Sweden's Starbreeze Studios is on the brink of bankruptcy, with CEO Mikael Nermark saying in its latest financial report that it won't be able to last until the end of the year without more funding. Rockstar Games will help alleviate her situation: the creator of Grand Theft Auto from a company specializing in art production one of the largest Indian game studios. The transaction amount will be $7,9 million.
The deal is expected to close by July 2019. Rockstar will receive a 91,8% stake in the studio, which is now owned by Starbreeze. The Swedish company bought Dhruva in 2016 for $8,5 million. At that time, 320 people worked in the Indian team. Founded in 1997 in Bangalore, Dhruva was the first game studio in India. In the words of Daniel Smith, managing director of Rockstar India, located in the same city, for decades it has remained "a beacon of Indian gaming development." She participated in the creation of many large-budget projects, including , , , , , ΠΈ . She also helped with Payday 2, published by Starbreeze.
"Rockstar Games is the undisputed leader in innovation and creativity in today's gaming industry," said Rajesh Rao, CEO and founder of Dhruva. βDhruva Interactive was founded with the goal of building a world-class video game developer community in India, and joining Rockstar Games is further proof that we have succeeded in building a talented team that can contribute to the development of the best games in the world.β
Dhruva will work on Rockstar's projects alongside its Indian division. The current projects of the team will not be affected by the deal. Other details are not reported.
On the serious problems of Starbreeze at the end of last year, when the company lowered its revenue forecast amid the disastrous sales of Overkill's The Walking Dead. The shooter, the development of which was complicated by the wrong choice of engine and rework, turned out to be so bad that Skybound Entertainment terminated the contract with the publisher, as a result of which it from Steam. However, the root of the problems is seen in the politics of the dismissed leader Bo Andersson, whose place was taken by Nermark.
In December, Starbreeze began a "remodeling" process to raise funds to keep the company afloat. In an attempt to save her, management pulled out of a deal with OtherSide Entertainment, her rights to publish System Shock 3. At the same time with Double Fine Productions concerning the edition of Psychonauts 2 remains in effect. In a report for the first quarter of the upcoming financial year, Nermark noted that Starbreeze could face a liquidity problem in the middle of the year if it does not find a new source of financing. For the specified period, she received $ 5 million in revenue - 56% less than in the same three months of the previous year. The main part of these funds was brought by the Payday series, which is still in development. In February sounded Mobile Payday: Crime War.
Source: 3dnews.ru