Atari has announced that is buying Nightdive Studios for a cool $10 million - the abandonware specialists will become part of the publisher's larger ambitions to boost production of retro IPs. Nightdive's proprietary KEX engine will form the technological base for future remakes of Atari titles from the archives. As the news of this acquisition hit the web, the Nightdive Twitter posted a positive message regarding the buyout: "This is a big win for our team! As we look to continue producing high-quality, new, and remastered games that do justice to the original IP; we could think of no better long-term partner than."

Nightdive leaders Stephen Kick and Larry Kuperman stated in a joint statement: "Night Dive and Atari have a long history together and we know that Atari shares our passion for retro games and our focus on producing high-quality new and remastered games that do justice to the original IP. As we look to grow our business and expand our capabilities, we could think of no better long-term partner than Atari."Nightdive Studios will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atari, but the latter company will first have to stump up $5 million in cash to start the takeover. The other half of the total $10 million deal will be offered in the form of shares, upon completion of the buyout. Nightdive is also being offered a bonus incentive of another $10 million, but that sum will hinge on performance targets set by the leadership team at Atari. Chairman and CEO Wade Rosen said: "Night Dive's proven expertise and successful track record in commercializing retro IP is well-aligned with Atari's strategy and I am confident that their combined talent, technology and IP portfolio will contribute to Atari's future success."Nightdive Studios is currently in the final stages of its development of a System Shock Remake, it is also in the process of creating a remaster of System Shock 2 (1999). The System Shock intellectual property was acquired by Nightdive a few years ago, but in a confusing twist, a third game in the series was being developed by OtherSide Entertainment. The System Shock 3 development team ended a partnership with Starbreeze Studios in 2019, and bought back the rights to the game. Tencent appears to be the current rights holder, after it completely took charge of the project from in 2022. OtherSide Entertainment is no longer involved in any capacity.

Nightdive Studios has previously worked on remasters of classic games such as Quake, Shadowman, Turok, Powerslave and Blade Runner.