Devolver Digital has acquired Astroneer developer System Era in a deal worth up to US $40 million. When proceedings conclude, System Era will become a “first party” Devolver studio, working with the publisher on a variety of projects.
Per details provided by Game Developer, the acquisition comprises an initial US $20 million cash payment, and an additional US $2 million of shares, to be issued after the deal closes. It also includes a US $10 million deferred consideration, and up to $8 million in potential earn out, payable in cash and shares.
In a statement, law firm Fieldfisher, which is corralling the deal on behalf of Devolver, spoke of its potential to expand the publisher’s core strengths, and its support of smaller game studios: “The acquisition represents a strategic opportunity for Devolver to extend its reach beyond is core strength of premium indie titles, leveraging System Era’s knowledge of expandable game style development, as well as its live operations technology and existing IP.”
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System Era has released its own statement in a blog post, enthusing about the future direction of the company, and how support from Devolver will allow the team to continue producing the games they love.
“This is an amazing milestone for both System Era and for Devolver, and is going to enable us to focus on delivering the best quality experiences to the most people, with System Era’s unique style,” the studio said. “System Era the company, the brand, and the team, is not going anywhere. We’ll keep going on as before, only stronger!”
In its announcement, System Era has also confirmed it’s working on something “new and exciting” for Astroneer and that with Devolver’s support, it will have “greater capacity” to support the ongoing title.
“This partnership, working in-house with Devolver, lets us focus on what we love, the way we love to do it. We don’t shed independence lightly. But with Devolver, we don’t think System Era is losing independence, we think it’s finding a home among a like-minded confederation of talented people, under a banner that is synonymous with the indie ethos, and we can’t wait to continue our journey, together.”
For its own part, Devolver has described the new partnership as a “marriage” in a quirky video celebrating the incoming merge.
