Animoca Brands gains global development and distribution rights, including for blockchain and NFTs, for an additional 15 iconic Atari Games, including classic blockbusters Pong, Asteroids and others.
Animoca Brands Corporation Limited is pleased to advise that it 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 Brands, and Quidd is the leading global marketplace for buying and selling branded digital collectibles.
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.
Frederic Chesnais, CEO of Atari
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 US$100,000.
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.
Yat Siu, co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands
Transaction details
As consideration for the expanded licensing arrangements provided by the Amendment, the Company will pay to Atari a minimum guarantee against future revenues payable through the issuance of 18.7 million shares of the Company priced at A$0.21 per share. The entirety of this license fee is recoupable against royalties paid to Atari from the revenue generated by the Games.
As consideration for the exclusivity for Atari’s VCS game console, Animoca Brands will pay a minimum guarantee against future revenues to Atari of US$320,000, payable before 31 July 2021 at its discretion in cash or through the issuance of 2.2 million shares of the company priced at A$0.21 per share.
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