UK games company Jagex has acquired Croatian developer Gamepires, best known for 2018 Early Access title Scum.

No figure has been placed on the deal, which sees the RuneScape maker hoping to see a 1.0 release of Scum in the future. This is the second studio that Jagex has acquired, following the purchase of US developer Pipeworks earlier this year.

"Building game communities is the lifeblood of what we do at Jagex, and this shared passion is why we're delighted to welcome Gamepires into the fold," Jagex boss Phil Mansell (pictured) said.

"We believe in the vision of Tomislav, Andrej and their talented team who've built an impressive open-world survival game, cultivated a highly engaged community and grown a strong profitable business. With our backing and the support of our Jagex Partners publishing team, together we will make Scum an even greater global success."

Gamepires co-founder and creative director Tomislav Pongrac added: “Partnering with Jagex provides us the opportunity to take Scum to the next level. Jagex’s world-class reputation as a company where players drive game development matches our ethos and will help us grow as entrepreneurs and as a studio. We’re extremely excited to see how we can build on everything we’ve achieved with SCUM so far and take the game to its full potential.”

This news comes in the wake of private equity firm The Carlyle Group acquiring Jagex in early 2021. 

Disclaimer: Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist and author who has previously worked with Jagex on RuneScape: The First 20 Years.