[GameSpot] - Funcom Buys Battlefield Dev's New Studio And Expands Into Romania

[343iBot]

Funcom is making moves. The Norwegian publisher has acquired a majority stake in the Swedish game studio The Outsiders, which was founded by Battlefield's David Goldfarb, while the company also announced plans to open a new studio in Romania.

Funcom and The Outsiders were already in business together, as Funcom is set to publisher The Outsiders' next game, the FPS Metal: Hellsinger. But now Funcom owns The Outsiders outright following this announcement.

Funcom CEO Rui Casais said: "I first sat down with David Goldfarb over breakfast at GDC a few years ago, and by the time we got up he had sold me on this crazy rhythm-based shooter where you blast your way through Hell to the sound of metal music."

"The amount of talent, creativity, and originality The Outsiders bring to the industry is incredible, and we're very excited to be part of their journey going forward," he added. "This partnership will also allow Funcom to tap into the immense talent pool in Sweden. Their main focus will still be Metal: Hellsinger, but the new arrangement will make it easier for our teams to support each other's projects."

Goldfarb had senior roles on Battlefield Bad Company 2 and then Payday 2, said in his own statement: "We've had a really remarkable partnership with Funcom since that fateful GDC meeting. It's definitely rare in the game industry to work with partners who are as level-headed, honest, and open as they have been with us throughout the development of Metal: Hellsinger. We feel really lucky to be able to join Funcom and deepen this already great connection while continuing to grow The Outsiders in new and exciting directions."

There will be no change to the leadership team at The Outsiders in the wake of this deal. What will change is that The Outsiders will grow its team size for Metal: Hellsinger and "other future projects" down the road.

Funcom's other big piece of news today was that it's opening an office in Bucharest, Romania to become its new HQ for quality assurance.

"With our continued growth and increased level of ambition, assuring that we have top quality QA is of the utmost importance," Casais said. "We are therefore very excited to be able to expand to this region with one of the most crucial parts of the development process and we are even planning on adding more functions to this studio over time."

Funcom is best known for Conan Exiles, Age of Conan, Secret World Legends, and Anarchy Online. The company is currently developing an open-world survival game based on Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel Dune, and Funcom says it is the company's "most ambitious game to date."

Funcom is owned by Tencent, the internet behemoth from China that owns outright or holds positions in numerous game studios around the world.

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