It looks like acquisition day, isn’t it? Following Embracer (via KOCH Media) who announced today that they have acquired French studio DigixArt, it is FOCUS Home Interactive’s turn to announce the acquisition of another French-made studio, DotEmu for do NOT quote it . So is that what is sometimes called the French TECH?
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Video game publisher Focus Home Interactive has just acquired 77.5% of DotEmu’s capital, one of the kings of retrogaming.
DotEmu is both developer and publisher, and is known for bringing over fifty retro games to the world on consoles, PCs and mobile phones. Obviously, the recent good results have led Focus to recapture such a jewel from the French crown.
DotEmu is indeed a fast growing company that achieved a turnover of 14.6 million dollars in 2020.
And the dowry?
The transaction amount is 38.5 million dollars at the time of surgery. Knowing that at the end of December 2022 an additional payment of 15 million dollars, payable according to revenue elements, will be made and planned, followed by a possible second price increase “due to performance indicators (EBIT) for the next two exercises”, we learn this full moon night.
The operation will be fully funded with the funds available from Focus Home Interactive. The plant is to be closed in the course of September.
M. Christopher Nobileau; Focus Home Interactive CEO said:
The arrival of Dotemu is an important step in accelerating the growth of the group and diversifying our know-how. By adding to our editorial offering, we are opening up new sources of income and new market shares in a very fast-growing sec tor. We are excited to welcome talents like Cyrille Imbert and his teams to the Focus Group who have made games attractive and new to millions of players around the world.
This transaction is a good example of our desire to pool talent through our long-term partnership with Cyrille who will remain Chairman and Shareholder of DotEmu and become a member of the Group’s Executive Committee and future shareholder of Focus Home Interactive.
This operation is just another step in our growth story. After integrating the Deck13 and Streum On studios, we are still actively looking for other companies with high potential to accelerate our development and expand our offerings.
More retro games in sight
M. Cyrille Imbert, President of DotEmu added:
Joining the Focus Home Interactive Group was an obvious decision for Dotemu. We share the same passion for video games, a constant desire to improve, and the same values of respect and benevolence for our teams and partners. In the continuation of its activities, this new collaboration will allow Dotemu to benefit from the undeniable expertise of the Focus Home Interactive teams in the production of AA titles, thus starting the production of future remakes or suites on licenses of the first generation of consoles.
While maintaining the editorial and strategic independence that makes its success, Dotemu will be able to add even more ambition to its projects and give itself the opportunity to broaden the range of services for studios to ensure the success of their production in the market guarantee retro label, but also on the publishing label The Arcade Crew.
Dotemu is thus ideally positioned to realize its ambitious growth plan of tripling sales in the medium term. My mission will also be to share Dotemu’s know-how with the Focus Home Interactive teams, select talented teams and convince them to join the group to jointly build a major player in video games on a global scale.
What more “retro” games can you expect in the future? Without a doubt … What do you think of this acquisition?