Games firm in €1.2m expansion in Canada and Brazil

Keywords Studios— the Dublin-based computer games services firm which ranked as the largest technology flotation in London two years ago — has expanded further, via the acquisition of two firms for a combined €1.2m.

The company — which ‘localises’, or translates language and cultural references in computer games for some of the industry’s biggest players in different international markets — yesterday announced the Can$1.25m (€894,000) takeover of Montreal-based company Alchemic Dream. It also said it had concluded the purchase of Brazilian game localisation business, Reverb, for €300,000.

The latter introduces Keywords to one of the fastest growing gaming markets in the world, with Brazilian-Portuguese now ranking alongside French, German, Spanish, and Italian in terms of popular languages in the marekt. The Canadian deal sees Keywords enter the live operations support market, as Alchemic Dream specialises in managing online/mobile gaming communities.

“The acquisition...provides us with an important point of entry into the increasingly important marekt of customer care services for the video games industry,” commented Keywords’ chief executive Andrew Day.

“Adding customer care and community management to our offering allows us to provide services to our clients through all stages of the video game life-cycle, from conception through to live operations,” he added.

Alchemic had revenues of Can$4.33m last year and Keywords is buying it for cash.