Perfect World announced today that it has entered an agreement with Atari to acquire 100% equity interest in Cryptic Studios for approximately $50 million in cash. Atari stated a couple weeks ago that it was looking to sell Cryptic after the company "determined that external development creates more flexibility in the changing marketplace."

Here's what Michael Chi, chairman and chief executive officer of Perfect World, had to say about the deal:

"We are very pleased to sign the agreement to acquire Cryptic Studios. This strategic acquisition will add attractive game titles to our portfolio, which will help us further penetrate into the U.S. and global online game markets. More importantly, Cryptic Studios' highly reputable development team and its technology platform will further strengthen our well-established R&D capabilities. We deem this as another noteworthy achievement of our global expansion efforts."

Only time will tell what this move means for Champions Online, Star Trek Online and the upcoming Neverwinter.