Successful video game studios being bought is not a rare occurrence in the video game world, and such a fate has now befallen on Supermassive Games.
UK-based Supermassive are the people behind horror game Until Dawn, one of the best video game releases of 2015 on PS4.
Until Dawn is a PlayStation exclusive (and one of the best video games of the 2010s too), and also arguably Supermassive’s best game to date.
The company, though, has not been resting on its laurels since putting out Until Dawn, and while its no longer making PlayStation exclusives under Sony’s wing, it’s partnered with Bandai Namco for its Dark Pictures Anthology series, and also recently put out horror game The Quarry (which was published by GTA owner 2K Games).
So it makes sense that Supermassive was recently bought by Danish Company Nordisk Games, as was recently covered on Eurogamer.
Nordisk has previously bought an almost 31 percent stake in Supermassive, but it has now gone and snapped up the whole studio.
“We have an exciting and ambitious growth strategy for Supermassive Games and Nordisk Games ownership only enhances that. I’m hugely excited about where the security offered by this partnership, and continued access to the expertise within Nordisk Games, will take us next”, said CEO of Supermassive Games Pete Samuels in a press release.
This is not the first video game studio which Nordisk Games has bought – the Scandinavian company also owns Avalanche Studios, who are the people behind the Just Cause series of video games, amongst others.
Supermassive being acquired by Nordisk also means that the 300-strong team will keep producing new entries of their Dark Pictures Anthology series, which has been well-received up to date.
The Dark Pictures Anthology is a series of horror games, each with a unique story and cast of characters – the next one up for release is The Devil in Me, which is hitting shelves this fall (see trailer below).
There’s also the niggling issue of whether Supermassive will ever release a sequel to their classic Until Dawn game. This seems unlikely taking into account it’s a Sony IP, and Supermassive is now a multiplatform developer – but their recent game The Quarry is seen as a spiritual successor to Until Dawn by some people.
Also, Supermassive being bought by Nordisk Games is unlikely to be the last buyout in the video game world in 2022 either. Microsoft announced its plans to buy Activision Blizzard for almost $70 billion earlier this year, while Square Enix announced it was selling Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics and others to Embracer Group in May for $300 million US dollars.
Of course, while Nordisk Games did not disclose how much the Supermassive deal is worth, it’s obviously not in the same scale as these other two, obviously.
Nonetheless, it will be great if Supermassive can still put out great games for video game fans to enjoy in the years to come.