Activision buys Treyarch
Publisher pays $20m to bring Tony Hawk Dreamcast developers in-house
Activision have bought Treyarch, the developers behind the Dreamcast versions of recent hits such as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and Spider-Man, in exchange for up to 770,000 Activision shares. When stock markets opened this morning that valued the deal at around $20m, but Activision's shares have risen sharply since the agreement was announced, increasing that figure to over $23m. Both companies are based in Santa Monica, California, and Treyarch's 140 staff will now become part of Activision's in-house development group. "Treyarch is an outstanding developer with an experienced management team and a very talented group of programmers, designers and artists", Activision President Ron Doornink gleamed, adding that "the company's multi-platform development capabilities and proprietary cross-platform technologies complement Activision's rich brands - making them a natural fit". For their part, Treyarch are said to be "tremendously pleased to be a part of Activision". The company is currently working on an Xbox version of Tony Hawk's 2 for Activision, as well as Spider-Man : The Movie for PlayStation 2 and a game based on the forthcoming Tom Cruise film Minority Report. Related Feature - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 review (Dreamcast)
