Croteam and Devolver Digital become official BFFs via acquisition

Croteam and Devolver Digital share a long-running relationship that spans a decade and multiple titles. The connections actually go further back than that, so it’s safe to say that the two companies work well as a team to make and publish games. That’s why Croteam and Devolver Digital finally decided to get hitched, though legally speaking, it’s called an acquisition.

The news came via a “propaganda” blog post on Devolver Digital’s website. The post offered a brief summary of the successful history between the two companies before declaring the official acquisition.

Who acquired whom?

It’s always something with Devolver Digital. If you caught wind of the news via the company tweet, you probably left feeling more confused than informed. The truth is that Devolver does in fact own Croteam now, but that’s really no cause for concern. Unless you’re worried about what eccentric project the two intend to cook up next. Then yes, you should be concerned.

Croteam, welcome to the club.

Typically, controlling publishers tend to press generic, watered-down concepts onto studios, but that won’t be the case here. What the two companies joke about, is Devolver’s crazy ideas trickling down to Croteam. Rather, Croteam will retain its creative freedom and continue to make Serious Sam games, The Talos Principle 2, and an “original IP from Croteam and the Croteam Incubator studios.”

There have been a massive number of acquisitions this year, likely brought on by the complications of the pandemic. The competition in gaming is certainly growing more fierce though. Tencent, THQ Nordic, Codemasters, and especially Microsoft have all made headlines recently. It also makes sense for so many publishers to acquire new IPs from a diversification standpoint. To see Devolver Digital and Croteam join in on the acquisition action should come as little surprise after the success of Serious Sam 4.