Team17, which has offices in Nottingham, Manchester, and Wakefield, has kicked of 2022 by revealing two acquisitions.
The indie video game label has acquired The Label, a USA-based independent publisher specialising in mobile subscription games content for an initial consideration of $24 million (£17.76 million) with additional earn out consideration of up to a maximum of $16 million (£11.84 million) over the next three years.
The total consideration of up to $40 million (£29.6 million) will be paid through a combination of cash and shares, which are subject to a 12 month lock-in period.
Michael Pattison, CEO of Team17 Games Label, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be joining forces with The Label’s entrepreneurial team, who are true pioneers in the delivery of quality mobile subscription games and technology. We are excited to tap into their unrivalled market and gaming experience to further take advantage of this growing market.
“The Label is a fantastic addition to the Team17 family, creating an indie game powerhouse across PC, console and mobile platforms. We look forward to helping them build on their impressive track record of success, further enabling them to scale even greater heights in support of our ambitious growth aspirations.”
Joshua Babich, general manager and Vice President, said: “It’s an honour to join the world’s leading independent games publisher. Team17 has been a pillar of excellence for over three decades for gamers and creators, bringing some of the most imaginative and unique titles to life. With their support the sky’s the limit and our partners can feel confident our combined leverage will accelerate success for all.
“Joining the Team17 family opens up unprecedented doors for us all. While we’ve carved out a strong foothold in the mobile subscription space, this allows us to instantly expand our market reach in ways that just wouldn’t have been possible before. We are delighted to be part of a Group that puts games development and creativity first!”
Team17 has also announced the acquisition of all rights and assets of Hell Let Loose (HLL), an existing 3rd party title to its 1st party family for an initial consideration of £31 million plus a contingent earn out consideration of up to a maximum of £15 million.
HLL is a multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video game which has over six million owners. HLL was created by developer Black Matter and is co-developed and published across multiple platforms by Team17.
Michael Pattison, CEO at Team17 Games Label, said: “We are delighted to be announcing the acquisition of the Hell Let Loose IP. Hell Let Loose has quickly become a highly credible and innovative multiplayer tactical first-person shooter supported by a very passionate and highly engaged community with over six million players.
“Having built a close and extremely productive relationship with Black Matter already, we believe that by bringing Hell Let Loose into the Team17 stable, we can serve and build upon the needs of an ever-growing community, improve and expand upon the existing player experience and develop new ways to entertain and delight. We firmly believe Hell Let Loose can become the definitive large-scale team-based military simulation.
“This acquisition represents an important next step in our strategy to expand our ownership of IP that is not only of the highest quality, but importantly has long-term growth potential.”
Max Rea, founder & CEO of Black Matter, said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for our fans and a logical next step-up in the development of Hell Let Loose as a brand. Team17 love our brand and community as we do, which has expanded across multiple platforms successfully.
“We’ve worked very closely with our good friends at Team17 over the last several years and firmly believe that this acquisition is the next logical step to enable us to further deliver great content to the highly passionate HLL community, as well as find new ways to engage and entertain in the future.
“We are really excited to continue to work with Team17 on the next stage of growth for Hell Let Loose.”
The news comes as the company provides a trading update for the twelve months ended 31 December 2021 (FY 2021) in which it has “continued to trade above Management’s expectations across H2 2021 completing a solid performance in 2021. As a result, revenue and adjusted EBITDA for FY 2021 will be ahead of Management’s expectations and ahead of FY 2020.”
Debbie Bestwick MBE, CEO of Team17, said: “We are pleased with the 2021 performance, in which we continued to execute on our highly ambitious pipeline alongside completing the acquisition of StoryToys. Bringing StoryToys into the Team17 family sees us align our growth ambitions with their hugely talented team and is a clear marker for our future growth strategy.
“In addition, we are delighted with the acquisitions announced this morning. These further support our content and people growth plans. We look forward to working with them as part of our growing Team17 Group in 2022.”
