Hasbro Reclaims Dungeons & Dragons Rights From Atari Following Legal Dispute

A legal dispute between toymaker Hasbro and Atari Corp over the digital licensing rights for Dungeons & Dragons has been settled out of court, with Hasbro wresting away the valuable property. The suit was first filed in late 2009, with Hasbro subsidiary Wizards of the Coast alleging that Atari sub-licensed its Dungeons & Dragons digital game rights to Namco Bandai, which Hasbro sees as a competitor. It sued Atari for fraud and five different breach of contract counts. "Hasbro has resorted to these meritless allegations, in an apparent attempt to unfairly take back rights granted to Atari," Atari said at the time. While the terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, a statement from Hasbro says that Atari will continue to develop, market and maintain games based on the Dungeons & Dragons property, but they will do so under license from both Hasbro and subsidiary Wizards of the Coast. In addition, it was announced that the Cryptic Studios-developed PC MMO Neverwinter, based in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, has now been delayed to a late 2012 release following Atari's sale of the studio to Perfect World Entertainment, in a deal that closed just last week.