Today, Ubisoft has announced that the company has acquired both the Driver series and its developer, Reflections, from Atari.

For 19 million euros (the equivalent of US $24 million) the company has locked up the Driver series. The developers at Reflections now work for Ubisoft. While nothing is known about what the team might be working on, we have to speculate that they're gearing up for a next-gen outing of the popular series... hopefully, one that can make up for the twin disappointments of DRIV3R and Driver: Parallel Lines.

This comes on the heels of news from May that the latest Stuntman - another series owned by Atari and originally developed by Reflections - was sold to publisher THQ, alongside its current developer, Paradigm Entertainment.

While these sales will certainly help Atari scrounge up desperately needed cash, we're left wondering just how far Atari will go in shedding its popular series and their developers. That's something we'll find out in the future, no doubt.

July 13, 2006