Atari reaches settlement with ex-Reflections boss

Reflections Interactive founder Martin Edmondson has withdrawn his claim of unfair dismissal against Atari after the publisher agreed a settlement deal worth more than USD 4 million.

Edmondson, who created the multi-million selling Driver series, resigned from Reflections in December 2004. Financial documents released last week by Atari, as reported by Gamasutra, reveal that Edmondson filed suit the following March, alleging "constructive unfair dismissal as a result of Reflections alleged repudiatory breach of a contract of employment that necessitated Mr. Edmondsonâs resignation."

The documents state that Edmondson withdrew his claim last August after reaching a settlement agreement with Atari. The publisher agreed to issue Edmondson with 1,557,668 shares, valued at USD 2.1 million, plus a cash payment of USD 2.2 million.

It was also agreed that the cash payment would be made in twelve monthly instalments starting September 1st, 2005, and that Edmondson would also receive a one-off lump sum of USD 400,000 along with the first payment.

Edmondson founded Reflections in 1984 and the studio was best known for producing Amiga classic Shadow of the Beast before the first instalment in the Driver series became one of the best-selling titles for the original PlayStation. A successful sequel followed and there was much hype around the release of the first Driver game for PS2, Driv3r - but poor reviews and a failure to meet sales targets are thought to have caused tension between Edmondson and Atari.