Bigben has acquired entirely in cash on October 2, 2018 the remaining 55% held by its founder Mr. Roman Vincent. Mr Vincent will continue to manage Kylotonn enjoying a large autonomy so that he can concentrate on technological innovations and the on-going improvement of the recognized quality of its productions.
Created in 2002 in Paris, the Kylotonn studio has developed more than 25 games, specializing over recent years in racing games including the iconic WRC, TT Isle of Man and V-Rally 4 titles published by Bigben. The studio, which now has 80 developers in Paris and 20 in Lyon on its payroll, uses the KT engine multi-platform proprietary game engine for the development of its creations in the PS4, Xbox One, PC and Switch formats.
The Group’s three recent acquisitions of development studios (Cyanide, Eko and Kylotonn) meet the strategic target of strengthening its relations with experienced partners which have the capability to regularly supply quality games for the portfolio of titles published by Bigben. Furthermore the integration of such recognized game developing know-how enables the Group to optimize the position of its Publishing unit upstream in the video game industry segment and to maximize the value creation for this business. The studios should benefit from these transactions which guarantee them more means for raising the quality of productions while generating industrial synergies for a better cost efficiency.
Bigben's “Publishing” unit has now reached critical mass with 6 Development teams (5 in France and 1 in Canada) totaling 250 developers supported by a Publishing team of 35 people with a vocation to grow.
“By increasing our shareholding in Kylotonn (KT Racing), we validate the merits of this strategic acquisition initiated in 2017 and warmly welcome the talents of experienced developers which we have already fully appreciated over many past projects. The rise of Bigben in the segment of racing games remains a major strategic axis for our future growth” says Alain Falc, President and CEO of Bigben.
“We are proud to become fully part of the Bigben group for which we have developed games for more than 10 years. The longstanding cooperation with Bigben, a token for stable and smooth relations between the teams, our specialization on 2 wheel and 4 wheel off-road racing games as well as the use of prestigious brands (WRC, Isle of Man TT, V-Rally, Test Drive Unlimited) represent competitive advantages for the Group that our integration will strengthen” says Roman Vincent, founding President of Kylotonn.