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Atari, Funimation Settle Dragon Ball Z Game Dispute
posted on by Egan Loo
The game company Atari announced that it settled its dispute with the anime distributor Funimation over the Dragon Ball Z game license. By paying Funimation US$3.5 million (in the form of a US$2.7-million cash payment and a US$0.8-million reduction on a royalty advance), Atari can continue its holiday release of the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 fighting game on the Sony PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii. (Bandai Namco Games released the game under the name Dragon Ball Z Sparking! Meteor in Japan in October.) Atari also says it will continue releasing games for the franchise.
Atari reported in October that Funimation served notice of a pending termination of their agreement. The two companies have been discussing how to resolve the dispute to ensure Budokai Tenkaichi 3's November release was not jeopardized. Atari's standing agreement with Funimation went into effect in January 2004 after an initial US$10-million payment, and it will last — barring further disputes — until January 2010.
Errata: Sony PlayStation 2's name corrected. Thanks, MokonaModoki.
