Global Game Publisher Animoca Brands announced that it has acquired 100% of Indie Game Developer Blowfish Studios. The multi-million deal has an upfront consideration of $6.6 Million plus payments of up to $19.2 Million.
Blowfish Studios is an award-winning independent Sydney-based developer and publisher of high-quality multi-platform games. Its most popular gaming titles include Qbism, Siegecraft, Morphite, Projection: First Light, and Storm Boy. It is the brainchild of gaming experts Benjamin Lee and Aaron Grove. Lee is a veteran of the computer software and 3D graphics industry while Aaron Grove is an award-winning visual effects supervisor.
On the other hand, Animoca Brands develops and publishes mobile games and products based on popular intellectual property. It has a broad portfolio of original games. For example, The Sandbox, Formula 1 Delta and MotoGP. Its portfolio of blockchain investments and partnerships includes Sky Mavis (Axie Infinity) and Dapper Labs (CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot).
The synergy between Animoca Brands and Blowfish Studios
The highlight of the deal is that Blowfish Studios will continue to operate the company after the acquisition. Moreover, it will work closely with Animoca Brands to make strides on blockchain integrations, fungible tokens, NFTs and play-to-earn. In addition, this deal would lead to more product launches.
Established in 2011, the indie game developer is bringing along its extensive experience in developing, porting and publishing games across several platforms. It is an expert in gaming for PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, iOS and Android.
Blowfish adds significant game development capabilities and expertise to Animoca Brands in terms of Virtual Reality (VR). So with Metaverse gaining ground, this can solidify Animoca’s position as an industry leader. Moreover, Blowfish has a proven track record of being a hitmaker from its games that have been played by over 2.5 Million gamers worldwide.
Yat Siu, co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands, why he thinks this partnership is a killer combo. He shared, “Animoca Brands is incredibly thrilled to welcome Blowfish, a team that significantly expands our capacity in the cross-platform games space and that has a strong interest in and understanding of blockchain. The combination of unique capabilities in AAA gaming and blockchain is a rare and valuable blend and we are already hard at work on a number of very exciting projects to be announced soon.”
Let’s dive into the details
Lee and Grove will maintain leadership roles in the company for two years following the acquisition. The duo will receive $734,000 in cash and $3.6 million worth of shares. However, the bigger part of the chunk is on performance-based earnout payments of up to $14.6 Million. This bonus will be based on the achievement of certain profitability targets in 2022 and 2023.
Benjamin Lee, co-founder and managing director of Blowfish, shared what he finds thrilling in this deal. He cites, “Joining the Animoca Brands family was a unique opportunity to grow the game development and publishing businesses of Blowfish and to leapfrog to the forefront of blockchain gaming. We are incredibly excited about our major upcoming releases developed with Animoca Brands, which will change the perception of blockchain gaming for mid-core and hardcore gamers everywhere.”
Animoca Brands and Blowfish Studios are ready to take the NFT Gaming Space to the next level.
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