Atari announced yesterday that it has officially divested its interest in Cryptic Studios, and that the developer is now wholly owned by the Chinese MMO publisher Perfect World Entertainment.
Now that the sale of the studio is complete, Atari will use the proceeds to pay down it's debts and to invest in the mobile and social markets, in licensing costs and other higher margin segments.
This could probably bode well for the current and future titles handled by Cryptic: Champions Online, Star Trek Online and the upcoming Neverwinter, that could see additional investment from the Chinese publisher in order to continue the breakthrough in the western market already started with Forsaken World.
Cryptic did a great job with Champions Online: Free For All despite the acquisition storm, so the future seems rather bright. In the meanwhile, I guess we can wait for Atari's first Facebook game. Meh.