At this point in time, Atari had suffered major financial setbacks due to the 1983 video game crash. Atari was further in the midst of dealing with fallout from an insider trading scandal by former CEO Ray Kassar; Kassar was replaced by James J. Morgan in mid-1983, and looking to cut financial losses, eventually cancelled the "Swordquest" project, despite work having already started on "Airworld". However, because the company had already advertised the availability of the "Waterworld" contest, Atari's lawyers required the company to continue the contest. To limit the number of entries, "Waterworld" was only made available to members of the Atari Club. During the contest period, in mid-1984, Atari was sold to Jack Tramiel, the owner of Commodore International. Tramiel, who had been more focused on the success of home computers than gaming consoles, placed the Atari divisions in a new company, Tramel Technology, and reviewed the state of all divisions, furthering the troubles in completing the "Waterworld" contest. Most who did enter the "Waterworld" contest were told they did not qualify for the final, but according to Vendel, Atari was legally required to follow through as advertised on the "Waterworld" contest. Vendel stated that Atari did secretly invite those with correct entries to hold the final round, and the Crown was awarded to a person, their name remaining anonymous due to legal requirements. Because they could not hold the ultimate final round, Bell and Rideout were both awarded an additional as well as an Atari 7800 as a compensation prize, and granting the ten finalists of "Waterworld" each.