According to gamespot news, Ubisoft takes charge of Atari?s dirver franchise for ?24 Million. Atari is cash strapped while Ubisoft is eager to enter racing game.

Cash-strapped Atari dumped one of its properties today, partially making good on its announcement that several of its holdings would be sold off. The rights to the Driver franchise were sold to fellow countrymen Ubisoft for 19 million euros (?24 million). The deal is expected to close during Ubisoft?s second fiscal quarter, which ends September 30, 2006.

Also moving from Atari?s banner to Ubisoft?s are "most of the assets and all of the personnel" of Driver?s developer, UK-based Reflections Interactive. Atari will retain the sell-off rights for a three-month period on all the Driver games except for Driver: Parallel Lines, the most recent chapter of the franchise, which it will hold until the end of 2006.

Atari CEO Bruno Bonnell said, "We are focusing the energy of the company on a select number of franchises in order to optimize their impact among consumers and increase shareholder value. In the driving category, we consider Test Drive our key franchise which will require more resources and attention to build it as a landmark of its genre."