Rockstar Games has acquired Indian art production studio Dhruva Interactive for $7.9 million from Starbreeze.
As per the statement released on Starbreeze website, it has agreed to sell its 91.82 per cent stake in Dhruva – a division of Dhruva Infotech (P) Ltd – for $7.9 million. The studio will operate alongside Rockstar India, both continuing its work on current projects for clients and joining Rockstar’s current work in Bangalore.
Starbreeze had acquired 90.5per cent of Dhruva in December 2016 for $8.5 million. The art production studio, credits before the Starbreeze acquisition include Halo 5, Forza Horizon 3, Quantum Break, and Sea of Thieves. It has also done work on Starbreeze’s Payday 2.
In a separate statement, Rockstar India studio manager Daniel Smith said the acquisition would help boost the studio’s capabilities. “Dhruva Interactive has been a beacon of Indian game development for decades and we are excited to bring them into the Rockstar family,” he said.
Separately, Dhruva founder and chief executive officer Rajesh Rao said the sale was proof that the studio had built a team that could “contribute to the best games in the world”. Rao will also advise Rockstar India on the game development community in the country.
The seller, Starbreeze, has seen a rough past year, culminating in its declaration during its Q1 financial results last week that the company would suffer a liquidity shortfall and not be able to last the full year if it did not get a new investment. The company has been attempting to pull itself together for several months now following poor performance of Overkill’s The Walking Dead that leads to Skybound terminating its publishing agreement earlier this year, the CEO’s departure and announcement of insolvency, raid on the company related to inside crimes in December of last year, and now a 56 per cent year-over-year earnings loss for Q1 of this year.