Last year saw the entire Annapurna Interactive workforce resign following a dispute with owner Megan Ellison. Four months on, Bloomberg has reported that the former staff members have formed a new company and have picked up the entire Private Division portfolio (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz).
The as-yet-unnamed company reportedly acquired all games under the Private Division label from the Texas-based firm Haveli Investments — the presumed "undisclosed buyer" after Take-Two sold the studio last year, claiming it was focusing on growing its "core businesses for the long term". While no specifics have been given at this time, Bloomberg reports that the new company's buyout will likely result in studio layoffs for the 20 employees who joined Private Division under Haveli.
All this means that the new company will hold the rights to the Kerbal Space Program and OlliOlli franchises — both development studios were shut down last year — and the distribution rights to the likes of Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game and Game Freak's upcoming action-adventure game, 'Project Bloom'.
Annapurna Interactive owner Megan Ellison released a statement after last year's walkout, claiming that the company's top priority was "continuing to support our developer and publishing partners during this transition". The studio — which has brought the likes of Outer Wilds, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes and Stray to Switch in recent years — has since undertaken a hiring drive in an attempt to fill the absent positions.
What do you make of this acquisition by the former Annapurna staff's new studio? Let us know in the comments.
[source bloomberg.com, via gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 8
Unfortunate to hear that there will probably be lay-offs at Private Division due to the buyout, but I have my fingers crossed that it being in the hands of those who left Annapurna will be for the best at least in the long term!
Great for them that they managed to get the rights to the IP's!
I'm rooting for the ex-Annapurna crew to thrive in this new iteration. Their games have so much heart and soul poured into them.
Im not moving the Roll7 and Kerbal stuff out of Take-Two until I real press release
Maybe they can finish Kerbal 2 now instead of leaving it in the garbage state it is now.
Hmm. I wonder how Game Freak feels about all this. Can't imagine they're too happy - they signed on with Private Division, the label with the backing of Take-Two with ample resources, not Private Division, the company owned by a no-name private equity firm. I wonder if they'll take Project Bloom elsewhere...if that's even an option
This story's getting increasingly convoluted. If I've got this straight, the entire staff of one prominent indie publisher jumped ship over disagreements with their owner, then signed on to puppet the empty shell of another prominent indie publisher, at the same time pushing out more of whatever staff was left there after being nearly scraped clean of employees with repeated layoffs from THEIR previous owner and already being partially repopulated by their new one. After all that, I feel like I'd need a year or two just to get all the office politics settled, never mind getting any actual work done.
@Anachronism Exactly my thoughts. And to think they're trying to push out a LOTR game in just a few months! What a mess. At this point I don't even know if my money will go toward the original developers who actually made the game!
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