Blockchain-focused gaming developer Animoca Brands has revealed an expansionary development of its existing collaboration with cult classic gaming company Atari. Extending an existing agreement dating back to December 2018, Animoca Brands stated the new amendment extends its access to an extra 15 Atari games “on any platform and any distribution channel, including blockchain products, for a term extending through to 31 January 2025”. Animoca Brands and Atari validated they revised their existing license agreement to expand the number of channels, and intellectual property (IP) made accessible for Animoca’s platform.

Classic games added

 The significant expansion suggests Atari will grant Animoca Brands the right to produce and distribute an additional 15 classic Atari arcade games, involving highly popular titles like Asteroids, Pong and Centipede. Animoca Brands will also receive the right to produce and publish blockchain versions of Atari’s earlier released titles, incorporating the integration of novel features like non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

As a guarantee to assure future revenue payments, Animoca Brands has decided to issue 18.7 million shares at $0.21 per share and said that this “license fee” is recoupable against royalties paid to Atari from the revenue produced by Atari’s gaming titles. Another advantage of the expanded collaboration for Animoca Brands is the capacity to become a non-exclusive distributor of Atari’s games in Asia and an independent provider of blockchain content across the globe for the Atari VCS console.

“We are thrilled to strengthen our partnership with Animoca Brands, whose vision for the integration of blockchain technology into video games is perfectly aligned with ours,” Atari chief executive officer Frederic Chesnais said in a statement. “When we signed the initial agreement, we always envisaged to expand it to the most iconic games of the Atari catalog to turn them into blockchain games.” “Our ambition for the Atari VCS is to develop an ecosystem that gives users access to the largest number of tools for creation and entertainment. Blockchain games inside a virtual world are a perfect example of the types of entertainment that we want to propose to the Atari VCS userbase,” Mr. Chesnaid added in a statement.

 The amended deal gives Animoca Brands non-exclusive distribution rights in Asia. Still, it excludes Australia and New Zealand, for the forthcoming Atari VCS game console. Animoca Brands will be the exclusive blockchain gaming content provider, including the right to include its selected blockchain technology solutions like crypto wallets, through making the VCS “the world’s first dedicated blockchain gaming game console,” the company stated.

As evidence for the exclusivity for Atari’s VCS game console, Animoca Brands has allowed paying a minimum guarantee against future revenues of US$320,000 due before 31 July 2021 or through the issuance of 2.2 million Animoca shares at A$0.21 per share.