BREAKING: Atari auctioning off Humongous IPs

Humongous Entertainment, Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise, and Math Gran Prix being sold for at least $500,000
Yeah, so Atari is apparently going the same way as THQ did a while back. They're auctioning off all their IPs, including Roller Coaster Tycoon, Total Annihilation, Humongous Entertainment, and Test Drive. I'm praying that Nimbus manages to buy the rights to Humongous' games, but I don't know if they have even made $500k yet off of app purchases.

Someone start a kickstarter.

I have no idea why Atari is doing this, but since January of this year, some of the HE games were available for PC Download again. Take a look here and you'll see what I mean:

http://www.atari.com/buy-games/kids

It's been like that for a lot longer. Doesn't mean much, if anything.

I sent Nimbus Games a message asking them about what their plans are for this auction, and offered them help in starting up a Kickstarter project. I'm hoping to hear back from them soon.

Just got a response back from Nimbus

(redacted)
Thank you for your email.
I received the same information directly from the courts today.

Obviously, we are very interested in purchasing the IP, however I'm not sure
we could raise the money in time for the deadline using Kickstarter.

I am interested in any ideas you might have to fast track the process.

Regards
Andy Hieke
CEO - Nimbus Games Inc.

So, I don't think Kickstarter is entirely out of the question, but they aren't sure if they could get enough money in such short notice. Anybody have any ideas?

Robbing a bank. Joking, obviously. I have no idea. :medic:

Sadly, I don't think they would raise enough money via Kickstarter either. Based on their Facebook likes and Twitter followers it seems that not a lot of people are aware of them. Would it be possible for them to merge with another larger company to purchase the IP's? I was originally hoping that they would be able to create new Junior Adventures but they're such a small company, I don't think they'll ever be able to afford it.

Well, all I have to say about this...it could turn out really, really good, or really, really bad. I don't imagine Humongous will be in high demand, but I shudder to think what a company like EA could do to any of those others...

Why on earth is Fatty Bear separate anyway? And who the hell would pay half a million for the rights to FATTY BEAR?

Something tells me that's just stupidity on the journalist's part.

Yeah, I guess they didn't do their research on that. Still, like Mr.831 said, this could literally go either way right now.

The Humongous games, Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise, and Math Gran Prix franchises are going for $500,000 together so whoever buys them will get all three.

Ok, then what on earth does Math Gran Prix (apparently an educational 2600 game) have to do with Humongous?

I imagine they're selling every educational property together...

HawthornFlame wrote:Sadly, I don't think they would raise enough money via Kickstarter either. Based on their Facebook likes and Twitter followers it seems that not a lot of people are aware of them. Would it be possible for them to merge with another larger company to purchase the IP's? I was originally hoping that they would be able to create new Junior Adventures but they're such a small company, I don't think they'll ever be able to afford it.

I don't know if they would do that to have the IP's purchased. I believe we should forgive HE and Atari for not making anymore Junior Adventure games. It still turns out that the Backyard Sports games are still being produced though, which is too bad because the usual HE characters (Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam, and Spy Fox) were more popular. So for now there are over 20 Junior Adventure games and eight Junior Arcade games. I'm also glad Nimbus is re-releasing the games on iOS and Android, even though I don't have any of Apple's mobile devices yet. I hope they still intend to make new and original HE apps/games.

CEO100able wrote:It still turns out that the Backyard Sports games are still being produced though

Since when?

I think the series was getting to be very popular since the year 2004. I found some information about the 2004 announcement on Wikipedia. I'll quote it for you:

"In 2004 Atari announced it was creating a fresh new look and gameplay experience for the franchise with the release of Backyard Skateboarding and featured Andy MacDonald and Tony Hawk. They stated that it is a completely new take on a longtime favorite franchise with all-new features, updated graphics, enhanced gameplay, and extensive options that will keep players and gamers alike enthusiastically entertained. The game was released at the end of May 2010 and received favorable reviews on family oriented websites. Common Sense Media gave the game five stars and GeekDad on the Wired website called it a lot of fun."

I don't remember it having Tony Hawk, or being released that late. Could swear it was around 2006. Though it *WAS* rather decent, IMO.

It seems that Nimbus won't be affected too much, even if they can't purchase the IPs

To answer your question. We do have a long term license agreement that will
out live Atari's bankruptcy, we will simply be paying royalties to a new
owner...IF......we don't buy the IP.

Needless to say we are talking to Atari.

Glad to see that Nimbus' mobile versions will still be around for the foreseeable future.

Well, that's a relief. The only question now is, WHO is going to buy the properties?

I am. Well, I wish.

Too bad Ron Gilbert probably doesn't have the necessary funds to buy them up. Would be so cool if he could once again have a hand in the games.

Just letting you know, the Backyard Sports franchise is being offered separately from the rest of the HE games, and at a higher price ($750,000) than the rest put together. I find this weird because the Backyard series hasn't been selling in big numbers for 10 years.
http://www.4-traders.com/ATARI-2168735/news/ATARI-Final-phase-of-the-Chapter-11-procedures-16915008/

Atari seems to think it's better at least. Oh well, the franchise is dead to me.