Chris Sawyer's Transportation magnate could live again, like Atari purchased the property for an undisclosed amount. As part of that deal, Atari said it will “potentially develop new titles or content” and seek to increase physical and digital distribution of the original simulation title.
Transportation magnate first released in 1994 for MS-DOS, and put players in charge of a 1930s transportation company following the Great Depression. Over the decades, including the then distant 2030, players clash with commercial rivals and build a transportation empire using technology from each historical period.
The following year, an improved version of the game (extending its story from 1950 to 2050) was released, and it later came to Mac and PlayStation. It came to iOS and Android in 2013 and an open source remake/recreation called OpenTTD published in 2004 and persists to this day.
In a statement, Atari CEO Wade Rosen said the publisher is “committed to honoring and advancing its revolutionary creation.” Both parties had previously collaborated on the Roller coaster Tycoon series (which Sawyer licenses) e Of transport spiritual successor of 2004, Chris Sawyer's Locomotion.
Atari is still in the comeback era
Transportation magnate marks Atari's latest purchase in what has been an acquisition-filled period for the publisher. Earlier this year, he purchased Infograms and part of its IP, namely the Surgeon simulator AND Totally reliable delivery service property.
Last year, its acquisitions included Night diving studiesTHE AtariAge historical website and conservation study Digital eclipse. Last September, Rosen he expressed his goal of turning Atari into a company that leads from the front instead of being a “fast follower”.
“We were never really first in any category,” he explained at the time. “The first thing was to stop and say, 'What are we doing? What can we be the best in the world at?' […] We looked at what we have passion for. What we came back with was “retro gaming” and specifically “modern retro gaming”.
