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German born Kalypso Media is building up a new development outfit on the back of buying parts of collapsed studio The Games Company.
The independent developer and publisher has bought two key IPs from The Games Company, and has also acquired distribution and publishing rights for three other PC titles.
The Games Company recently went into insolvency following cash flow problems. However, 17 of the company’s staff will be saved from redundancy and join Kalypso’s newly founded Noumena Studios.
Simon Hellwig, the global managing director of Kalypso Media, said the acquisition of two IPs – Demonicon and UCITI – has “solidified our position as an independent international publisher and developer.”
As part of the move, The Games Company project manager André Schmitz has been hired as studio director at Noumena, and will continue work on the Demonicon project.
“After a turbulent insolvency we are very pleased to have Kalypso as a key investor and partner” Schmitz said.
“We are happy that Kalypso will keep the core team together, as they did with the creation of Gaming Minds Studios after purchasing Ascaron’s assets. Kalypso has shown that long term cooperation is a high priority for them.”
Demonicon is set for release early 2012, and Kalypso is said to be considering the continuation of The Games Company’s browser project UCITI.
Kalypso Media’s Stefan Marcinek added: “We are pleased to welcome the remaining employees of the internal The Games Company team into the newly founded Noumena Studios. We are sure they will find Kalypso Media a competent partner and a safe home for the future.”
The new studio Noumena ads to Kalypso’s two other internal studios – the Munich based Realmforge and the Gütersloh-based Gaming Minds. It is hoped Noumena will have some 35 employees by the end of the year.
