Funcom has acquired a majority stake in the Swedish game developer studio The Outsiders and announces plans to open a new studio in Bucharest by the end of summer. The expansions will lead to increased resources for both the rhythm FPS Metal: Hellsinger and the upcoming Dune game.
Norwegian game publisher Funcom and Swedish game developer The Outsiders have been working closely together for a while, with the upcoming rhythm FPS Metal: Hellsinger being developed by The Outsiders and published by Funcom. Now the bonds are strengthened further by Funcom’s acquisition of the Stockholm based studio.
Funcom CEO Rui Casais is thrilled that they now have secured a long-term relationship with the studio consisting of industry veterans from companies such as DICE, Avalanche, King, Rovio, Fatshark, and Guerilla Games. He recounts the meeting where The Outsiders’ Creative Director and co-founder David Goldfarb first presented him with the idea for a game that eventually would become known as Metal: Hellsinger. “I first sat down with David over breakfast at GDC a few years ago, and by the time we got up he had sold me on this crazy rhythm-based shooter where you blast your way through Hell to the sound of metal music,” he says.
“The amount of talent, creativity, and originality The Outsiders bring to the industry is incredible, and we’re very excited to be part of their journey going forward. This partnership will also allow Funcom to tap into the immense talent pool in Sweden. Their main focus will still be Metal: Hellsinger, but the new arrangement will make it easier for our teams support each other’s projects,” Casais says.
David Goldfarb, who before co-founding The Outsiders has had leading roles in the development of games such as Payday 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2, mirrors Casais sentiment.”We’ve had a really remarkable partnership with Funcom since that fateful GDC meeting. It’s definitely rare in the game industry to work with partners who are as level-headed, honest, and open as they have been with us throughout the development of Metal: Hellsinger. We feel really lucky to be able to join Funcom and deepen this already great connection while continuing to grow The Outsiders in new and exciting directions,” Goldfarb says.
The leadership at The Outsiders will remain the same, but as a result of the acquisition, the Stockholm based company are now looking to add more people to their crew. This will directly benefit the development of Metal: Hellsinger, as well as other future projects.
Funcom to Build New Studio in Romania
Today Funcom also announces plans to open up a new office in Bucharest (Romania), as the new headquarters for quality assurance. From before, Funcom has offices in Oslo (Norway), Lisbon (Portugal) and Raleigh (USA).
“The Romanian gaming scene is flourishing, and Bucharest in particular is home to many talented people in the tech and gaming industry,” says Funcom CEO Rui Casais. “With our continued growth and increased level of ambition, assuring that we have top quality QA is of the utmost importance. We are therefore very excited to be able to expand to this region with one of the most crucial parts of the development process and we are even planning on adding more functions to this studio over time.”
Funcom is an Oslo-based developer and publisher of online games for PC and consoles. It was founded in 1993 and is most famous for developing massively multiplayer online games such as Conan Exiles, Secret World Legends, Age of Conan and Anarchy Online. In early 2019, Funcom acquired the rights to produce video games based on Frank Herbert’s best-selling science-fiction novel Dune. An open-world survival game based on Dune is currently in development and has been labeled as Funcom’s most ambitious game to date.
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