Games giant Keywords is once again splashing its considerable cash with some acquisitions to bolster its new music services offering.
The firm has snapped up Cord Worldwide, a consulting service that's focused on music branding and strategy whose clients today include Shell, LEGO and BT.
That's not all - Keywords has also bought Laced Music, a record label that centres about video games music. So far it has produced vinyls for soundtracks including Hotline Miami.
How much these firms set back Keywords is not declared.
“We look forward to welcoming the talented and passionate teams of Cord and Laced to the Keywords family and to developing further the synergies that we have already proven through working collaboratively on recent projects," Keywords chief exec Andrew Day said.
"Furthermore, we are delighted that we will be able to add further value to our games clients through Laced’s specialism in licencing video game soundtracks for game companies and from music composers, and Cord’s expertise in music composition, rights management, music strategy consulting and audio branding. We also see a clear opportunity to bring our localisation, voice over and trailer creation capabilities to Cord’s broader client base of leading brands.”
Cord CEO Daniel Jackson added: "The opportunity to add a brand new Music capability within the Keywords Studios platform is very exciting for us. Keyword’s clients will now be able to use the full power of music to connect with players; linking in-game experiences to trailers, merchandise and live events. With CORD’s focus on music strategies, we hope to change the way music is created, owned and leveraged within the gaming industry."
And, commenting on Laced's purchase, MD Danny Kelleher said: “We are thrilled to join Keywords and look forward to working alongside their studios all over the world and the new opportunities that will bring us. The services that we currently offer to games developers such as music strategy and supervision, talent and brand partnerships will now be available to Keywords extensive client list. The Laced Records label will continue to grow and offer the most exciting gaming soundtracks catalogue available.”
These are but the latest purchases made by global games giant Keywords. The outfit made 11 acquisitions in 2017, including games studios Sperasoft and d3t, and QA firm VMC.
