Atari announces the departure of John Needham from Cryptic Studios "to pursue other opportunities within the games industry," saying the new CEO of the MMO developer is Jack Emmert, the Cryptic co-founder and City of Heroes lead designer who previously served as the company's COO. "As a colleague, I am sad to see John go, but our vision remains clear," says Emmert. "Cryptic continues to develop great gaming experiences while ensuring the success of its current projects, Champions Online: Free for All, Star Trek Online and Neverwinter. I co-founded this company and am extremely proud of everything our teams have achieved. We will continue to set high goals for ourselves and under my leadership we will continue to meet them."