Focus Home Interactive has acquired 77.5% of the share capital of the Paris-based developer and publisher Dotemu.
Focus acquired Dotemu in a €38.5 million deal, which includes an additional payment of up to €15 million based on employment and performance goals, making the potential total payout up to €53.5 million.
“The arrival of Dotemu marks a key step in the acceleration of the Group’s growth and in the diversification of its expertise,” said Christophe Nobileau, CEO of Focus Home Interactive. “By enriching our editorial line, we are opening up a new revenue stream and new market shares to conquer in a fast-growing sector.
“We are delighted to welcome to the Focus Group talents such as Cyrille Imbert and his teams, who have succeeded in making games attractive and giving them new life for millions of players around the world. Finally, this deal is just another step in our growth story. Following the integration of the Deck13 and Streum On studios, we are actively looking for other high-potential companies to accelerate our development and expand our offer.”
Dotemu has developed and re-released titles on the Final Fantasy, Another World, Double Dragon and Street of Rage franchises. Additionally, Dotemu also develops games in-house via its development team, with titles such as Ys Origin, Heroes of Might and Magic III HD as well as the upcoming Windjammers 2.
“Joining the Focus Home Interactive Group was an obvious choice for Dotemu,” added Cyrille Imbert, CEO of Dotemu. “We share the same passion for video games, the same desire to improve, as well as the same values of respect and benevolence towards our partners and teams. While continuing its activities, this new collaboration will allow Dotemu to benefit from the incontestable expertise of Focus Home Interactive’s teams for the production of AA titles and thus launch the production of future remakes or sequels on licenses of first-generation 3D consoles (the games of the early 2000s).
While retaining the editorial and strategic independence that has made it so successful, Dotemu will be able to give even greater ambition to its projects and give itself the means to broaden the range of services offered to studios, in order to guarantee the success of their productions on the retro label as well as on the publishing label The Arcade Crew. Therefore, Dotemu is ideally positioned to achieve its ambitious growth plan to triple its turnover in the medium term. My mission will also be to share Dotemu’s expertise with Focus Home Interactive’s teams, to select and convince talented teams to join the Group in order to build, together, a key player in the video game industry on a global scale.”
