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Nacon (formerly Bigben Interactive) - a new Euro-publisher muscling in on Focus Home's turf

LESS T_T

Arcane
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Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Cyanide acquired by Bigben Interactive, the French publisher of Outcast remake, the recent Sherlock Holmes game, and WRC rally games:

This doesn't bode well...

BIGBEN INTERACTIVE : Acquisition of Cyanide, one of the main French studios for game developing

May 2018, 18:00

Acquisition of Cyanide,

One of the main French studios for game developing

XX

A strategic transaction that reinforces Bigben's prospects in the video game industry

Bigben announces the signing of an agreement for the acquisition of Cyanide, a French studio developing video games. In the wake of Bigben's increased stake in the capital of the Kylotonn Racing studio, this transaction will allow the Group, until now a publisher and distributor of video games, to fully integrate the development phase of games.

By adding this step to its value-creation chain, Bigben secures strategic know-how and high-quality design for its next games, fulfilling its clearly defined ambition to become a leader in the AA video game segment.

This transaction also allows Bigben to acquire several IP assets representing key assets as well as an outstanding experience accumulated over numerous productions by confirmed developers recognized for the great quality of their games.

While the increased stake in the share capital of Kylotonn Racing guaranteed Bigben a strong position in racing simulation games, the acquisition of Cyanide studio will allow the Group to extend its offer to major gaming genres not yet present in its current portfolio (strategic and tactical games, narrative and episodic games, shooting games, management games) or complementary to its catalogue (sport simulations and action-adventure games), thus strengthening its publishing strategy.

The integration of Cyanide into the Bigben Group will allow it to benefit from new financial resources to develop a larger and more ambitious games catalogue. Mr. Patrick Pligersdorffer, current CEO and co-founder of the studio, will continue to manage Cyanide, enjoying a large autonomy in order to concentrate on the creative aspect of its productions while benefitting from the commercial, publishing and marketing contributions of the Bigben team. It will also continue its collaborations with the video game publishers for which the studio is currently making developments.

Cyanide, a French reference studio

Created in 2000 by 7 seasoned developers of the video game industry, Cyanide is one of the French reference studios recognized for the development of creative video games in numerous genres (strategy, narrative, shooting, management, sport, action and adventure) as well as for the quality of its productions.

Based in France (Paris and Bordeaux) and in Canada with 110 employees on its payroll, the studio expects 6.1 M€ sales and a 1.9 M€ net profit for financial year 2017/2018 (closing on 31 March 2018, pending audit results).

Cyanide has created over 50 games since inception, maintaining a balance between the creation of new intellectual properties (Pro Cycling Manager, Styx, The Council.) and productions under license (Game of Thrones , Blood bowl, Tour de France..).

Nine games are currently under development on all platforms active on the market (PC, Xbox One, PS4, Switch and mobile phones) relying on various technologies (Unity, Unreal and a proprietary technology).

Terms of acquisition

The purchase price has been set at 20 M€ for 100% of the shares and voting rights of Cyanide, the transaction to be paid for half in cash and for half through the issue of Bigben new shares in order to remunerate the transfer of Cyanide shares (dilution ranging from 3.5% to 4.0% of Bigben's current share capital).

In order to avoid any further dilution, Bigben also purchased all potential capital instruments on the day of the transaction for an additional 1.1 M€ amount in cash.

An earn-out capped and based on the net profit of Cyanide (and its subsidiaries) for FY 2018-19 (as at 31 March 2019) may be paid in September 2019.

The "closing" of the transaction is scheduled to take place in June 2018 notably once the official Capital Contribution Appraiser has issued his report on the valuation of the contribution resulting from the transfer of Cyanide shares and on the fairness of the remuneration of said contribution.

Bigben's Board of Directors today approved the transaction and will meet again on the closing day of the transaction in order to issue the new Bigben shares remunerating the transfer of Cyanide shares. Pursuant to applicable regulations, Bigben will issue on that day a new press release indicating in particular the exact quantity of Bigben new shares to be issued.

"This acquisition is a capital milestone in Bigben's strategy as it greatly enhances our ability to create new games that meet our ambitions in the AA segment. Bigben is also proud to welcome to its Group the talents of Cyanide, one of the most creative French studios in the sector and we will be supporting their upswing towards new, even more ambitious projects." says Alain Falc, chairman and CEO of Bigben.

"We are pleased to join the Bigben Group, an international reference player in video games, moved by a vision and an ambition which fully correspond to our culture and our growth targets. Joining the Bigben Group gives us a unique opportunity to increase our production capacity in order to create ever more qualitative games and to maximize their commercial performance." says Mr. Patrick Pligersdorffer chairman and CEO of Cyanide.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-05-14-bigben-interactive-acquires-developer-cyanide

Cyanide will maintain its existing agreements with publishers, with Call of Cthulhu, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and Space Hulk: Tactics to be published by Focus Home Interactive.
 

Bester

⚰️☠️⚱️
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Vatnik
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Doesn't mean anything. They weren't acquired due to running out of money, they had a contract with paradox. Someone got tired of being an owner and asked for a cash out.

Or whatever. It's not like they made good games anyway.
 

Infinitron

I post news
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Interesting, I guess we know who's publishing Paranoia if it ever gets made then.
 

Infinitron

I post news
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
LESS T_T Spotted by RPS: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/05/15/bigben-interactive-buying-cyanide-studio/

Bigben are mostly known for publishing the World Rally Championship games and other sport ’em ups, so-so licensed games made by external studios. However, in recent years they’ve extended their range, publishing games including the Outcast remake, 2Dark, The Sinking City, and Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter.

Those last two games are notable because they were made by Frogwares, a studio who–like Cyanide–have typically partnered with Focus Home Interactive. Seems Bigben have been muscling in on Focus’s territory.

French newspaper Le Monde relay word from secret sources that Focus’s management had tried to buy Cyanide but the board shot it down. Supposedly, Le Monde say, this is one of the reasons why Focus president Cédric Lagarrigue resigned in April. Oh, Le Monde also say that the Tour de France license–made into management games by Cyanide–will stay with Focus but claim Cyanide are negotiating to nab the rights.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Well I guess that also makes anyone who is looking forward to Call of Cthulhu and Werewolf worrying.

In hindsight it was unbelievable that a somewhat big publisher has been entrusted majority of their titles to an independent studio.
 
Joined
May 8, 2018
Messages
3,535
https://www.centralcharts.com/en/77...f-the-main-french-studios-for-game-developing

Bigben announces the signing of an agreement for the acquisition of Cyanide, a French studio developing video games. In the wake of Bigben's increased stake in the capital of the Kylotonn Racing studio, this transaction will allow the Group, until now a publisher and distributor of video games, to fully integrate the development phase of games.

By adding this step to its value-creation chain, Bigben secures strategic know-how and high-quality design for its next games, fulfilling its clearly defined ambition to become a leader in the AA video game segment.

This transaction also allows Bigben to acquire several IP assets representing key assets as well as an outstanding experience accumulated over numerous productions by confirmed developers recognized for the great quality of their games.

While the increased stake in the share capital of Kylotonn Racing guaranteed Bigben a strong position in racing simulation games, the acquisition of Cyanide studio will allow the Group to extend its offer to major gaming genres not yet present in its current portfolio (strategic and tactical games, narrative and episodic games, shooting games, management games) or complementary to its catalogue (sport simulations and action-adventure games), thus strengthening its publishing strategy.

The integration of Cyanide into the Bigben Group will allow it to benefit from new financial resources to develop a larger and more ambitious games catalogue. Mr. Patrick Pligersdorffer, current CEO and co-founder of the studio, will continue to manage Cyanide, enjoying a large autonomy in order to concentrate on the creative aspect of its productions while benefitting from the commercial, publishing and marketing contributions of the Bigben team. It will also continue its collaborations with the video game publishers for which the studio is currently making developments.

Cyanide, a French reference studio

Created in 2000 by 7 seasoned developers of the video game industry, Cyanide is one of the French reference studios recognized for the development of creative video games in numerous genres (strategy, narrative, shooting, management, sport, action and adventure) as well as for the quality of its productions.

Based in France (Paris and Bordeaux) and in Canada with 110 employees on its payroll, the studio expects 6.1 M€ sales and a 1.9 M€ net profit for financial year 2017/2018 (closing on 31 March 2018, pending audit results).

Cyanide has created over 50 games since inception, maintaining a balance between the creation of new intellectual properties (Pro Cycling Manager, Styx, The Council.) and productions under license (Game of Thrones , Blood bowl, Tour de France..).

Nine games are currently under development on all platforms active on the market (PC, Xbox One, PS4, Switch and mobile phones) relying on various technologies (Unity, Unreal and a proprietary technology).

Terms of acquisition

The purchase price has been set at 20 M€ for 100% of the shares and voting rights of Cyanide, the transaction to be paid for half in cash and for half through the issue of Bigben new shares in order to remunerate the transfer of Cyanide shares (dilution ranging from 3.5% to 4.0% of Bigben's current share capital).

In order to avoid any further dilution, Bigben also purchased all potential capital instruments on the day of the transaction for an additional 1.1 M€ amount in cash.

An earn-out capped and based on the net profit of Cyanide (and its subsidiaries) for FY 2018-19 (as at 31 March 2019) may be paid in September 2019.

The "closing" of the transaction is scheduled to take place in June 2018 notably once the official Capital Contribution Appraiser has issued his report on the valuation of the contribution resulting from the transfer of Cyanide shares and on the fairness of the remuneration of said contribution.

Bigben's Board of Directors today approved the transaction and will meet again on the closing day of the transaction in order to issue the new Bigben shares remunerating the transfer of Cyanide shares. Pursuant to applicable regulations, Bigben will issue on that day a new press release indicating in particular the exact quantity of Bigben new shares to be issued.

"This acquisition is a capital milestone in Bigben's strategy as it greatly enhances our ability to create new games that meet our ambitions in the AA segment. Bigben is also proud to welcome to its Group the talents of Cyanide, one of the most creative French studios in the sector and we will be supporting their upswing towards new, even more ambitious projects." says Alain Falc, chairman and CEO of Bigben.

"We are pleased to join the Bigben Group, an international reference player in video games, moved by a vision and an ambition which fully correspond to our culture and our growth targets. Joining the Bigben Group gives us a unique opportunity to increase our production capacity in order to create ever more qualitative games and to maximize their commercial performance." says Mr. Patrick Pligersdorffer chairman and CEO of Cyanide.
 
Joined
May 8, 2018
Messages
3,535
Gamasutra said:
European publisher Bigben Interactive has acquired French studio Cyanide for €20 million ($23.7 million).

Bigben will acquire 100 percent of Cyanide's shares and voting rights, with half of the €20 million being paid in cash, and the other half being issued in new Bigben shares.

The publisher says the purchase will allow it to develop a "larger and more ambitious games catalog" by granting access to a number of Cyanide properties including Styx, Pro Cycling Manager, and The Council.

"This acquisition is a capital milestone in Bigben's strategy as it greatly enhances our ability to create new games that meet our ambitions in the AA segment," said company CEO and chairman, Alain Falc.

"Bigben is also proud to welcome to its Group the talents of Cyanide, one of the most creative French studios in the sector and we will be supporting their upswing towards new, even more ambitious projects."

Cyanide CEO and co-founder Patrick Pligersdorffer will continue to run the studio following the deal, with Bigben claiming the developer will be given free rein to focus on the "creative aspect" of its productions.

RPS said:
French publishers Bigben Interactive are buying French developers Cyanide Studio, the mob behind games including Styx sneak ’em ups, the Blood Bowl adaptation, and the Game Of Thrones RPG. Cyanide’s games tend not to quite come together while being interesting or admirable in their ambition, mid-budget games of a sort we don’t see much any more – I’m always interested to see what they’re up to. Bigben are glad to be getting a development studio of their own, while Cyanide say this will help them expand and make better games.

Bigben are paying €20 million (£17.5m/$24m) for Cyanide, half in cash and half in shares. Barring unforeseen problems, the acquisition should be completed in June.

“We are pleased to join the Bigben Group, an international reference player in video games, moved by a vision and an ambition which fully correspond to our culture and our growth targets,” Cyanide CEO Patrick Pligersdorffer said in yesterday’s announcement. “Joining the Bigben Group gives us a unique opportunity to increase our production capacity in order to create ever more qualitative games and to maximize their commercial performance.”

If you say so!

“This acquisition is a capital milestone in Bigben’s strategy as it greatly enhances our ability to create new games that meet our ambitions in the AA segment,” Bigben CEO Alain Falc said. Right. AA. Gotcha. So we’ve got AAA, AA, Triple-I… what a lexical hole business is.

Bigben are mostly known for publishing the World Rally Championship games and other sport ’em ups, so-so licensed games made by external studios. However, in recent years they’ve extended their range, publishing games including the Outcast remake, 2Dark, The Sinking City, and Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter.

Those last two games are notable because they were made by Frogwares, a studio who–like Cyanide–have typically partnered with Focus Home Interactive. Seems Bigben have been muscling in on Focus’s territory.

French newspaper Le Monde relay word from secret sources that Focus’s management had tried to buy Cyanide but the board shot it down. Supposedly, Le Monde say, this is one of the reasons why Focus president Cédric Lagarrigue resigned in April. Oh, Le Monde also say that the Tour de France license–made into management games by Cyanide–will stay with Focus but claim Cyanide are negotiating to nab the rights.
 

Blackstaff

Arbiter
Joined
Nov 17, 2014
Messages
211
I don't think it's going to change anything for Cyanide RPG games. The french dev world is a small one and everyone knows what the studio can or cannot do. The true story behind the move is that the cyanide owner was looking for a french buy out for sometimes now (for cash and growth most likely, within the little world where they orbit though) and two pubs could snatch them. The most logical one would have been Focus, but Focus is currently undergoing an internal war which would make Avellone and Obsidian proud. The other one was Big Ben.

The sole "negative" consequence of this thing is for the tour de france license, but who cares, seriously ?

One good thing for drm-free gamers on the other hand is that, contrary to Focus, Big Ben likes drm-free and GOG. So that part isn't bad.
 

Zombra

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I don't think it's going to change anything for Cyanide RPG games.
You're living in a dream world. Look at the transformation of Frogwares' Sherlock Holmes series from brilliant to crap in a single title when Bigben took them over. And look at the atrocious corpspeak from Cyanide's CEO. "We're excited to maximize our commercial performance."
 
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And look at the atrocious corpspeak from Cyanide's CEO. "We're excited to maximize our commercial performance."

I like the part where he described Bigben as being moved by a vision and an ambition which fully correspond to Cyanide's culture and their growth targets.

There's one Cyanide game they published. It's from 2003 and it's called Horse Racing Manager.
 

Blaine

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Grab the Codex by the pussy
I like the part where he described Bigben as being moved by a vision and an ambition which fully correspond to Cyanide's culture and their growth targets.

That brand of rhetoric is so boilerplate it must have a modular template by now. The Codex perhaps first encountered it when Bethesda acquired the rights to Fallout and gushed about how they were huge original fans intimately familiar with the source material.
 

Blackstaff

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Joined
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Messages
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You're living in a dream world. Look at the transformation of Frogwares' Sherlock Holmes series from brilliant to crap in a single title when Bigben took them over. And look at the atrocious corpspeak from Cyanide's CEO. "We're excited to maximize our commercial performance."
Frogware isn't owned by bigben and studios can pull shit games fairly well just by themselves, without any meany big pubs looming over. Again, you can ask Avellone on that one.

Now I'm not saying those games (chthulu and werewolves) are going to be great or that big ben is awesome : I don't know and frankly I don't care. It's just that those moves are internal french concentration things and I don't think it's going to affect current project largely advanced, or even make that much difference on the long term, because Focus would have fucked up as much anyway, and this is the vidya games industry.
 

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