When Microsoft’s spree of acquisitions kicked off a few years ago, few could have predicted that they would expand to the extent of acquisitions involve Bethesda and Activision Blizzard (though the latter is certainly facing plenty of issues on the road to approval), though that’s not to say notable studios weren’t picked up by the company before it stepped up to start looking at larger publishers as well.
Ninja Theory was one of the highlights in that early string of Xbox acquisitions, with the studio still basking in the glow of its critically acclaimed Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice at the time. Now, interestingly enough, it’s also been revealed just how much Microsoft had to spend to bring the studio into the Xbox Game Studios umbrella.
Microsoft’s recent FTC filings have revealed that the company was considering acquisitions for the likes of Bungie and Sega, with a number of other studios big and small that were also being kept an eye on. In an internap pitch concerning a potential acquisitipn of Sega, Microsoft listed a number of “precedent transactions”, i.e. studio acquisitions by a number of companies from across the industry in recent years, including itself.
Ninja Theory is mentioned in that list as well, which also reveals that the developer was bought by Microsoft in a deal worth $117 million. In comparison, Sony purchased Insomniac Games for a price of $229 million, while Electronic Arts picked up Respawn Entertainment for $325 million.
Since being acquired by Microsoft, Ninja Theory has released one game thus far, that being multiplayer action game Bleeding Edge, which was shut down less than a year after its launch. The studio has also been at work on a major AAA production in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, which is due out next year, as well as the much more experimental Project: Mara.
