Starbreeze acquires Indian art production firm for $8.5 million

Payday 2 developer-publisher Starbreeze has splashed out $8.5 million to pick up a 90.5 percent stake in Indian art production company, Dhruva Interactive. 

The deal will see Starbreeze hand over $7 million in cash and $1.5 million in freshly issued Starbreeze B-shares. 

Post-acquisition, Dhruva will continue to operate under its own brand and work with third-party clients. The company has previously worked on a number of triple-A titles such as Forza Horizon 3, Halo 5, Quantum Break, Sea of Thieves, and Starbreeze's own Payday 2. 

The deal will let Starbreeze improve and ramp up in-house art production, while simultaneously lowering operating costs.

The studio says it will now also be able to provide "full end-to-end services to its participating publishing partners and to add significant value to its VR ecosystem."