Animoca Brands expands partnership with Atari

Animoca Brands Corporation Limited has entered, via its subsidiary Animoca Brands Limited, into an amendment to its license agreement with Atari Interactive, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Atari SA.

The Amendment is a significant expansion of the partnership with Atari and grants Animoca Brands the right to develop and distribute globally 15 classic Atari arcade games (including classic blockbusters Asteroids, Pong and Centipede), the right to develop and publish blockchain versions of these titles including integration of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and to be the non-exclusive distributor in Asia and exclusive provider of blockchain content globally for the Atari VCS console.

The Amendment expands the license held by the Company to include an additional 15 iconic Atari titles on any platform and any distribution channel, inclusive of blockchain products, for a term extending through to 31 January 2025. The Games include Centipede, Pong, Breakout, Asteroids, Missile Command, Crystal Castles, Adventure, Lunar, Lander, Tempest, Millipede, Night Driver, Agent X, Space Duel, Star Raiders, and Major Havoc; Animoca Brands has the right, until 31 December 2020, to swap the last five games for other Atari titles.

Upon meeting revenue milestones, Animoca Brands will gain the rights to an additional 13 Atari games at no extra charge. Animoca Brands has the right to produce and distribute non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for all assets for the Games.

The Amendment grants to Animoca Brands the rights to distribute the Games through the platforms of its subsidiaries and affiliated entities, principally Gamee and Quidd. Animoca Brands intends to launch the Games on Gamee's mobile, web, and desktop platforms, and the Company will also offer digital collector assets from the Games via its subsidiary Quidd. Gamee is the popular casual games platform recently acquired by Animoca, and Quidd is the leading global marketplace for buying and selling branded digital collectibles. 

The Amendment also grants Animoca Brands non-exclusive distribution rights in Asia (excluding Australia and New-Zealand) for the upcoming Atari VCS game console. Animoca Brands will set up and operate its own online retail store covering the region through to 30 September 2022.

The Company, together with Atari, will be the exclusive blockchain gaming content provider for the Atari VCS console until 30 September 2022, including the right to incorporate its preferred blockchain technology solutions (such as a crypto wallet), which will make the VCS the world's first dedicated blockchain gaming game console. 

Lastly, Atari and Animoca Brands have reached an agreement in principle for a token swap of Atari Tokens and tokens owned by Animoca Brands, in limited amounts of less than $100,000. 

Frederic Chesnais, CEO of Atari, said, “We are thrilled to strengthen our partnership with Animoca Brands, whose vision for the integration of blockchain technology into video games is perfectly aligned with ours. When we signed the initial agreement, we always envisaged to expand it to the most iconic games of the Atari catalog to turn them into blockchain games. Our ambition for the Atari VCS is to develop an ecosystem that gives users access to the largest number of tools for creation and entertainment. Blockchain games inside a virtual world are a perfect example for the types of entertainment that we want to propose to the Atari VCS userbase. It was the natural choice to ask our partner Animoca Brands, whose leadership in blockchain gaming is unquestioned, to offer their blockchain gaming content directly on the Atari VCS.”

Yat Siu, Co-Founder and Chairman of Animoca Brands, added, “This significant expansion of our partnership with Atari allows Animoca Brands to leverage some of the greatest ever classic games into our blockchain strategy and on our popular platforms, including the hypercasual gaming platform Gamee and the digital collectibles platform Quidd. We are very excited at the opportunity to catapult these nostalgic, history-making games into the future.”