US Federal Trade Commission filings reveal that Xbox purchased Hellblade and DmC: Devil May Cry studio Ninja Theory for $117 million. Microsoft announced a few years ago that it had acquired Ninja Theory to the surprise of many fans, though it was unclear at the time exactly how much Xbox paid for the developer. We now have confirmation of that exact figure.
The $117 million figure for Xbox’s buyout of Ninja Theory was revealed during the ongoing court case with the FTC regarding Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. The information comes from an internal email detailing the pitch to acquire Sega. On page 10, a list of “precedent transactions” notes that Xbox paid $117 million to acquire Ninja Theory.
READ MORE – Bethesda Boss is Unhappy About Xbox Exclusivity, Emails Reveal
Xbox officially made the acquisition announcement during its E3 2018 presentation where it also revealed that it had acquired Forza developers Turn10 and Playground Games, We Happy Few studio Compulsion Games and State of Decay developer Undead Labs. In the years to follow, Microsoft would also acquire Bethesda and its parent company, ZeniMax, in a $7.5 billion buyout.
Ninja Theory is currently working on Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, the anticipated sequel to 2017’s critically acclaimed action game, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. While the original game initially launched on PS4 before finding its way to other platforms after some time, the sequel has been confirmed to be an Xbox Series X/S console exclusive (it will also release on PC).
In related news, new emails reveal that Bethesda’s head of publishing Pete Hines is unhappy about the company’s games becoming Xbox exclusives, questioning why Microsoft proposed to give Activision Blizzard special treatment and keep some of the publisher’s IPs multi-platform while Bethesda didn’t get an option. Microsoft previously suggested that it would keep some of Activision Blizzard’s most popular titles, including Call of Duty, multi-platform after the acquisition.
Source: IGN
