Atari has announced its acquisition of rights to the first five Wizardry games and their underlying IP, including Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1981), Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds (1982), Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn (1983), Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna (1987), and Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom (1988). The acquisition also includes Wizardry-related video games, contract rights, and other related intellectual property. Atari plans to bring back the original Wizardry games through digital and physical distribution, including remasters, collections, and new releases.
“When Andrew Greenberg and I created Wizardry back in the 1980s, the video game industry was still in its infancy, and the original games were some of the first to bring the role-playing experience to PCs and consoles,” said Robert Woodhead, co-creator of the Wizardry franchise. “As Atari continues to reintroduce the games on new platforms and to new audiences, I’ll definitely be paying attention to the reactions of gamers who decide to take on a real old-school challenge.”
“Wizardry is such an influential RPG franchise, yet many of the games have been unavailable for more than two decades,” said Wade Rosen, CEO and Chairman of Atari. “We are excited to have this rare opportunity to republish, remaster and bring console ports and physical releases of these early games to market.”
Drecom will retain the rights of all Wizardry games set in and after Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge, and the company retains all trademark rights in Japan and overseas to the Wizardry IP. In a subsequent press release, Drecom reiterated that the company has no intention of selling the trademark rights or other rights it holds to Wizardry:
Certain media have announced that Atari SA (hereinafter “Atari”) has acquired rights to the “Wizardry” IP from Drecom Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “the Company”), which holds trademark rights both in Japan and overseas; however, this is not true. The Company has no intention of selling the trademark rights or other rights it holds to “Wizardry”.
The Company was recently informed that Atari has acquired the rights to the first through fifth installments of the “Wizardry” series from the original rights holder.
The Company will continue to hold the Japan and overseas trademark rights to the “Wizardry” series and manage the “Wizardry” IP brand.
Drecom’s dungeon RPG Wizardry Variants Daphne, one of the latest entries from the Wizardry series, received a manga adaptation this past October on Drecom’s DRE Comics manga website. Noriyuki Fujisawa draws the Wizardry Variants Daphne manga and Toshikiri Hamamura writes the scripts.
