Looks like Atari is starting to deliver on its promise to sell off several of its holding. UbiSoft has just purchased the license to the Driver franchise along with the majority of the holding of the game's developer (Reflections Interactive, based in the UK) and all of the personnel for a total of 19 million Euros ($24 million USD). The deal is expected to close during UbiSoft's 2nd fiscal quarter, which ends in September.

The selloff of assets by Atari is part of their strategy to focus on several key franchises to hopefully optimize their impact on the global gaming audience. Ultimate Test Drive (due out in September for the XBox 360, PS2 and PSP) is one of these.

UbiSoft CEO Yves Guillemot said "We are thrilled with this acquisition which will allow us to add a prestigious title to our catalog and to enter into the driving games segment, one of the most important segments in the gaming industry".

Atari still retains the selloff rights to most of the Driver games for 3 months- the latest game, Driver: Parallel Lines, is retained until the end of 2006. A movie is also in development by Roger Avery, one of the co-writers of Pulp Fiction. No release date announced as of yet.