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Keywords acquires Heavy Iron Studios in $13.3m

It is the second acquisition of the company in the last time, that will help Keywords expand its West Coast presence.

Dublin-headquartered firm Keywords Studios announces $13.3m acquisition of the US-based Heavy Iron Studios. Under the deal, Keywords will pay $4 million in cash and $0.5 million in new ordinary shares on the first anniversary of the acquisition. The remaining $8.8 million will be paid in the two years after the deal is complete, with the accounting of certain performance targets.

We welcome the extremely experienced and talented Heavy Iron team to the Keywords family. The addition of Heavy Iron to the group further strengthens and scales our game development service line. By bringing a new base on the [US] west coast, it will provide access to many of the world’s leading game companies and the local talent pool from where we can expand our activities in the region and build upon our existing presence in audio and localisation.

Andrew Day, Keywords Studios CEO

Based in Los Angeles, Heavy Iron Studios was founded in 1999 and now provides full game development, with a focus on high-end console and PC games, co-development, live operations and porting services for the video games industry. The company is known for the co-development of Marvel’s Avengers with Crystal Dynamics and the Call of Duty franchise with Activision. The current team of 43 staff will be retained, led by president and CEO Lyle Hall.

This acquisition will make games development the largest service line Keywords can offer. It’s the second acquisition in the last months, after acquiring an Unreal Engine specialist Coconut Lizard in June, and acquiring Maverick Media in August.

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