AUSTIN, Texas — April 13, 2022 — Today Aspyr Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of Embracer’s Saber Interactive operative group, has entered into an agreement to acquire the video game studio Beamdog. Best known for bringing beloved Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment to desktop, tablets and modern consoles, Beamdog will operate as an independent studio within Aspyr. The closing of the acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and other agreed-upon closing conditions.
Founded in 2009 by former BioWare leads Trent Oster and Cameron Tofer, Beamdog is one of Canada’s most established game studios. Its team of 80 artists, designers and developers has relationships with top licensors, including Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro, as well as an impressive catalogue of RPG titles. Through the acquisition, Aspyr will add a veteran North American development team, which will continue to be led by Oster.
The two companies will collaborate closely on Beamdog’s newly revealed MythForce, which Aspyr will publish as an early access title on the Epic Games Store on April 20, 2022. Inspired by beloved ‘80s cartoon franchises like Thundercats and He-Man, MythForce unites colorful swords and sorcery with gripping first-person combat in a roguelite adventure.
“Beamdog is a tremendously talented group that we’ve admired for a long time. Their development philosophy and studio vision are perfectly aligned with ours. We look forward to seeing them realize their ambition with MythForce while maximizing the long-term potential of an incredible archive of classic games,” said Ted Staloch, CEO of Aspyr.
“This acquisition will open up a ton of exciting opportunities for us. Beamdog can now focus our talent, efforts and imagination on building the great games we want to play while properly looking after established fan-favorite RPGs. Beamdog’s first original IP is a fun-filled start to our studio’s next chapter,” said Beamdog CEO Trent Oster.
For more information on MythForce, visit www.MythForce.com, and follow @MythForce on Twitter for the latest updates.
Advisers
Agnitio Capital acted as financial advisor and Dentons acted as legal advisor to the seller in connection with the transaction. Baker McKenzie acted as legal advisor and EY acted as financial and tax advisor to Embracer.
About Aspyr
Aspyr is a leading video game publishing and development partner focused on maximizing the potential of games across all platforms for all players. Today the company supports a growing network of partners that includes many of the industry’s leading entertainment IP holders, publishers, developers, and technology providers. Aspyr is a standalone entity under Saber Interactive, an Embracer Group company. Aspyr is based in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit www.aspyr.com.
About Beamdog
Established in 2009 by Trent Oster and Cameron Tofer, Beamdog is a Canadian video game studio with headquarters in Edmonton, Canada. With a diverse team of designers, artists and developers, Beamdog crafts playful fun that sparks childlike wonder and forges connections between people, stories and imagination. Beamdog is best known for bringing beloved Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying classics like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment back to life across modern platforms. MythForce is the first of many original titles Beamdog hopes to share with the world. Visit www.beamdog.com for more information.
Media Contact
Rob Fleischer Sandbox Strategies for Aspyr Media rob@sandboxstrat.com www.sandboxstrat.com