Paradox Interactive acquires 33% of Blacklight developer Hardsuit Labs

Swedish publisher, Paradox Interactive, today announced that it had acquired a third of current Blacklight Retribution developer Hardsuit Labs – based in Seattle. The acquisition set the company back $2m – valuing the company at $6m. Paradox also has an option to increase its ownership in the future.

Hardsuit Labs came out of the defunct Zombie Studios, with staff from the closed developer moving over to support the free-to-play shooter Blacklight Retribution – a decent title, which failed to really fly amongst a raft of free-to-play shooters back in 2012. It has some very experienced staff though, and Paradox’s investment must primarily be for the team’s upcoming unannounced title. Paradox already has a publishing deal for that title.

“We are continuously looking for partners suited to join our journey onwards. We have much confidence in the team built by Hardsuit Labs and their capacity to create great games,” said Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive.

“Since this is a minority acquisition, Paradox will act more like a silent partner and the studio will continue to operate like it has been previously. The reason for this acquisition is to increase our own capacity to manage our portfolio of brands in a strategic way, together with a studio and studio management we believe in.”

Hardsuit founders are Andy Kipling and Russell Nelson. The team has credits on numerous titles including A hat in Time, Smite, Gears of War 4, Bioshock: The Collection, Daydream VR games and Killing Floor 2 amongst others.