What is this, Acquisitions Incorporated?
Continue reading “Jagex Acquired Again, Now By Carlyle Group”
Tag: acquisition
KingsIsle Bought By Gamigo Owner
EG7 About To Acquire Daybreak Game Company
Tencent Wants To Buy Funcom
Tencent wants to buy Funcom. Thank you everyone, good night.
Okay there is more information. Funcom this week publicly revealed that Tencent, currently shareholder of 29% of the developer, intends to buy the other 71% from other shareholders. Funcom is claiming that there are no plans to change management, staffing, or structure following the acquisition, nor will Funcom deviate from supporting its current library of titles.
“We have had a great relationship with Tencent as our largest shareholder so far and we are excited about this opportunity,” says Funcom CEO Rui Casais. “We will continue to develop great games that people all over the world will play, and we believe that the support of Tencent will take Funcom to the next level. Tencent will provide Funcom with operational leverage and insights from its vast knowledge as the leading company in the game space.”
Thankfully players can look forward to nothing changing, since businesses are well known to keep their promise of not making gigantic cuts following acquisitions.
Source: Funcom
XLGames Resolving Unspecified Issues Regarding Trion Worlds Buyout
Rev up the rumor mill.
In a surprising bit of news, XLGames has posted an announcement on the ArcheAge forums announcing that the 5.0 update release date is still being decided, and that the company is currently working to resolve some issues that have popped up in the recent acquisition of Trion Worlds by Gamigo. The 5.0 update was slated to launch today, with the announcement coming late yesterday afternoon that it would be delayed.
The full message has been placed below.
Dear ArcheAge players,
You may be aware that there has been a business transaction involving Trion Worlds. XLGAMES is currently resolving issues to ensure that there is no harm done to the users since our ArcheAge fans are of the utmost importance to us.
XLGAMES will do its best to settle any matters with the involved parties in a speedy manner. The release date of the Relics of Hiram 5.0 Update will be decided and notified to you soon.
Thank you for your support.
-XLGAMES Team
CCP Games Acquired By Pearl Abyss
CCP Games announced this week that the studio, developer of popular MMO Eve Online, has been acquired by Pearl Abyss, best known for their work on Black Desert Online. The deal, which does not close until October (expected), claims that CCP will continue operating as an independent entity, the sale amounting to $425 million in cash and bonuses leveraged on certain financial results.
CEO Hilmar Petursson, CCP Games, stated:
“Pearl Abyss is a fast-growing company with lots to offer in terms of technology, capability and vision. I believe our two companies have a lot to learn from each other. We are very excited to join forces with them and achieve great new heights for our companies, our games and – above all – our players.”
(Source: GI.Biz)
Trion Worlds Acquires Gazillion Assets
In an astounding twist of events, Venture Beat is reporting this week that Trion Worlds has acquired the assets from defunct studio Gazillion Entertainment. As part of its acquisition, Trion will get its hands on all of Gazillion’s licenses, trademarks, patents, and domains. In addition to utilizing the new licenses for its own purposes, Trion Worlds is also apparently using Gazillion’s assets to create a platform for third party developers to distribute their titles as well as an engine that reports to speed up the development cycle of isometric games, presumably one that was used on Marvel Heroes and Marvel Heroes Omega.
Our technology is platform agnostic,” CEO Scott Hartsman said. “We put an outside game on our platform and it just works. We spun up Trove in the Japanese market recently, and it just took a week.”
Gazillion Entertainment shut down last year after losing its license to the Marvel property. Following its shuttering, Marvel Heroes was the subject of a suspicious crowdfunding campaign created by an individual with questionable ties to a diploma mill, which has since gone dark. Gazillion Entertainment filed for bankruptcy with the case ultimately being dismissed in May due to failure to comply with court orders to file information.
Stay tuned as more details emerge.
(Source: Venture Beat)
Daybreak Clarifies Ownership…Three Years Later
Pop quiz: Who owns Daybreak Game Company? If you answered Columbus Nova, you are as wrong as every news outlet that reported on this three years ago, including MMO Fallout. You would be forgiven for this misunderstanding considering that the news was announced from Daybreak’s PR with the headline “Columbus Nova Acquires Sony Online Entertainment,” with the first sentence straight up saying that Columbus Nova had acquired the company.
Columbus Nova, an investment management firm based in New York, announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online (MMO) games and emergent gameplay.
And then there is John Smedley’s note in the announcement that they would be joining Columbus Nova’s roster of companies.
“We are excited to join Columbus Nova’s impressive roster of companies.”
Turns out that SOE was acquired not by Columbus Nova itself but by an executive at Columbus Nova, Jason Epstein, and the company had just never corrected the record.
“It was current executive chairman Jason Epstein, former senior managing partner of Columbus Nova that acquired Daybreak, not Columbus Nova itself. That distinction was never corrected in the past, so we are correcting that now.”
The reason this is relevant today of all days is because Columbus Nova has become embroiled in US sanctions on Russian oligarchs, specifically its owner Viktor Vekselberg. The distancing between the two companies has been raising a lot of eyebrows since both Daybreak and Jason Epstein himself have said on more than one occasion, and very explicitly, that Columbus Nova as an entity has purchased SOE.
(Source: MassivelyOP)
Funcom Announces Acquisition Of Conan Property
Funcom has announced that it has approved plans to acquire 50% of the Conan the Barbarian portfolio. The acquisition, approved by the board and pending approval at a general investor meeting in January, would see Funcom benefiting from a 50% royalty reduction on Age of Conan and Conan Exiles while also acquiring 50% royalties for any game developed using Conan and various other properties acquired as part of this venture.
The joint venture company will hold interactive/video gaming Intellectual Property (IP) rights based on the works of Robert E. Howard and classic Swedish pen & paper and board game properties, including attractive IPs such as “Conan the Barbarian”, “Solomon Kane”, “Mutant Chronicles”, “Mutant: Year Zero”.
The acquisition will allow Funcom to secure more frequent launches of games both produced internally as well as co-developed and published from third party partners. Rather than paying cash, Funcom will be paying with shares, reducing risk and increasing revenues. More information on the acquisition can be found at the link below:
(Source: Funcom)
Jagex Acquired By Chinese Investors
Jagex, the Cambridge-headquartered creator of RuneScape and Chronicle: RuneScape Legends finally announced their acquisition by Chinese investors, with a new Board of Directors being constituted immediately upon their purchase. The acquisition was first hinted at months ago after news broke that the developer was considering offers from Chinese iron mining company Shandong Hongda.
CEO Rod Cousens praised the acquisition for its offer of “visibility in China, which is now the biggest gaming market in the world.”
“Jagex will continue to be operated by the existing management team, which has overseen an impressive trading performance in recent times and has driven its iconic franchise, RuneScape to continued to growth. It will be business as usual for the Company, its players, and its employees post-acquisition.”
The news of the acquisition comes on the heels of what Jagex refers to as “best ever performance.” In addition to RuneScape and its Old School spinoff, Jagex is currently working on card game Chronicle: RuneScape Legends and an idle game based on the same series.
(Source: Jagex press release)
MMO Fallout 