Atari is clearly continuing its retro renaissance seriously. After the last few years during which the company aggressively acquired old IPs and brought forgotten classics back to the market, it is now time for one of the most important RPG series in the history of video games - Wizardry.
Atari has officially confirmed that it has acquired “full and exclusive rights” to the first five original Wizardry games, including related intellectual property content and additional rights related to the original universe of the series. In other words, one of the forefathers of modern RPGs is now under Atari's control.
However, the situation is not entirely straightforward.
Wizardry 6, 7, and 8 remain owned by the Japanese publisher Drecom, which immediately emphasized after the announcement that it still holds global rights to the Wizardry trademark and has no intention of selling them in the future. Drecom also confirmed that it will continue to manage the Wizardry brand internationally, despite Atari's acquisition of the early titles. This means that Wizardry is currently divided between different owners, depending on which part of the series we are talking about.
Atari, however, has big plans for the first games. The company states that it wants to expand digital and physical distribution through remasters, collections, and new re-releases, but also to turn Wizardry into a much broader entertainment franchise. Social and card games, books, comics, and even potential TV and film projects are mentioned. And honestly, it’s not hard to see why. Wizardry may not be a mainstream name today like Final Fantasy or Elder Scrolls, but the impact of the series on the RPG genre is practically impossible to overestimate. The original games from the 80s were among the first titles to bring the role-playing experience to PCs and consoles, and their DNA can later be seen in countless Japanese and Western RPGs.
It is particularly interesting that Atari's Digital Eclipse released a remake of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord last year, which now seems like a very clear sign of where all this is headed. Atari acquired Digital Eclipse in 2023 in a deal worth up to 20 million dollars, and the studio has positioned itself in recent years as one of the best teams for restoring gaming classics.
Atari CEO Wade Rosen stated that Wizardry is one of the most influential RPG series ever, but also that a large portion of the games has not been available for more than two decades. That is precisely why the company wants to bring the series back to new generations through modernized editions, console ports, and physical versions.
The entire situation was also reacted to by Robert Woodhead, one of the creators of the original Wizardry, reminding that he and Andrew Greenberg were creating games in the early 80s at a time when the gaming industry was still practically in its infancy.
And perhaps that is the most interesting part of the whole story.
At a time when the industry obsessively chases live-service trends, battle passes, and algorithmic design, Atari is investing serious money in preserving one of the oldest RPG foundations of modern gaming history.
And for fans of old-school dungeon crawlers, this could be a very big deal.
