Atari has announced that it has has acquired the rights to the first five Wizardry games and the underlying Wizardry intellectual property from Drecom.
To be clear, the titles acquired include Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1981), Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds (1982), Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn (1983), Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna (1987), and Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom (1988), as well as “many other Wizardry-related video games, contract rights, and other related intellectual property.” Meanwhile, Drecom will retain ownership of Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge, Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant, and Wizardry 8.
Atari states that it plans to bring back the “Original Wizardry” / “The Llylgamyn Saga” games, which “set the cornerstone for the Japanese RPG genre,” through expanded digital and physical distribution and the creation of remasters, collections, and new releases. In addition to video games, merchandise, card and board games, books and comics, and TV and film projects are planned as part of a long-term plan to build an entertainment franchised based on the original games.
“When Andrew Greenberg and I created Wizardry back in the 1980s, the video game industry was still in its infancy, and the original games were some of the first to bring the role-playing experience to PCs and consoles,” said Wizardry series co-creator Robert Woodhead in a press release. “As Atari continues to reintroduce the games on new platforms and to new audiences, I’ll definitely be paying attention to the reactions of gamers who decide to take on a real old-school challenge.”
Atari CEO and chairman Wade Rosen added, “Wizardry is such an influential RPG franchise, yet many of the games have been unavailable for more than two decades. We are excited to have this rare opportunity to republish, remaster, and bring console ports and physical releases of these early games to market.”
Atari-owned studio Digital Eclipse has already released a remake of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, back in 2024, when it was licensed by then owners Drecom.