Video game companies acquiring one another has been a more common occurrence in recent years. Some of the most notable examples of this include Sony Interactive Entertainment’s acquisition of Bungie and the ongoing Microsoft acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. Acquisitions have also been taking place on a smaller scale, and the latest involves developer Jumpship. Jumpship, which released its sci-fi adventure game Somerville today, is now being acquired by publisher Thunderful Games.
The news comes directly from Thunderful Games, which states that it expects the deal to be finalized later today. There is no information regarding how much the publisher spent to acquire Jumpship on the day that it released its first game.
Jumpship is a UK-based studio that was created in 2017. It currently has approximately 25 employees and is led by Chris Olsen and Dino Patti. Patti formerly worked as the co-founder of Playdead, which created games like Limbo and Inside. When looking at Somerville, it’s clear to see where its influence originated from.
In the official announcement post, Thunderful interim CEO Anders Maiqvist mentions that “Jumpship will retain entrepreneurial freedom and creative autonomy and continue to develop high-class, story-driven narrative games.” He goes on to say that Jumpship will now be able to make use of “support functions that Thunderful Games has built up in its integrated, decentralized structure.”
On the Jumpship side of the deal, Patti claims that he feels “really good about the partnership with Thunderful and what it will do for Jumpship.” Patti will also become a Strategic Advisor for Thunderful once the deal is complete.
Finally, Claire Boissiere, the studio director at Jumpship, speaks about the benefits of how Thunderful will be able to support future game development at Jumpship.
“Thunderful’s established relationships with key platform holders and expertise in putting games into the hands of players gives us an infrastructure where we can focus on what we do best: crafting games that challenge our audience both emotionally and intellectually.”
Somerville is an original new IP and a short 2.5D side-scrolling adventure that places a focus on atmosphere and puzzle-solving. The premise revolves around a family trying to get back together after being separated by a massive alien attack on Earth.
Somerville has been receiving generally positive reviews, with many critics praising its strong sense of atmosphere and unique puzzle design. However, others have criticized the game for some frustrating puzzles and imperfect controls.
Somerville is now available across PC and Xbox consoles as well as Xbox Game Pass.
