The deal adds yet another studio to Embracer Group and strengthens its presence outside of Europe.
Aspyr Media has announced the acquisition of Beamdog, best known for porting Baldur’s Gate and Platescape: Torment on PC and mobile devices, for an undisclosed amount. Aspyr will co-develop Beamdog’s first all-new IP, the recently announced MythForceand Beamdog founder Trent Oster, formerly of BioWare, will continue to lead the studio.
“This acquisition will open up a ton of exciting opportunities for us,” Oster said in a statement. “Beamdog can now focus its talent, effort, and imagination on creating the great games we want to play while properly caring for fan-favorite RPGs. Beamdog’s first original IP is a fun start to the next chapter of our studio.
While MythForce is an attractive prospect for Aspyr, studio CEO Ted Staloch is also keen to leverage Beamdog’s backlog.
“Beamdog is an extremely talented band that we’ve admired for a long time,” Staloch said. “Their development philosophy and their vision of the studio are perfectly aligned with ours. We look forward to seeing them realize their ambition with MythForce while maximizing the long-term potential of an incredible archive of classic games.
The acquisition is another addition to Embracer’s ever-expanding stable of studios and is just a small part of the conglomerate’s larger plan for 2022 and beyond. Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors recently said The Financial Times (non-paying version on Chronicle of video games) that having already spent just over $8 billion on acquisitions since 2022, the company will continue to grow in Europe and beyond.
Studios in North America, the UK, and China, among other countries, are the focus of Embracer’s focus. Wingefors has also said it wants to diversify into the mobile and free markets, and while Embracer has acquired an impressive number of businesses over the past couple of years, they have a specific set of criteria in mind when deciding. the search for new partners.
Wingefors said Embracer wants to work with established studios that have a proven track record and are reluctant to focus on a single area or blockbuster franchise – hence Embracer’s recent acquisitions outside of the games space. , such as the announcement in December that the company would acquire Dark Horse book publisher.
It’s a strategy that seems to have paid off so far, although the future remains uncertain. reported kisser record profits in Q1 2021but also finished more and more expensive offers in the industry than any other entity that year. The NPD group reported continued decline in sales across all categories in its February industry report as pandemic gains begin to level off. NPD’s executive director and video game industry advisor said the key moving forward is adapting to how gamers interact with games, as the trends of the past two years continue to fluctuate.
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