Disney acquires El Shaddai, Quarrel publisher

By Fred Dutton Published 1 February, 2012

UTV Ignition now owned by House of Mouse.

Disney has bought a controlling stake in UTV, the Indian media conglomerate that owns UK games publisher UTV Ignition.

As reported by the BBC, the news comes a month after India's cabinet approved a proposal by Disney to pick up shares in UTV that it didn't already own.

It appears to be a move on Disney's part to increase its media presence in India, though the buy-out does mean it now also owns Ignition, whose recent releases include hit word game Quarrel, oddball survival horror Deadly Premonition and acclaimed Japanese action title El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron.

There's no word yet on how the change in ownership will impact the publisher.

Times have recently been tough at Ignition. Last June it cancelled long-in-development action title WarDevil and made a number of staff redundant.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (10) Latest comment 3 weeks ago

  • kinky_mong #1 3 weeks ago

    Ignition, whose recent releases include hit word game Quarrel, oddball survival horror Deadly Premonition and acclaimed Japanese action title El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron.

    So they previously were responsible for getting some unusual games released in a sea of same-old-shit. Can't see that continuing with Disney in charge.

  • Triggerhappytel #2 3 weeks ago

    I expect Disney will pick the worthwhile IPs from their carcass and then close the company down within 18 months.

  • Acquiescence #3 3 weeks ago

    El Shaddai was one of the most refreshing games I've played. I'm not surprised it flopped like it did, but I am saddened that we won't see more of its ilk from Ignition again.

  • super_monty #4 3 weeks ago

    @Acquiescence
    I wonder if it made any money at all I hope it did.

  • SavageEvil #5 3 weeks ago

    R.I.P Ignition, and the killing spree continues.

  • Kaminari #6 3 weeks ago

    Blackrock Studio says hi.

  • Laraman #7 3 weeks ago

    I don't know how I managed to misread the headline as "Disney buys Al Qaeda, Quarrel publisher" but I did :/.

  • TrevHead #8 3 weeks ago

    Damn shame, but atleast its better than the publisher shutting its doors. Hopefully we will still see the odd niche hit from them.

    With between the low price cap on xbla and the failure off niche retail games, it seems that these really are the end of times for unique but slightly flawed B game

    If only these devs would put there games on the PC which is a great place to be for the B game.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #9 3 weeks ago

    Oh dear, now I fear Shaun (former 1up man) Bettenhausen will be out of a job soon. I hope it goes well cause he's a cool guy.

    Disney clearly want some of the games industry, but seem reuctant to build they own studio from scratch. I was worried when they purchased Black Rock, knowing that no good would come of it, and look what happened.

    Overall, Disney do not understand games and what really makes them tick, because any Disney brand games have usually been farmed out to 3rd parties to make.

  • djblewis #10 3 weeks ago

    @SpaceMonkey77 No worries, Shane (not Shaun) has been working at Sony for a few months now.