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Bigben acquires Cyanide for €20 million

WRC publisher broadens development focus with Styx: Shards of Darkness creator

Today, Bigben Interactive announced it has acquired Cyanide, the French development studio behind recent release Styx: Shards of Darkness and the upcoming title Call of Cthulhu. Bigben purchased Cyanide for €20 million ($24 million), obtaining 100% of the company's shares and voting rights.

Bigben's acquisition of Cyanide is a notable step forward for the publishing company, which has been gradually wading into development. Recently, it gained more stake in Kylotonn Racing Studio, a developer focused on racing titles such as WRC 7 and the recent FlatOut 4: Total Insanity. By taking on Cyanide as well, Bigben aims to develop a wider scope of games, including strategy, narrative, shooters, sports management, and action-adventure.

Cyanide's portfolio indicates a good fit for such ambitions. It currently has nine games in development across PC, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and mobile. Besides the Styx stealth games, Cyanide has been responsible for the Pro Basketball Management series, the Space Hulk shooter series, fantasy sports series Blood Bowl, various cycling games, and the Horse Racing Manager series. Bigben Interactive published the very first Horse Racing Manager game in 2003 (its only past publishing partnership with Cyanide), although Focus Home Interactive has published the majority of Cyanide's titles since.

While Cyanide is already going to broaden Bigben's catalogue, the studio is hoping its new parent company's resources will allow it to similarly diversify its own development slate. CEO and co-founder Patrick Pligersdorffer will remain in charge of Cyanide and retain creative autonomy.

The acquisition is expected to close in June 2018. Cyanide will maintain its existing agreements with publishers, with Call of Cthulhu, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and Space Hulk: Tactics to be published by Focus Home Interactive.

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Rebekah Valentine

Senior Staff Writer

Rebekah arrived at GamesIndustry in 2018 after four years of freelance writing and editing across multiple gaming and tech sites. When she's not recreating video game foods in a real life kitchen, she's happily imagining herself as an Animal Crossing character.