Thunderful Group has acquired Bridge Constructor and Slime-san publisher Headup. The deal is worth around 11 million euros and is expected to be finalized by March 31st, with HeadUp continuing to operate independently.
What does the Thunderful acquisition of Headup mean for both companies?
According to GamesIndustry.biz, Thunderful's acquisition of HeadUp will consist of two payments: 5 million euros in upfront cash, then 6 million to follow based on performance targets being met. Of that 6 million, 2.5 million will consist of new Thunderful shares, while 3.5 million will be a mixture of both cash and shares. It's understood that Thunderful will keep all fourteen of Headup's employees and won't be making any major structural changes to the company, which will continue to operate as a developer and publisher.
Headup currently has a number of projects in the works, but the publisher and its new owner say there's also a new game in the works based on a "world-renowned IP". We'll have to wait and see what that game is. As a result of the acquisition, Headup head honcho Dieter Schoeller will become Thunderful Group's new head of publishing, working on publishing games in the company's native Sweden as well as Headup's home country of Germany.
What else is Thunderful currently working on?
It's all go for Thunderful right now. According to Twitter gaming analyst DarkDetective, Thunderful currently has four brand new SteamWorld games in development. The first two of these are expected to arrive in 2022 and will enjoy a physical release, with the second digital-only pair coming in 2023. Two of them will hit PC, consoles, and mobile, while the other two will only be released for PC and consoles. We're huge fans of the SteamWorld franchise here, so we're super excited to see what Thunderful comes up with.
This past year has been full of momentum for Thunderful, too. In November last year, the company revealed it would go public with its shares, looking to raise about $90 million for new projects and studio acquisitions. In 2020, Thunderful acquired developers Guru Games, Coatsink Software, and Station Interactive, so the company isn't wanting for new talent. We'll bring you more on this as we get it.
How do you feel about Thunderful acquiring Headup? What game do you hope they're working on? Let us know in the comments below!
