Nacon has announced its intention to acquire videogame developer and publisher Daedalic Entertainment in a deal worth $53 million ($60 million).
Already publishing partners for the upcoming title The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, the two companies decided to tighten their collaboration, which will allow Nacom to acquire several intellectual properties. The deal will also see Nacon benefit from Daedalic’s development and publishing expertise.
Carsten Fichtelmann, founder and CEO, and Stephan Harms, COO will continue to run the company with a high degree of autonomy in development and publishing. Nacon will support future projects by combining forces through its sales, publishing, and marketing teams.
Daedalic Entertainment, a studio best known for developing point-and-click adventure games and as an indie publisher, was founded in 2007 and is based in Hamburg. It has developed and published more than 90 games and is one of Germany’s largest and oldest independent games video game companies with a team of 87 people.
The studio has developed games for franchises such as Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth and its own IPs including the Deponia series, Shadow Tactics, Blackguards, and The Whispered World. Daedalic Entertainment has nine additional new games announced for release in 2022.
Through the acquisition, Nacon hopes to position itself as a leader in games and this will be the 16th studio acquired in less than four years.
“We knew, through our current collaboration on Gollum, that Nacon and Daedalic share the same values and the same objectives to deliver unique experiences to gamers,” said Alain Falc, chairman and CEO of Nacon. “Therefore, it seemed logical to go further together and we’re extremely happy about this acquisition. It represents a significant step in Nacon’s strategy.”
“After eventful years in which we always came out on top, I feel proud looking back at the past 15 years and the development of the company,” said Carsten Fichtelmann, Daedalic’s founder and CEO.
“Daedalic Entertainment has established itself as a publisher and developer of exceptional games across various genres and on all relevant platforms and has cemented that position globally. Together with Nacon, we are now taking the next step to further develop our catalog of games created by our own team as well as many incredible indie studios.
“We are looking back at a trusting and cooperative collaboration on The Lord of the Rings: Gollum and forward to an even brighter future together.”
Gollum, the upcoming action-adventure title, is based on The Lord of the Rings and follows the character of Gollum before the events of the trilogy and The Hobbit. It is scheduled for release sometime this year on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
