Travian acquires majority stake in Bright Future

Travian Games, one of Germany's leading browser studios, has acquired a majority stake in the Cologne-based developer, Bright Future.

Bright Future, which has a team of 38 people, will join northworks, TG Nord and Steroid Interactive as subsidiaries of Travian, and will continue to work independently on its own productions.

Travian served as publisher on Bright Future's popular game Miramagia, and a second collaboration is already "well into development."

"[Bright Future]'s consistently high quality and compliance with deadlines, its motivated and well-organized team, and not least the determination of its founders to remain true to their principles are all factors in our decision to welcome Bright Future as an additional external and independently-acting development studio," said Travian CEO Florian Bohn.

Bright Future CEO Gerhard Köhler - who founded the company with Thomas Schwan and Petr Vlcek - said that Travian's infrastructure will allow Bright Future to fully concentrate on developing games, and serve as a catalyst for the "further development" of the company.

Travian Games, which is based in Munich, increased its headcount by almost 100 per cent in 2011 - to 230 employees. It currently has 120 million registered players.