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Nordisk Games now owns 40% of MercurySteam

Date Type Companies involved Size
December 22nd, 2020 investment MercurySteam
Nordisk
Not disclosed
Nordisk Games now owns 40% of MercurySteam

Danish media giant Nordisk Games has acquired 40 per cent of Spanish developer MercurySteam.

No value has been put on the deal as of yet but the company has apparently said that it is a "sizeable" investment. This is the first investment that Nordisk has made outside of its native Nordic region (try saying that one quickly, I dare you).

“We warmly welcome Nordisk Games as a new MercurySteam partner," MercurySteam CEO and co-founder Enric Alvarez (pictured) said.

"Since the first time we met with them, we were very clear that both parties shared the same DNA, ambition and objectives and we are convinced that we are entering a new era of consolidation and growth for our studio. The saying “The best is yet to come” takes on all its meaning now."

Nordisk Games senior partner Martin Walfisz added: ”After meeting the founders and team at MercurySteam we immediately recognized their fantastic talent and creativity at work. The studio is undoubtedly one of the premier PC and console game developers in Europe, and we’re very proud of having the company join our portfolio. MercurySteam’s track record speaks for itself, and the games they now have in development are extremely promising and exciting."

Madrid-based MercurySteam has worked on the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Metroid series in the past, but in 2017 struck out on its own with ambitious episodic game Raiders of the Broken Planet. This title was rebranded as Spacelords in July 2018. At the time, producer Dave Cox told us that the firm wanted to take risks as publishers had become "so conservative."

Nordisk, meanwhile, has been ramping up its games business in recent years. Perhaps the biggest to date was the company buying Just Cause and Rage 2 developer Avalanche Studios. The firm spent $104.16 million on the developer, before also investing $5.5 million in indie label Raw Fury later that year.

The company has also invested in Star Stable Online studio Stable Entertainment and in 2019, former DICE CEO Karl Troedsson took on a senior partner role at Nordisk.

Speaking to PCGamesInsider.biz, Nordisk Film Games MD Mikkel Weider said it saw great potential in the games industry.


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PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.