Sweden based Starbreeze Studios, has agreed to acquire 90.5 per cent shares in Dhruva Interactive. Led by Rajesh Rao, Dhruva Interactive is one of the oldest gaming companies of India and specialises in art production for high quality games. Their credits include big titles like Forza Horizon 3, Quantum Break and Halo 5 and the upcoming OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead.
The Swedish Studio is acquiring Dhruva in a deal of $8.5 million with $7 million being paid in cash and the rest $1.5 million in Starbreeze stocks. The deal is likely to be completed by 2017’s first quarter.
Interestingly, with an array of big clients, Starbreeze is a client of Dhruva as well. They have provided “the major part of the asset production” in Starbreeze’s Payday 2, one of the famous titles from the company.
Dhruva Interactive would still work under their brand name and would be eligible to work in collaboration with other clients, while also providing its support to Strabreeze and its publishing partners.
Starbreeze, CEO, Bo Andersson-Klint, said, “Bold plans need the right partners and Content is King. We have worked with Dhruva Interactive for several years and know them well. I am confident that bringing Dhruva into the Starbreeze family will strengthen Starbreeze as a global entertainment company,” while further adding, “Dhruva will continue to operate independently under its own brand and run business as usual with existing partners, while greatly contributing to Starbreeze pipeline and adding pronounced value to our publishing services and VR ecosystem.”
“Starbreeze has been a great client, and over time we realised that Starbreeze is exactly the kind of company that we’d like to evolve with. They have strong games, an awesome vision for VR, similar culture and a skilled management team”, said Dhruva, CEO and founder, Rajesh Rao. “Our talent art teams contribute to the some of the biggest and most visually stunning games in the industry today. As part of the Starbreeze family, we will be able to add cutting edge VR content to our repertoire as well. It’s an extremely exciting time.”