Swedish studio Starbreeze, responsible for The Darkness, Syndicate, and The Chronicles of Riddick franchise, will be acquiring Overkill Software, another Swedish developer behind Payday: The Heist.
Billed about June 15, 2012, the acquisition is based on the sale of 200 million new shares in Starbreeze, who will "implement an incentive program of 42.8 million stock options for employees of Overkill".
Work on expansions and sequels for Payday: The Heist, which has sold over 400,000 copies, is already on its way. Overkill's creative director Ulf Andersson sees this as a favorable collaboration:
Starbreeze and Overkill are two unique FPS studios. Starbreeze has graphical emphasis, and Overkill has total focus on innovative gameplay. Together we form a unique constellation of creative forces. With two strong technology platforms and extensive experience in major productions, we become an unbeatable team.
Starbreeze CEO Mikael Nermark believes that this is the first step in building their name in the industry:
Look at Valve, Epic, Crytek. They believed in their own ideas, they had a lot of passion for what they did, and they succeeded. To be a successful studio you have to take charge of your own destiny by owning your own IP.
[Source]
