Hong Kong-based publisher Animoca Brands has acquired Finnish studio Tribeflame in a deal worth up to €350,000 ($433,000).
Animoca has paid €50,000 ($62k) upfront in cash for the studio and its subsidiary Benji Bananas, with a deferred payment of a further €50,000 ($62k).
Payments of up to €100,001 ($124k) may be paid over time based on performance, while earn-out payments of up to €150,000 ($185k) will be paid in 2020 in cash or shares.
Tribeflame founders Torulf Jernström and Marcus Alanen have also joined Animoca, with the studio operating out of the TicBits office, another Animoca-owned Finland studio.
New developments
The publisher hopes the acquisition will help accelerate development of the Android version of tower defence and collectible card game Crazy Defense Heroes, which Tribeflame will now lead.
The App Store release picked up A$467,000 ($369k) in revenue during its first two weeks of limited released in select Asian territories.
Tribeflame was founded in 2009 in Turku, Finland and has worked on titles such as Racecar, Tropical Resort, Waypoint Warriors and many others.
The Benji Bananas franchise, originally published by Fingersoft, has been downloaded more than 107 million times and has generated an estimated €2.25 million ($2.8m) in gross revenues since its launch in 2013.
