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Vivendi nets Swordfish in new acquisition deal

Publisher Vivendi-Universal Games has added British studio Swordfish Studios to its roster of internal developers, with the Cold Winter developer becoming the company's third acquisition so far this year.

Publisher Vivendi-Universal Games has added British studio Swordfish Studios to its roster of internal developers, with the Cold Winter developer becoming the company's third acquisition so far this year.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Birmingham based studio - currently comprised of 45 staff - will now become a wholly owned subsidiary of VU Games, with Swordfish managing director Trevor Williams remaining as head of the studio.

Swordfish, which was formed by ex-employees of the Birmingham studio of ill-fated British publisher Rage, recently finished work on PS2 action title Cold Winter for Vivendi, which this week entered the top ten in the UK charts.

The studio is also presently working on the next iteration of the Brian Lara Cricket franchise for Codemasters along with two other projects which will be announced at a later date.

The acquisition of Swordfish is Vivendi's third major development purchase so far this year, following on the heels of the buyout of Canadian studio Radical Entertainment in March, and VU Games subsidiary Blizzard's purchase of Swingin' Ape Studios last month.

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Rob Fahey avatar
Rob Fahey is a former editor of GamesIndustry.biz who has spent several years living in Japan and probably still has a mint condition Dreamcast Samba de Amigo set.
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