Cryptic Studios has been the topic of a lot of discussions around the horn as of late with whispers that they might be on the block. The rumors have proved true, as it was announced that Cryptic will be acquired by Infogrames.

Cryptic Studios gained much of its notoriety with the release of City of Heroes/Villains, which was an MMO title with over 180,000 subscribers at peak that was released thru NCSoft. It is said that the ‘City of’ franchise generated over $100 million in revenue during its initial run. NCSoft is continuing the development of the franchise with its own in-house studio, leaving Cryptic to peruse the development of new titles.

Most recently, Cryptic was announced as the winner of the Star Trek MMO franchise license and they have been showing off the first looks at their take on the development of this title which is expected in 2010. Also, Cryptic as Champions Online is currently in development for an expected launch in 2009. Rumors also persist that Cryptic has been working on another unnamed titled that is still in the very early development stage.

The deal sees Infogrames acquire Cryptic and all of their IP for $28 million, with an additional $20 million available to be paid as sales-related incentives, depending on product performance. The deals will include all of the proprietary intellectual properties, tools, technology, and current projects. All 150 Bay Area-based Cryptic staff will become Infogrames employees.

The move gives Atari a strong foothold in the MMO market space, which is an area where Atari has not really been that successful in the past. As for Cryptic, this puts the company in a better position and assures that they will have the necessary funding to complete the projects that they are working on, as well as have additional funding to grow staff and recruit new talent to add to the team.