Atari Launches New Dungeons & Dragons Facebook Game

Atari today launched the open beta phase for its new Dungeons & Dragons title on Facebook, with players able to sign up and play immediately. The game arrives as Atari continues to shift its focus away from packaged products to social, mobile and digital markets that have potentially wider audiences. Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter offers a total of 50 dungeons, 40 monsters and 30 unique skills at launch, with hundreds of items for players to also discover. Players are able to take the role of the Dungeon Master and create adventures for their friends to play through and explore. Jim Wilson, president and CEO at Atari, explained, "Heroes of Neverwinter delivers a high level of depth, polish and authenticity that will fundamentally change the way players think of RPG gaming on social platforms." "Existing fans of the D&D franchise will find the translation compelling in all areas of the gameplay experience, while more casual gamers will find the adaptation accessible and intuitive." Earlier this year, Hasbro won a legal dispute against Atari over the D&D name, meaning that Atari can develop, market and maintain games based on the D&D property, but will do so under license from both Hasbro and subsidiary Wizards of the Coast.