Namco Buyout of D3 a Done Deal

Last month, we reported the news that Namco Bandai had plans to acquire D3 Publisher, and now it’s all but a done deal. Early this morning, D3 and Namco Bandai announced that the two companies have reached agreements which will give Namco Bandai a 95 percent stake in D3, with plans in place for the remaining 5 percent to be picked up in the immediate future. The total cost so far to Namco Bandai for the acquisition of the Puzzle Quest: Galactrix publisher? Just over $12.5 million.

Aside from the obvious benefits of picking up more than a handful of unique titles, such as Puzzle Quest, Dead Head Fred, and Onechanbara, Namco Bandai will also benefit from the acquisition of a bigger piece of the Naruto franchise’s pie in the states. Something just as important to Namco Bandai, though, might be the included acquisition of Vicious Cycle and its cross-platform Vicious Engine technology, which can be used in game development on nearly every platform under the sun, from the PS3 and 360 to the DS and PSP.

While there are still a few i’s left to dot and t’s left to cross, it looks like everything will continue to move forward with all companies involved in the acquisition, and no changes are expected in the development cycles of any games currently in the works from either D3 or Namco Bandai.

Square Enix and Eidos Come to Buyout Terms

If you’ve been following the Square Enix buyout of Eidos like we have, you know that one of the terms put forth by Eidos shareholders has been that Square Enix had to submit a business plan for the purchase within 28 days from the initial offer back on February 12th. Today, both companies announced that Square Enix had not only submitted the plan well before the imposed deadline, but that the Eidos board of directors is supporting the arrangement, and recommending it to shareholders. With the plan of action submitted and now approved by the Eidos board, there doesn’t seem to be anything in place to stop the deal from going down.

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GameFly Snatches Up Shacknews

It looks like GameFly isn’t content to just rent out games anymore. Now it wants to report on them as well. Late today, the online game rental company announced that it has acquired independent video game website, Shacknews. Under the terms of the new deal, GameFly has purchased all related Shacknews destinations, including FileShack and Shackvideo. Unlike other recent media buyouts though, this time around it looks like the staff at Shacknews won’t be seeing any pink slips anytime soon. Instead, GameFly plans to maintain the Shacknews editorial staff and direction, and plans to beef up the site with additional resources.

“GameFly has demonstrated a true understanding of and commitment to Shacknews’ gaming culture,” said Shacknews founder Steve Gibson. “We are confident they will protect the legacy and community we’ve established, while at the same time providing much needed resources to expand into new and exciting areas.”

“With its avid, engaged community and commitment to providing an independent voice for gamers seeking the most accurate and up-to-date news and information, it goes to the core of our vision as a company, which is to be the ultimate resource for the entire gaming community,” added GameFly CEO David Hodess.

EGM No More

So long EGM. After the January 2009 issue of the long running print magazine, it’s game over.  This news is another sad reminder that the magazine we all love are on the path to extinction. According to a Gamasutra report, the magazine has become a casialty of UGO Networks purchase of Ziff Davis’ 1Up Network. With the purchase of 1Up.com comes Mycheats.com, Gametab.com, and GameVideos.com. No word on how much this acquisition cost UGO. The report, which also contains a letter from CEO Jason Young, says that 30 people from the 1Up staff have been cut including web staff and podcast producers.

“With this transaction happening, we have also made the decision to discontinue publication of EGM,” told 1Up staff in an email. “The January 2009 issue will be the final issue of the publication. With demand for print continuing to decline amongst both advertisers and readers and the content being produced by 1UP no longer available for use in the publication, it simply did not make sense for us to move forward with this business any longer.”

FileFront, a popular destination for downloads such as demos, patches, mods and utilities, will remain a part of the Ziff Davis family under its PCMag Digital Network. the company is putting a lot of faith going forward in this sector.

“We will continue to operate the Filefront business as a part of the PCMag Digital Network,” continued Young in the email. “In the coming months we will determine the best ways to leverage the scale and functionality of this digital property to expand our business position.”

Official statement from 1Up right here.

Ubisoft Looking for More Growth?

Interesting news this week out of Ubisoft. It looks like the publisher just isn’t happy with its current size. During a presentation at the 36th Annual UBS Global Media Conference, Ubi CFO Alain Martinez is currently negotiating with at least three different studios for possible acquisition.

“We have about three deals within the five million Euro range, each of them, that we are negotiating,” said Martinez. “Probably, one or two of them will be closed in the next three or four months.”

This year has seen no shortage of acquisitions and mergers in the video game industry, and Ubisoft has already picked up more than a few studios of its own, most recently acquiring World in Conflict developer, Massive Entertainment.

And while Ubisoft seems to be eager to snap up available studios, it recently missed out on one major acquisition. According to Martinez, Ubisoft was in talks to pick up MMO developer Cryptic Studios, only to lose out to Atari earlier this week.

“We lost one deal which we were a bit mad,” he said. “We lost Cryptic. It’s a U.S. company. That was taken by Atari [and] we were a bit disappointed.”

Atari Gets ‘Cryptic’ Acquisition

Y’know, maybe it’s just me, but I remember a time not too long ago when Atari seemed to be on life support with Death knocking at the company’s door. Well, I’d love to get some of the vitamins it’s been taking these days, because Atari didn’t just slam the door in Death’s face, but it’s hit the ground running.

First came word that the publisher had picked up two major released in the aftermath of the Activision/Vivendi merger, Ghostbusters and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. Now the company has put together a deal to acquire California based MMO developer Cryptic Studios, lock, stock, and barrel.

Cryptic Studios, which first made a name for itself with the superhero themed MMO title,City of Heroes, has been on a major roll recently. The company eventually sold off its stake in City of Heroes to NCsoft, and was on tap to develop a new MMO for the PC and 360 for Microsoft, based off the Marvel Comics stable of characters. Although the Marvel deal fell apart, due to Microsoft and Marvel being unable to agree on the direction of the game, Cryptic decided not to abandon the superhero MMO formula, using its capital to buyout the popular pen and paper role-playing property, Champions, and starting development of the upcoming MMO, Champions Online. And if that wasn’t enough, Cryptic also managed to score itself another big property, with the development of a new MMO based on the Star Trek universe.

According to a statement released today to investors, Infogrames (Atari’s parent company) will shell out an upfront payment of $27.6 million, with an additional estimated “maximum earn-out” totaling another $27.5 million in cash and Infogrames stock. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a clause in the deal which could give Cryptic shareholders another $20 million bonus in cash or Infogrames stock if Champions Online and Star Trek Online both outperform an undisclosed target in online revenue for 2010-2011.

“We share a common vision with Atari and their leadership team.” said John Needham, Chief Executive Officer of Cryptic Studios, “With our game development and online platform technology skills, we’re very excited about the opportunities that this unique combination with Atari creates. I am committed to helping Atari grow into a leading online game company and look forward to being part of the team.”

According to David Gardner, CEO of Infogrames, “The acquisition of Cryptic Studios brings to Infogrames an outstanding creative organisation, with a proven track-record of success in the fast-growing MMO category. Cryptic’s success is founded on leading-edge technology and the vision of a seasoned executive management team. I am impressed with the tools and technology that Cryptic has developed to make MMOs less expensive to build. Creating vast worlds and interesting interactions can be very people intensive but with the use of Cryptic’s toolset they have a proven way of cutting average production costs in half. This is exactly the type of company we wanted to acquire in order to build Atari for the 21st century.”

Codemasters Picks Up Swordfish in Birmingham

You remember what they say about real estate? It’s all about three things: Location. Location. Location. That’s the first thing that came to mind when we got word today that Codemasters had reached a deal with Activision Blizzard to buy UK-based developer, Swordfish Studios. If you’ve got that odd sense of déjà vu, you’re not alone. Earlier this week, we reported that developer Monumental Games had also acquired Swordfish from Activision Blizzard. No, this isn’t a case of double dipping, and yes, both news bites are correct … it’s just a matter of location.

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