Thunderful Group acquires Coatsink

Phogs publisher and Shadow Point developer Coatsink Software has been acquired by Thunderful Group, which comprises Image & Form, Zoink and Rising Star Games.

The Swedish company paid £23 million for the British studio, half of it in cash and the other half in Thunderful shares. There's also an earn-out component to the acquisition, depending on Coatsink's financial performance in 2021 and 2022.

"The earn-out consideration, which will be paid in a mix of cash and Thunderful shares, is capped at £42.5 million which is reached only if Coatsink exceeds its financial targets for 2021 and 2022," the announcement said. "The total maximum consideration for the acquisition is thus £65.5 million."

Thunderful added that Coatsink will remain an independent studio, and "will be reported as part of Thunderful Games."

The British developer is currently working on two in-house projects, Jurassic World Aftermath and Transformers Battlegrounds. Earlier this year, it published the Oculus Quest version of Downpour Interactive's Onward. Several unannounced development, publishing and work-for-hire projects are also in the works, the announcement said.

Thunderful Group's CEO, Brjann Sigurgeirsson, commented: "We have established a good relationship with the founders and key personnel of Coatsink and believe that their strong work ethics and corporate culture will be a very valuable strong complement to Thunderful's existing businesses. Although it's just a first step, this is a good example of how we intend to leverage the group's powerful cash flow going forward."

Thunderful was formed from the merging of Image & Form and Zoink in January 2018. It then acquired UK and US publisher Rising Star Games in July of the same year.

Coatsink was created in December 2009 by Tom Beardsmore and Paul Crabb, and is headquartered in Sunderland, UK.