Curve Digital and Kuju merge to form ‘major new British publisher’

Kuju owner The Catalis Group has acquired UK indie publisher and developer Curve Digital.

Kuju and Curve will now merge to form a new group – Curve Digital Entertainment – which the firm says has the potential to become ‘a major new British games publisher.’

The new business will be headed by Catalis CEO Dominic Wheatley, the co-founder of the last great British games publisher: Eidos. The Tomb Raider company was acquired by Japanese publisher Square Enix in 2009 for 85m.

Financial details of the merger were not disclosed. The Catalis Groups is backed by private equity.

Our acquisition of Curve Digital and merging them with Kuju means we have created the potential for a major new British games publisher, the first of its kind for many years,” Wheatley said in a release.

It’s also good news for the UK indie games community to have a professional publishing partner who can take their titles to the international market.”

Curve is best known for publishing indie games such as The Swindle and The Swapper. Meanwhile, Kuju is a work-for-hire development business, which includes the studios Zoe Mode and Headstrong Games. It is currently working on titles for Ubisoft, Activision and Nintendo. Previous releases include games based on Lord Of The Rings, Zumba, Pokmon and Rabbids.

Curve’s unique publishing model and expertise within the indie space has enabled us to grow steadily year on year, but this move will enable us to accelerate our expansion,” said Curve MD Jason Perkins.

Curve Digital Entertainment chairman Stuart Dinsey added: This is so exciting for all of us. We’re targeting business development across both Curve and Kuju.”

The Catalis Group also owns QA and localisation company Testronic.