In gaming industry news that is sure to surprise French video game enthusiasts, publisher BigBen Interactive has announced that it signed an agreement to acquire the gaming studio Spiders, best known for their work on action RPGs like The Technomancer and the upcoming GreedFall.
This acquisition is the fourth in the last 18 months, and is a big part of BigBen’s overall operation to both strengthen its portfolio and assert its position as one of the top developer-publishers in the gaming scene.
"This acquisition fits perfectly with BigBen's strategy to increase its know-how in the development of video games in the AA strategic segment. We are delighted to welcome the talents of Spiders who will strengthen our Development unit and participate in new and even more ambitious projects.” Alain Falc, Chairman and CEO of Bigben, said in an official press release.
The acquisition, for the most part, covers the Paris-based studio which has about 30 employees. Spiders also uses its very own development engine, called the Silk Engine, which it has utilized across last and current generation consoles as well as the PC. Jehanne Rousseau, current CEO and co-founder of Spiders, will still lead the studio.
Back in May of 2018, BigBen also acquired Cyanide, another French video game developer. The studio is best known for its Pro Cycling Manager series, and was also nearly taken over by another AA publisher, Focus Home Interactive. This move was pushed back by Cyanide’s supervisory board, but it did result in the acquisition by Cyanide for a total sum of €20 million. Cyanide is currently developing two games with BigBen: Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood and Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory, both based on tabletop role-playing games.
Likewise, in October of 2018, BigBen also acquired racing video game and France-based developer Kylotonn. They are best known for the WRC racing series, and their upcoming slate with BigBen includes WRC 8 FIA World Rally Championship and an upcoming Test Drive Unlimited sequel.
Going with all these, we can pretty much expect Spiders to be at the forefront of developing rich, narrative-driven action RPGs for BigBen moving forward, with the press release stating that the developer will cover the entirety of role-playing games in the future.
