Atari secures rights to five Wizardry RPGS

Atari has acquired the rights to five Wizardry RPGS.

Atari has secured the rights to five classic Wizardry RPGs.

Originally launched in 1981, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord became one of the most influential role-playing games of its era.

The franchise quickly expanded throughout the 1980s with four additional releases, helping shape the future of the RPG genre alongside classics like Ultima and Might and Magic.

As part of the acquisition, Atari now owns the rights to 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)

The remaining three entries in the broader Wizardry franchise are owned separately and focus on different characters, settings, and storylines.

It has been reported that Atari has plans to republish and remaster the newly acquired games, with console ports and physical editions also expected in the future.

However, the company has not yet revealed release dates or detailed information about the upcoming projects.

Atari CEO Wade Rosen said: “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.”

The original Wizardry was a first-person dungeon crawler that earned a reputation for its punishing difficulty and deep party-building systems.

Over time, the series became a major inspiration for countless RPGs released throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Fans already got a taste of the franchise’s revival thanks to Digital Eclipse’s 2024 remake of Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, which introduced upgraded visuals and modern gameplay improvements while staying faithful to the original experience.