Dontnod Entertainment Refused “Several” Acquisition Proposals in Order to Remain Independent

"That’s something really important for us," says CEO Oskar Guilbert.

Posted By | On 11th, May. 2021

dontnod entertainment

Dontnod Entertainment shot to fame with breakout hit Life is Strange back in 2015, and the studio has only gone from strength to strength since then. And as is often the case with indie developers who make such last impressions on widespread audiences and enjoy both critical and commercial success, it seems they were an acquisition candidate for larger companies in the industry.

Speaking recently to IGN, Dontnod CEO Oskar Guilbert said that though Dontnod received several acquisition proposals, it turned them all down so it could remain independent. “To be honest, we refused several proposals,” he said. “There are a lot of people who are interested [in] the game industry and see the game industry as a new El Dorado for investing.”

The French developer recently sold a minority stake to Tencent in exchange for a multi-million euro investment, but Guilbert stated that the company will remain in control of the “historic shareholders” and retain its independence. “We raised 40 million euros in January,” he said. “But for us, it was really important that the historic shareholders still have the majority, and still can keep the company independent. That’s something really important for us.”

Guilbert went on to say that it is vital for Dontnod to remain independence so that it can retain its identity and keep making the sort of games it’s become known for making. “The values, the kind of games we want to do — it’s really important for us that we keep this identity of the company for the future,” he said. “I don’t want to be pretentious, but we’re one of the game companies which do these kinds of games — like Life is Strange, like Tell Me Why, and Vampyr also in a sense. We really want to continue doing this. And we are lucky because our current partners, our people who put a lot of money in our company still let us do what we want to do.

“Intuitively I think people know what it means, a game made by Dontnod. This is very important for us because we really want to continue to develop this brand, the Dontnod brand as something which is meaningful internally for us, and also externally for the players.”

Dontnod Entertainment recently opened up a new studio in Montreal, and given all that they have in the pipeline, an expansion definitely seems to be in order. The developer has six projects in the works, five of which it plans to self-publish between 2022 and 2025, and one that is being developed in partnership with Focus Home Interactive.


Tagged With:

Amazing Articles You Might Want To Check Out!

Keep On Reading!

Dynasty Warriors: Origins Adds Photo Mode With New Update

Dynasty Warriors: Origins Adds Photo Mode With New Update

The update also adds the new Lion Dragon Armor as an outfit, introduces bug fixes, and fixes a Steam Deck-spec...

Onimusha: Warlords Remaster is Set to Add Hell Mode Imminently

Onimusha: Warlords Remaster is Set to Add Hell Mode Imminently

New one-hit kill mode, titled "Hell Mode," will release for Onimusha Warlods with an update on April 23, along...

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered Peaks at Over 182,000 Concurrent Steam Players at Launch

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered Peaks at Over 182,000 Concurrent Steam Players at Launch

The newly released remaster has instantly attracted a massive audience on Steam within hours of being revealed...

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered Revamps Enemy Scaling, Encumbrance, and More

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered Revamps Enemy Scaling, Encumbrance, and More

On top of 4K resolution and 60 FPS support, the Unreal Engine 5 remaster also revamps the HUD, UI, non-combat ...

Madden NFL 26 is Set for August 14 Release – Rumour

Madden NFL 26 is Set for August 14 Release – Rumour

According to reports, EA is expected to officially unveil the next game in its Madden NFL franchise some time ...

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered Announced, Out Now for $49.99

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered Announced, Out Now for $49.99

The remaster is playable on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, and sports a complete visual overhaul and various im...