Hong Kong-headquartered blockchain-focused game developer Animoca Brands announced on Thursday it has acquired Australia’s indie game developer Blowfish Studios for an upfront consideration of A$9 million ($6.6 million) plus payments of up to A$26 million (approximately $19.2 million), conditional on certain employment and performance targets.
Blowfish is the developer of Siegecraft and the publisher of the upcoming Winter Ember, among others.
Founded in 2010, Blowfish is an award-winning independent Sydney-based developer and publisher of multiplatform games including Qbism, Siegecraft, Morphite, Projection: First Light, and Storm Boy. The company was founded by Benjamin Lee, a veteran of the computer software and 3D graphics industry, and Aaron Grove, an award-winning visual effects supervisor.
“Joining the Animoca Brands family was a unique opportunity to grow the game development and publishing businesses of Blowfish, and to leapfrog to the forefront of blockchain gaming. We are incredibly excited about our major upcoming releases developed with Animoca Brands, which will change the perception of blockchain gaming for midcore and hardcore gamers everywhere,” Blowfish Co-Founder and Managing Director Benjamin Lee said.
The acquisition came after Animoca Brands announced earlier this month that it has hit unicorn status following its second and final tranche of $50 million in its $138.88 million capital raise, conducted at a pre-money valuation of $1 billion.
Together with global venture accelerator Brinc, it has recently launched Launchpad Luna, a new accelerator program for non-fungible tokens (NFT) startups.
Meanwhile, the current management of Blowfish will continue to operate the company after the acquisition, working closely with Animoca Brands to align efforts relating to blockchain integration, fungible tokens, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), play-to-earn capabilities, synergy opportunities, and product launches.
Animoca Brands has acquired 100% of the issued capital of Fugu Raw Pty Ltd (Blowfish Studios) for an upfront consideration of A$9 million ($6.644 million), consisting of A$4 million ($2.953 million) in cash and A$5 million ($3.691 million) in fully paid ordinary shares of Animoca Brands.
Additionally, conditional on the continued employment at Blowfish of Benjamin Lee and Aaron Grove for two years following the acquisition, up to A$1 million ($738,290) in cash and A$5 million ($3.691 million) in shares will be paid.
The acquisition includes performance-based earnout payments of up to A$20 million, based on the achievement of certain profitability targets in 2022 and 2023.
For all purposes related to this acquisition, shares of Animoca Brands are priced at A$1.10 ($0.81) each.
Tomas Rossel from Sydney-based Spawn Ventures acted as the lead financial advisor to Blowfish on the transaction.
Blowfish has a portfolio of 33 games, including both self-developed and published titles, that have been played by over 2.5 million people.