10Tacle Buys Codename: Panzer Creator Stormregion

Author: by Staff

Officials from German developer and producer 10tacle Studios have announced the acquisition of Hungarian developer Stormregion, hoping to leverage both its Codename: Panzer RTS series and its internal development tools. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but 10tacle says buying the studio represents "another key step... in expanding its international development resources," as the 95 person studio is one of Hungary’s largest game developers. Currently the studio is developing Codename Panzers: Cold War for Electronic Arts, a follow up to the 2004 RTS Codename: Panzers, and is expected to be commissioned to develop two additional titles this year. Stormregion was one of Hungary’s first officially licensed developers for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. In addition to its equity, estimated at 2 million euros ($2.69m) and the Codename: Panzer IP rights, the studio also has its own internally developed next-gen dev tool, Gepard, that 10tacle says can be used at its other studios. Said 10tacle CEO Michele Pes, “Qualified growth is one of the goals we set for ourselves for 2007. Incorporating Stormregion into the 10tacle Studios Group is consistent with our close cooperation with the company, as this provides us with another highly qualified studio that meets all the demands of state-of-the-art game development, while also making its own technological contribution to the Group. Our goal is to become the market leader among independent development studios. The acquisition of Stormregion brings us another step closer to this goal.”