In a stunning term of events, Atari SA, based in France, is set to buy Thunderful Group, the publishers of the SteamWorld franchise. The company’s entire existence is now at stake.
First Off, What Is Thunderful Group?
Thunderful Group is a Swedish game publisher that was originally formed in 2017, to formally bring together three companies that were already invested in each other. The three companies are Bergsala, Nintendo’s distribution partner in Sweden, Image & Form, the developer of the SteamWorld franchise, and Zoink, the developer of indie game Stick It To The Man!
In the following years, Thunderful would acquire more studios and publishers, increasing their business. These included developers HeadUp Games and publisher Rising Star Games. For nearly seven years, the company was steadily growing, justifying their slow expansion.
What Happened To Thunderful?
Dr. Serkan Toto provided a summary of events on Twitter:
Atari plans to acquire 82% of Thunderful for US$5.2M to prevent the financial collapse of the Swedish company. Atari is publicly traded in Paris nowadays, while Thunderful is listed in Stockholm – both are penny stocks.
Thunderful also reached an extension agreement with its bank regarding a US$12.1M credit as an additional measure to prevent possible insolvency. The CEO is out, and lay-offs are announced to happen in both game development and publishing.
Thunderful’s Crisis Is Confirmed
We were able to verify this information from Thunderful’s website. They announced plans to restructure, which will mean layoffs, here. They also announced CEO Martin Walfisz’ exit with this statement:
The Board of Directors of Thunderful Group AB (”Thunderful”) today announces that it has agreed upon a transition plan with Martin Walfisz that will leave the role as CEO of Thunderful.
Walfisz has only been CEO since 2023. Based on their statement, Walfisz did not choose to resign but agreed to be laid off himself. Thunderful also identified their bank, Danske Bank, and explained the details of their extension agreement.
What Did Atari Say?
Atari also had their own press release, sharing the finer details:
Atari today announces it has entered into a subscription agreement with Thunderful Group AB to participate in a directed share issue of SEK 50.0 million (approximately 4.5 million euros).
Under the terms of the subscription agreement, Atari will become the owner of approximately 82% of the outstanding shares and votes of Thunderful by way of a directed issuance of 333,333,334 new ordinary shares1 at a subscription price of SEK 0.15, corresponding to a total amount of SEK 50 million (approximately €4.5 million) (the “Transaction”).
Both companies say that Thunderful’s two majority shareholders, Owe Bergsten and Brjann Sigurgeirsson, have pledged to accept Atari’s deal.
What Do We Make Of All This?
Most of Thunderful’s games are not as famous and popular as SteamWorld. However the jobs of hundreds of people, in and outside Sweden, are on the line. Thunderful had to make a separate deal with Danske Bank for restructuring. Sadly, because of this, Atari can’t stop all the layoffs.
But Atari, who faced criticism for business decisions like entering crypto, has proven they know how to sustain their business and correct their missteps. They just announced their new Pac-Man Atari games and consoles.
We think it’s reasonable to also worry if Atari itself is buying too many companies of their own. So far, Atari has proven a worthy publisher who’s supported their developers in bringing back classic games. They own Digital Eclipse and Nightdive Studios, who have continued to thrive under them.
So we can be hopeful that Thunderful could have a bright future under Atari. But we also wish the best for Martin Walfisz and the other employees who are set to leave the company. We hope that they can find placement back in the video game industry.
