In a surprise move, Hasbro Inc and Infogrames Entertainment SA jointly announced this morning that Hasbro has reacquired its digital gaming rights for its various properties from Infogrames. Held by Infogrames on an exclusive basis due to the licensing agreement that came up with the purchase of Hasbro Interactive and Games.com in December 2000, the move of reacquisition was done for $65 million. Under the move, Infogrames and Hasbro have entered into a new licensing agreement that gives Infogramesrights to 10 Hasbro franchises, including: Dungeons & Dragons, Monopoly, Scrabble, Game Of Life, Battleship, Clue, Yahtzee, Simon and Risk And Boggle.

"We think this is a great move for both companies," said Alfred J. Verrecchia, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hasbro, Inc. "This new agreement allows Hasbro to fully exploit its' brands in a wide variety of growth platforms including next generation consoles, around the world, while at the same time giving Infogrames the rights to 10 popular Hasbro brands."

Getting into the specifics, Infogrames has the exclusive rights to Dungeons & Dragons in all interactive formats for the next 10 years, with three new titles planned for release this year and next by Atari, including: D&D Online, NeverWinter Nights 2 and Dragonshard. As far as the other games in the deal go, Infogrames has seven-year licenses on those titles. Check back for more news as it develops.