Vancouver-based studio Piranha Games, the company behind 2013’s MechWarrior Online and MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, has just been acquired by Swedish games conglomerate Enad Global 7 (EG7).
The deal covers the company and its 65 workers, with EG7 paying $31.4 million CAD (approximately $24.1 million USD), two-thirds in cash and the rest in EG7 stock. Piranha will remain in operation as an independent studio, but assuming the studio remains profitable and hits certain milestones by 2025, EG7 pay out an additional $63.4 million CAD ($48.6 million USD), half in cash and half in shares. The deal is expected to officially close sometime in Q1 2021.
EG7 owns a number of game development, publishing, and distribution companies, including Antimatter Games (Project I.G.I), Toadman Studios (the upcoming EvilvEvil), Big Blue Bubble (My Singing Monsters), and Sold Out (Overcooked 2). They also own a number of media production companies who’ve assisted on the advertising campaigns of several different video games such as Destiny 2 and Call of Duty: WWII.
Piranha Games has been around since 2000, mostly doing contract work prior to the release of MechWarrior Online. So far, MechWarrior 5‘s has released on the Epic Games Store, and the game was the first title selected for testing out mod support on the storefront. MechWarrior 5 will be releasing on Steam and GOG.com sometime next year.
Food For Thought
This particular deal seems like it’s pretty conventional. The balance of cash-to-stock ensures that Piranha will have funds on hand for their current operating expenses. It is an interesting datum that EG7 is betting on Piranha’s future profitability by planning to pay roughly double the amount in five years that they’re spending right now. Piranha hasn’t announced any new titles yet, since MechWarrior 5 seems to be doing well enough right at the moment. But that does not preclude the possibility of expansions or even a new title currently in pre-production.
