Tech services company Keywords Studios has bought marketing company Fire Without Smoke for $6.9 million.

Fire Without Smoke offers creative and marketing services to developers and publishers. Based in London and with an office in Montreal, it creates game trailers, marketing art and event materials. The company has worked with publishers such as Sony, Square Enix, Riot Games, Deep Silver, Sega, Capcom and Ubisoft.

All 40 of Fire Without Smoke’s current staff will remain on board, including founders Will O'Connor and Michael David Thomson. The terms of the acquisition include a $5.11 million cash consideration from Keywords, and the issue of 77,006 new ordinary shares in Keywords.

Keywords Studios CEO Andrew Day commented: "Fire Without Smoke's specialised offering represents an excellent addition to the Group's existing capabilities and adds some exciting new services to our global service platform.” He added, “Their high end video game trailers expertise will be of great interest to Keywords' large client base, as will their broad suite of creative services.”

Rapid acquisition has been a fruitful strategy for Keywords Studios. The firm snapped up 11 companies in 2017, including QA studio VMC in October and work-for-hire firm Sperasoft in December. Keywords matched expectations reported back in February, bringing in $175.71 million in revenue.