Video game holdings company Embracer Group, which now oversees the development of the Saints Row, Darksiders, Metro and TimeSplitters series of games, has embarked upon another spending spree, acquiring 13 new companies.
Revealed on the Embracer Group blog, the parent company formerly known as THQ Nordic has acquired 11 new game studios, including Shadow Warrior developers Flying Wild Hog and the team behind Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated, Purple Lamp Studios.
The full list of developer acquisitions can be seen below, and includes Goat Simulator collaborators Coffee Stain North, Pinball FX heralds Zen Studios and the Newcastle, UK based studio Silent Games, who are working on a series of games within a new co-op IP, due in 2023. The new acquisitions are spread among Embracer’s publishing companies such as Koch Media and Saber Interactive.
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Embracer Group November 2020 Game Developer Acquisitions
- A Thinking Ape Entertainment – The developers of mobile free-to-play titles CasinoX and Kingdoms at War
- Zen Studios – The Budapest studio behind the Pinball FX games, with expansions based on properties like Star Wars and The Walking Dead
- Snapshot Games – The development team behind Phoenix Point will “expand the Phoenix Point universe” and “bring new IP to a global audience” following the acquisition
- Nimble Giant Entertainment – The Argentinian studio behind Champions of Regnum and Quantum League
- 34BigThings – The Italian studio responsible for the Redout racing game series
- Mad Head Games – A Serbian studio specializing in mystery and Hidden Object games.
- Purple Lamp Studios – The Austrian team behind Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated, who are set to put their “ambitious plans into action” following the acquisition
- IUGO Mobile Entertainment – A Vancouver based-studio working on mobile free-to-play games, previously responsible for The Walking Dead: Road to Survival
- Coffee Stain North – A smaller studio and partner of Coffee Stain Studios, who has worked on Goat Simulator and A Story About My Uncle
- Silent Games – A Newcastle-based studio working on its debut IP, a long-lasting co-op franchise where players will “unearth deep secrets of an ancient civilization.” The first game is set for a 2023 launch.
- Flying Wild Hog – The Polish studio behind the Shadow Warrior series of games, Flying Wild Hog is now working on “four projects together with well reputable external publishers.”
The two non-game development companies acquired by Embracer are Sandbox Strategies, a PR firm, and Quantic Lab, a Romanian QA specialist.
This marks another sizable addition to the holding company’s development squadron, with over 50 development teams now under its wing. Back in May of this year, it was revealed that the Embracer Group had 118 games in development, with 69 unannounced. Then in August, the Embracer Group acquired the team behind the Metro series 4A Games, who are working a “new AAA IP” following the acquisition.
We reviewed Purple Lamp’s Spongebob remake back in June of this year, scoring it a 5 and noting that it “sinks under its reverence to nostalgia.”
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com Embracer Group Acquires 13 More New Companies