DIGIC is to be acquired by the Swedish Embracer Group, subject to the approval of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, among others.
DIGIC Pictures is a Hungarian studio based in Budapest, Hungary, which has produced 3D animations and CGI scenes for Assassin’s Creed, the Call of Duty series, and The Witcher 3, among other video games and their trailers (such as the trailer of the recently unveiled new AC Valhalla trailer).
And let’s not forget about the short film “The Secret War”, also made at DIGIC, for Netflix‘s “Love, Death, and Robots”. This and Dark Horse Media, famous for its comic books, will soon be owned by the Swedish conglomerate Embracer Group.
Embracer is owned by media conglomerates that possess major publishers or publishing houses such as Koch Media (Deep Silver – Metro Exodus), Saber Interactive (3D Realms – Duke Nukem Forever), Gearbox Entertainment (Gearbox Software – Borderlands 3), and THQ Nordic (Piranha Bytes – Gothic and Risen games).
Embracer, through the aforementioned Saber Interactive, has entered into an agreement with DIGIC Holdings Ltd., which includes DIGIC Pictures, too. The aim was to acquire 100% of the shares of the company, together with Sándor Alex Rabb , who founded the animation studio with Andy Vajna, and his team of more than 400 people.
The deal is still under process and being finalized, as it is subject to certain conditions, including the approval of the financial institutions that provide loans to DIGIC and the Hungarian Ministry of Innovation and Technology.
“The joint future of Embracer Group and DIGIC opens up exciting opportunities for us, as the two companies are thinking along very similar lines. The focus will be on content and cross-platform development, reinforcing the creative vision that will accelerate DIGIC‘s development,” said Alex Rabb in a press release provided by DIGIC.
Matthew Karch, CEO of Saber Interactive, said that under the terms of the agreement, the studio will continue to provide creative services to its external partners, while of course supporting game developers (in-house projects from Gearbox, THQ Nordic, Coffee Stain, and Koch Media) that are part of the Embracer Group.
In other words, DIGIC Pictures will retain its professional autonomy, will continue to operate as it has done up to now, and there are no plans for any organizational restructuring by Embracer or its new parent company, Saber Interactive.
Dark Horse will also be acquired by Embracer Group through THQ Nordic on the same terms, but Dark Horse Media will form a separate publishing group within the whole. The acquisition will be completed in the Embracer Group‘s last financial quarter, early 2022, in both cases.
With Dark Horse, which also produces movies (“Hellboy”) and series (“The Umbrella Academy”), the group’s goal is the same as with DIGIC, to produce, among other things, quality video games in the development studios it owns.
