Swedish developers Starbreeze Studios and Korean free-to-play powerhouse Smilegate have announced a strategic partnership that sees Smilegate make an investment of $40 million in Starbreeze Studios, Starbreeze acquires rights to develop, publish and distribute a new first person shooter co-op game based on Smilegate's Crossfire franchise for Western markets. Additionally Starbreeze gains access to Smilegate platform and will so be able to distribute games like Payday, Overkill's The Walking Dead for the Asian markets via the platform.
"The Eastern entertainment market has been an enigma for western game developers and vice versa. This in-depth collaboration uniquely positions Starbreeze and Smilegate to bridge the gap between the two markets. Starbreeze gains an extraordinary market position for our present and future products," said Bo Andersson Klint, Starbreeze CEO.
Crossfire is tremendously successful, particularly in China and boasts a player base of 500 million (!) with the concurrent player record of 6 million players. A movie based on the property is in development and planned for release in 3-5 years under the supervision of Fast and Furious producer Neal Moritz.
Joon Ho Sung, CIO of Smilegate Group, said: "Asian, European and US gamers have a lot to look forward to as a result of this collaboration. The aim for both of us is to bring the best from our home markets to new audiences. With its impressive Payday track record, Starbreeze is an ideal partner for bringing the Crossfire franchise to western markets and new titles to our home markets. This is a long term strategic partnership for us."
No timeline for when we can expect to see Starbreeze's co-op take on Crossfire was announced, but Starbreeze currently has a lot on their plates with continued support for Payday 2, Overkill's The Walking Dead, and more projects under way both internally and externally including the VR headset StarVR.