Indie darling Devolver has bought Serious Sam maker Croteam
Croatian studio Croteam has been snapped up by indie publisher Devolver Digital.
This new union was announced on Devolver's website and follows a long history between the two companies. Croteam was founded back in 1992 and is best known for the Serious Sam games, as well as 2014's The Talos Principle.
2001's Serious Sam: The First Encounter was published by Gathering of Developers, a company founded by some of the people who would later go on to set up Devolver in 2009.
"A decade ago Devolver Digital was just getting started and looking for its first project to partner on in the emerging digital distribution world," the publisher wrote.
"Similarly, Croteam was on the search for a partner it could trust to help them bring their beloved franchise back to prominence with the upcoming Serious Sam 3. And like that, the next big Serious Sam game brought old partners back together and forged a decade of friendship and dedication.
"Since then Croteam and Devolver Digital have partnered on dozens of games - from the frantic Serious Sam series to the award-winning The Talos Principle across PC, consoles, VR and mobile platforms. Croteam and Devolver Digital have been dating for so long that we decided to go ahead and just get married.
"Devolver has acquired Croteam...or maybe Croteam has acquired Devolver...who could really know at this point in the relationship. What’s certain is that our future together is ultra exciting with new projects like The Talos Principle 2, more Serious Sam games, and original IP from Croteam and the Croteam Incubator studios. Croteam will, of course, keep total creative freedom and Devolver Digital gets to keep making dumb recommendations that Croteam just ignores - we prefer it that way.
"Both companies are thrilled to share this news and hope that you’re as excited about our future together as we are - it’s going to be a lot of fun. Also, buy Serious Sam 4 on Steam or Stadia. It’s got a chainsaw rocket launcher."
The most recent entry in the series – Serious Sam 4 – launched in September for PC and Google's Stadia streaming service. It's set to release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2021.