The Irish provider of technical services for game developers Keyword Studios has acquired the creative agency Fire Without Smoke for $6.9 million (£5.2 million).
Under the terms of the agreement, Keyword Studios will pay Fire Without Smoke founders Will O’Connor (Will O’Connor) and Michael Thompson (Michael Thomson) $5 million (£3.8 million) in cash, as well as issue 77 thousand shares of their company. The shares and an additional $660,000 (£500,000) will be transferred to O’Connor and Thompson after the first anniversary of the purchase.
Will O’Connor will continue to lead the company as Managing Director.
Fire Without Smoke is engaged in the creation and promotion of game promo content: trailers, art, design of esports tournaments and so on. The agency has collaborated with Ubisoft, Square Enix, Capcom, Electronic Arts and other major gaming companies.
According to the forecast, Fire Without Smoke’s revenue this fiscal year (ending May 31, 2018) will be $3.7 million (£2.8 million), and pre-tax profit is expected to be $930 thousand (£700 thousand).
Keyword Studios is an international group of companies specializing in assisting in the development of third—party game projects. At the end of last year, Keyword bought the well-known Russian outsourcing studio Sperasoft for $27 million.
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