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Indie publisher TinyBuild today announced that it has ‘acquihired’ developer Matt Dabrwoski, the one-man developer/founder/owner of studio Doghelm, and the creator of hit title Streets of Rogue.
The acquisition amounts to $6.5m, split 50/50 between cash and newly issued shares, subjects to certain targets being met. The strategy is one that TinyBuild is now settled upon, having already brought on board the developers of numerous other titles, including its smash hit Hello Neighbor franchise.
It’s the publishers first acquisition since floating on the AIM exchange in the UK earlier this year. A move that today was followed by the announcement of Activision co-president Nick van Dyk joining TinyBuild’s board as a non-executive director.
A press release noted that Streets of Rogue was the highest-rated title in the TinyBuild portfolio. And that the move was to assist with “gearing up for the highly anticipated sequel to Streets of Rogue.”
Alex Nichiporchik, CEO of tinyBuild, commented: “We are delighted to announce the first deal following our successful listing on AIM earlier this year. As a public company we have an even more powerful platform from which we can deliver on our organic and M&A growth ambitions.
“Our goal is to expand our position as a leading global developer and publisher, focusing on IP ownership while creating long-term scalable franchises across multiple media formats. We are actively looking at a number of potential acquihires and larger scale acquisitions to enhance the company’s strategic and operational position.
“Today we also announce our full year results for the year ended 31 December 2020. The continued strength of our back catalogue and promising start of some new titles make us confident we will deliver results at least in line with expectations.”
Looking at those results, we can see that TinyBuild’s revenue was up 35 per cent from 2019 to 2020 (from $27.9m to $37.6m), with EBITDA rising by 99 per cent over the same period up to $15.2m. Obviously many companies saw strong year on year rises based on the pandemic boost to game spending.
For more on Tinybuild read our in-depth interview with CEO Alex Nichiporchik from earlier this year.
