Well, the whole thing is kind of incestuous
. First, Infogrames acquired the interactive division (Hasbro Interactive) from Hasbro Inc. a few years ago (I think 2001 or 2003). That's how Infogrames got a hold of the Atari brand name and of the licences (minus D&D) that are mentioned in the press release. After the acquistion of Hasbro Interactive, Infogrames then formed Atari Europe and Atari North America.
As the press release states, Infogrames/Atari are now selling back some of the rights to Hasbro Inc. - They are getting $19.5 million of which $4 million will be going straight to Atari. The rest probably goes to Infogrames. I would assume that this sum (the $4 million going to Atari) was rather freely negotiated or assigned by Infogrames.
So what I don't get is why do some of you think that this reflects the value of the D&D franchise? To me, it just seems to be Atari's piece of the cake that they are getting from the whole cake that is worth $19.5 million. The $4 million just seems to be their share of the re-sale of the collective assets/IPs. Or did I overlook/miss something that would point at some correlation between the D&D rights and the $4 million?
It would seem to me like the terms and conditions of Hasbro granting Infogrames/Atari the D&D licence have not been disclosed at all.
The only thing that seems rather certain is that the Infogrames/Atari group needed some cash urgently.
But as far as D&D is concerned... who knows? Maybe the whole package of assets that they sold back to Hasbro was in reality worth $50 million and the difference between $50 million and $19.5 million = the value of keeping the D&D franchise until 2017?
To recap in short: Where's the link between the $4 million and the D&D licence? I don't get it...