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Buena Vista Acquires Climax Racing
by David Jenkins [PC, Console/PC, Mobile Console]
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September 28, 2006
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Officials from Buena Vista Games (BVG), the interactive entertainment affiliate of The Walt Disney Company, have announced that the publisher is to acquire British development studio Climax Racing from parent company Climax Group.
The acquisition is described as being of both strategic and geographical importance to BVG, with Climax Racing becoming the company’s third internal studio and its first in Europe. The other two developers are Propaganda Games, based in Vancouver, Canada, and Avalanche Software in Lake City, Utah (not to be confused with Swedish Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios).
Climax Racing are best known for the critically acclaimed MotoGP series for the Xbox and PC and the PlayStation format ATV Offroad Fury series. The two franchises are published by THQ and Sony Computer Entertainment, respectively, but it now seems unlikely that Climax Racing will be able to work on them again.
“The acquisition of Climax Racing aligns perfectly with our strategic and geographic goals by allowing us to both reach into new genres and new markets for creative talent,” said Graham Hopper, senior vice president and general manager at BVG. “Adding Climax Racing to our creative family will provide an additional catalyst for our continued growth in the video games market.”
Tony Beckwith, co-founder of the studio, has been named vice president and general manager, with the acquisition due to be completed at the end of October. BVG has not been explicit in detailing what titles the studio will work on going forwards, except that they are all, obviously, racing games.
The acquisition marks the latest in a number of moves by BVG to expand its portfolio beyond licensed Disney products. This includes the acquisition of the Turok comic book license, currently being worked on by Propaganda Games, and partnerships with Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Q Entertainment and Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Memories developer Jupiter Corporation.
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