Vivendi nets Swordfish News

Vivendi-Universal Games has added British studio Swordfish Studios to its roster of internal developers, with the Cold Winter developer becoming the company's third acquisition so far this year.

The Birmingham-based studio - currently comprised of 45 staff - will now become a wholly owned subsidiary of VU Games, with Swordfish managing director Trevor Williams remaining as head of the studio.

Swordfish, which was formed by ex-employees of the Birmingham studio of ill-fated British publisher Rage, recently finished work on PS2 action title Cold Winter for Vivendi, which this week entered the top ten in the UK charts.

The studio is also working on the next iteration of the Brian Lara Cricket franchise for Codemasters along with two other projects which haven't been revealed yet.

The acquisition of Swordfish is Vivendi's third major development purchase so far this year, following on the heels of the buyout of Canadian studio Radical Entertainment (Simpsons Hit and Run, The Hulk, Scarface) in March, and VU Games subsidiary Blizzard's purchase of Swingin' Ape Studios (Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, Starcraft Ghost) last month.