In a slightly tongue-in-cheek announcement on their website today, publisher Devolver Digital announced they have acquired Croatian developer Croteam.
The announcement makes it clear that this is not a hostile takeover, nor is it intended to be the typical case of a publisher swallowing a studio up, never to be seen again. “Devolver has acquired Croteam… or maybe Croteam has acquired Devolver… who could really know at this point in the relationship,” the announcement reads in part. “What’s certain is that our future together is ultra exciting with new projects like The Talos Principle 2, more Serious Sam games, and original IP from Croteam and the Croteam Incubator studios. Croteam will of course keep total creative freedom and Devolver Digital gets to keep making dumb recommendations that Croteam just ignores – we prefer it that way.”
Devolver Digital has been involved with Croteam in one way or another since the developer started. Croteam initially shopped around Serious Sam and didn’t attract any interest from the big name publishers, but did secure a deal with former indie publisher Gathering of Developers. When Devolver Digital was formed (in part) by previous Gathering employees, Croteam began working with them for the release of Serious Sam 3.
The Croteam website spoke of the acquisition in glowing terms. “We are extremely happy and proud to announce that Croteam has become a part of the Devolver Digital family. Devolver has always been more than a business partner for us. Our relationship with some of the key people from Devolver goes back to the very first days of the Serious Sam series. Our fates became finally intertwined a decade ago when we were looking for a partner we could trust. And trust Devolver Digital we did. Since those days, we have partnered with Devolver on dozens of games – from the frantic Serious Sam series to the award-winning The Talos Principle across PC, consoles, VR, and mobile platforms. We are very excited to make our connection even deeper with this move. Here’s to many years of amazing Devolver Digital games by Croteam!”
