Bigben Interactive has recently confirmed their acquisition of Cyanide Studio, one of the largest French studios in game development.
Previous to this agreement, Bigben was primarily a publisher and distributor of games, but now holds the ability to get fully involved in the development phase of games. Having recently increased their stake in the capital of the Kylotonn Racing studio, the inclusion of Cyanide will further their ambition to become a prominent leader in the AA video game circuit.
Through this transaction, Bigben has acquired several IP assets and valued experience accumulated across several productions by the developers of Cyanide, who have created over fifty games since their inception, including titles such as Blood Bowl, Styx, Game of Thrones, and are currently working on Call of Cthulhu among the 9 games they have in development for various platforms. This acquisition appears promising in adding prominent gaming genres that have been lacking from Bigben's library, such as bringing narrative, strategy, and adventure titles to the forefront, which certainly strengthens their publishing maneuvers.
Cyanide will benefit from their new financial resources in order to maintain development, and embark on more ambitious projects. Cyanide's current CEO and co-founder, Patrick Pligersdorffer, will continue to manage the team while they transition to concentrate on the creative aspects of their production, and acclimate to their newfound commercial publishing benefits. They are still collaborating with other game publishers for which Cyanide is currently developing projects alongside, meaning on-going ventures will not be stifled as a result of the acquisition. Notably, this means titles they have with Focus Home like Call of Cthulhu, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and Space Hulk: Tactics should still see release this year.
Bigben purchased full control over shares and voting rights of Cyanide for €20 million, or about $24 million, paying half in cash and half through issues of Bigben's new shares in order to remunerate the transfers of Cyanide's shares. All potential capital instruments have also been acquired to avoid any further dilution. The official closing transaction is scheduled to take place come June to solidify the transfer of Cyanide shares and confirm the fairness of the remuneration.
Pligersdorffer, as well as Alain Falc, the CEO and chairmen of Bigben, have both issued individual statements detailing their excitement over the acquisition, making note that this milestone marks a promise of ambition moving forward, and a great enhancement regarding the ability to continue releasing new games.
