Atari has announced that it has made a pretty major investment in Hello Neighbor and Potion Craft publisher tinyBuild.
Per a press release, Atari is investing $2 million into tinyBuild as part of the latter's "announced capital increase", which sees the publisher issuing new common shares to try and raise $14 million in capital.
According to Atari CEO Wade Rosen, his company's investment in tinyBuild is "in line with Atari's long-term approach" thanks to the publisher's "industry leading games and...expansive fan base".
For his part, meanwhile, tinyBuild CEO Alex Nichiporchik says Atari is a "timeless brand" and that its investment "validates the current strategic plan for tinyBuild".
The investment means that Atari will hold around 7.5% of tinyBuild's total share capital, pending approval of the deal (and the capital increase in general) by tinyBuild shareholders.
This news follows a round of layoffs at tinyBuild, which was announced earlier this month following trading in Q4 2023 coming in "below expectations" for the studio.
Despite experiencing a somewhat rough year in 2022, Atari's fortunes were, at the very least, healthy enough to acquire 12 classic arcade properties earlier this year, including influential Evil Otto origin story Berzerk.
The studio also purchased retro specialist studio Digital Eclipse, perhaps best known for its work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, back in October.
It's worth noting that this investment absolutely does not constitute an acquisition, as Atari's eventual 7.5% stake in tinyBuild should demonstrate.
As such, we're unlikely to see a massive course shift as a result of this deal. However, it'll be interesting to see what Atari's new investment yields in future, as well as what tinyBuild's plans for the next few years entail.
Stay tuned for more news on all things Atari and tinyBuild, as well as all other gaming industry-related goings-on.
