Ex-Annapurna Video-Game Staff to Absorb Former Take-Two Indie Label

[PDCWolf]

From archived Bloomberg

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Their new company, which does not yet have a name, will inherit the games and franchises of Private Division, the label formerly owned by Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., according to people familiar with the deal.

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In recent weeks, according to the people familiar, Haveli struck a deal with the ex-Annapurna staffers to fund the new company and place them in charge of distributing the former Private Division titles, including Tales of the Shire, out March 25, a farming game based on The Lord of the Rings. They will also take over the popular Kerbal Space Program series as well as an unannounced title from Game Freak, the developer and co-owner of the Pokémon franchise.

When Haveli purchased Private Division from Take-Two, it inherited around 20 employees, some of whom will be laid off as part of the new arrangement, said the people familiar, although the specifics have not yet been finalized. The current leadership of Private Division has told employees to explore their options due to the uncertainty surrounding their jobs.

Just to cool heads, there's no mention about going forward with the development of KSP2, but they're the new owners.

Edited 22 hours ago by PDCWolf

[Hydrotass]

I'm excited to see where this goes, if they decide to keep developing KSP2 or decide to sell the IP to another Game Company who wants to continue work on KSP2, anyways we've only got pure speculation right now we just got to see where they take it

[Mr. Kerbin]

Okay… and they don’t have a name? (As a group) Just “Ex-Annapurna Video Game Staff?” Maybe we should just call them the E-AVGS.

Jeez, TT was desperate to get PD off their backs.

And before this turns into a multi-page long rant….

first.

[PDCWolf]

45 minutes ago, Mr. Kerbin said:

Okay… and they don’t have a name? (As a group) Just “Ex-Annapurna Video Game Staff?” Maybe we should just call them the E-AVGS.

Jeez, TT was desperate to get PD off their backs.

And before this turns into a multi-page long rant….

first.

Well, at some point our new "Private Division" was "Haveli Investments", as many around here correctly guessed (not the name, just the fact it was no one related to games). Considering it's Haveli striking a deal with these Ex-Annapurnas... Haveli Games?

 

[NexusHelium]

Man there were only 20 people left at PD they really gutted that company, huh.

[Lisias]

At least some good news. These guys did some really impressive work in the past, I still play Journey every Xmas.

[JOHNMKNIGHT]

I wish the new owners of the IP, the very best. I hope they either become or pass the baton to the best custodians for our little green friends. 

Ad Astra! 

[chefsbrian]

49 minutes ago, Lisias said:

At least some good news. These guys did some really impressive work in the past, I still play Journey every Xmas.

Annapurna was only the publisher there, as they were only the publisher on all the titles associated to them. Their only in-house developed game isn't out yet, so we have no idea how their game development talent plays out.

That's not to doom and gloom it, unproven hands are just as likely to be good as bad, only that saying that this new group are the developers that made Journey or Stray is like saying that KSP2 was developed by the same guys who made Red Dead Redemption 2. The best plausible news out of this is that there is now someone in place who can discuss bringing in a new studio to try and finish KSP2, or move onto a new KSP game - I consider both exceedingly unlikely in the immediate future, but its now gone from "Pipe dream" to "questionable but possible decision"

[AlphaMensae]

1 hour ago, PDCWolf said:

Well, at some point our new "Private Division" was "Haveli Investments", as many around here correctly guessed (not the name, just the fact it was no one related to games). Considering it's Haveli striking a deal with these Ex-Annapurnas... Haveli Games?

 

Yep, the prime speculation was that a private equity firm and not a game publisher had bought the PD properties.  Turned out to be correct, and now we have a name.

Don't get too excited, all this team-up of Haveli and the ex-Annapurna staff may do is just distribute the former PD games, but if that keeps KSP alive then that's a plus at least.

[PDCWolf]

27 minutes ago, AlphaMensae said:

but if that keeps KSP alive then that's a plus at least.

This source didn't say anything about further development and... Annapurna has published some great games, and is already making one, and none of those are anywhere near KSP2s budget from what I've seen.

[AlphaMensae]

19 minutes ago, PDCWolf said:

This source didn't say anything about further development and... Annapurna has published some great games, and is already making one, and none of those are anywhere near KSP2s budget from what I've seen.

"Alive" as in continuing to exist and be available  

[Lisias]

1 hour ago, chefsbrian said:

Annapurna was only the publisher there, as they were only the publisher on all the titles associated to them. Their only in-house developed game isn't out yet, so we have no idea how their game development talent plays out.

I stand corrected, just checked : the guys that made the game were the thatgamecompany, and they are currently working on Sky Children of the Light. Oh well, at least I found their new game and I'm installing the EA to see what I get.

[Lisias]

20 hours ago, PDCWolf said:

Well, at some point our new "Private Division" was "Haveli Investments", as many around here correctly guessed (not the name, just the fact it was no one related to games). Considering it's Haveli striking a deal with these Ex-Annapurnas... Haveli Games?

AFAIK, the company name is Whanau Interests LLC, being also known as Haveli Investments, LP.

LP means Limited Partnership, while LLC means Limited Liability Company. These are two conflicting business structures, so it's time to someone wiser step up and explain the mess. At least on my country, you can't be a LTDA and also a S.A. (the more or less equivants to LP and LLC respectively).

In a way or another, Haveli also bought a Mobile Game Studio called Candivore (from Israel, apparently) last year, and in the previous year, bought a fraction from a Canadian Game Studio called Behaviour Interactive (between many games, Dante's Inferno for PSP - I played this one).

—— Hack, Hack, Slice and Hack again — — 

Humm… I think I found the answer.

In 2022, Whanau received a 500M USD funding from Apollo Global Management Inc, while Haveli Investments LP was funded on 2022. So they probably took the funds to delist Whanau from Stock Exchange after buying all the stock.

Apollo Global Management Inc are headquartered in New York and they are the current owner of Yahoo (I will decline to further comment). These guys are monstrously huge, controlling about 600B USD. They make Tencent look as a tinny little kitten.

Money will not be a problem for these guys (ex-Annapurna devs), but it will not come easily neither. No one keep control of 600B USD in assets by being nice.

Edited 34 minutes ago by Lisias
Tyop! Surprised?

[PDCWolf]

2 hours ago, Lisias said:

Money will not be a problem for these guys (ex-Annapurna devs), but it will not come easily neither. No one keep control of 600B USD in assets by being nice.

It will: They have zero experience with projects at the budget-scale KSP2 was placed at. It'd be their most risky play if they even dare ask for money to assemble a team to continue development. And even then, the current state of the game's market is what it is.

They might try other things with the IP... or maybe they just were interested in the GameFreak project. Sadly, until they decide to speak, we're still more or less where we were, we just know some decent people are involved... as part of a not so decent business structure.

[Lisias]

5 hours ago, PDCWolf said:

They might try other things with the IP... or maybe they just were interested in the GameFreak project.

On the bright side, no Pachinkos. But on the other hand, Apollo Global owns some investments in Las Vegas...