Cryptic Studios interview: Surviving Atari, working with Wizards, and a changing business model

Cryptic Studios is entering its third decade in the massively multiplayer online game market, where it started (like everyone else) in paid subscriptions before moving on to the free-to-play model.

In that time, CEO Stephen D’Angelo has seen the company grow from working on one game (City of Heroes) to now maintaining three MMORPGS: Champions Online (Cryptic also owns the pen-and-paper IP after the deal it had with Marvel fell apart and the studio pivoted to another brand), Star Trek Online, and Neverwinter.