The trend of the large developers picking up the smaller one is continuing. In the past few months, notable studios have been acquired by larger and more lucrative dev teams. This is the best thing that could happen to the gaming industry. So many of these smaller devs have great ideas and talented staff by often lack the capital to make the games worth playing. The games seem like they could have been awesome, but end up being pretty beat. A notable title hear is Mafia, a halfway decent gangster game that was all in all pretty good, but could have been great. Now, they have all the C.R.E.A.M they need. Dollar Dollar bill y’all. Hit the jump for the official press release.
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) today announced the acquisition of Illusion Softworks, a premier Central European-based game development studio with operations in
Established in 1997, Illusion Softworks is the creator and owner of several hit video game franchises, including Mafia, Hidden & Dangerous and Vietcong. The studio is currently working with 2K Games on Mafia II, the sequel to the original Mafia, which helped establish the gangster genre and sold more than two million units.
“The acquisition of Illusion Softworks reflects our strategic focus on owning high-value intellectual property as we continue to expand our portfolio of triple-A titles,” said Ben Feder, Chief Executive Officer of Take-Two.
Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K, said, “Adding 2K Czech to our network of development studios demonstrates our strong commitment to creating great franchises and building world-class creative teams. The 2K Czech team is responsible for several very innovative and highly-regarded franchises and we look forward to continuing to develop new and existing IP together.”
“We have an excellent working relationship with 2K Games and the utmost respect for them,” said Petr Vochozka, CEO of 2K
Can you imaging combining the awesome franchises of Mafia and GTA and sharing development people and engines? Awesome
I don’t know if I agree. Yeah they have more money, but then they have more requirements & restrictions; B/c the company gets certain notions about what will make money & what won’t. I really like the story of Valve, how they broke away from Sierra, didn’t have much capital but worked with what they had & created a tremendous hit.