANNONBALL RUN when they make the next Driver game.

Hey- Here's an idea. How about a Cannonball Run video game? Online Multiplayer. Race across the nation. Cops, tricks, stunts, unique cars... It could be fun!

Night Elve @ Jul 14th 2006 2:10PM

8.

Huh? The first Driver was released for PSX and if i remember good it was in 3D.

Twist @ Jul 14th 2006 2:33PM

I agree with some of the others here. The first Driver game was great. The level of realism was much greater than GTA's. You had to obey traffic laws and to lose the cops you really had to work. Driv3r just felt like a bad GTA want-to-be though (it was worse than True Crime IMHO). So Ubisoft please think of Driver as the Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon of GTA style games. Realistic cities, realistic vehicles, realistic physics, realistic events, realistic enemy AI, and put the focus of the game back on being the wheelman.

cringer8 @ Jul 14th 2006 2:35PM

This is the best news I've heard in weeks. I loved the original Driver and I love Ubisoft. It's a perfect match.

@ZeroCorpse
I agree completely. I hope Ubisoft didn't make this purchase as a means to compete directly with GTA. That would be a mistake.

I just want a great driving game with state-of-the-art physics and creative driving missions (like when you had to drive as "lawfully" as possible to evade the police).

Please, Ubisoft, give me back my original Driver.

Night Elve @ Jul 14th 2006 3:44PM

Yeah the first Driver was such a great game, i had a great time with it.

Killer Instinct @ Jul 14th 2006 7:11PM

Atari doesnt want to become delisted on the stock market, I'm thinking we will see more sales of their franchises

Game God @ Jul 15th 2006 8:42AM

Have you seen the website now?
http://www.atari.com/driver/

Looks fantastic!!!

Michael @ Jul 15th 2006 5:34PM

No. 6 Chris: "@ Martin

Driver - Release Date: Jun 30, 1999
Grand Theft Auto - Release Date: Feb 28, 1998"

Good for Grand Theft Auto.

No. 1 Martin: "Now if people could quit calling it a GTA clone and realize that GTAIII is a Driver clone."

>>>GTAIII