Cold Iron Studios, the San Jose-based game development team founded in 2015 and purchased by FoxNext Games in early 2018, is about to change ownership again - and it won't be the last time.
Following earlier rumors that Disney CEO Bob Iger was looking to sell FoxNext Games to Scopely, the deal just got official.
Aaron Loeb, president of FoxNext Games (whose premiere game is Marvel Strike Force), said:
I’m extremely proud of what our talented team at FoxNext Games has built and accomplished in just a few years. And look forward to joining forces with the impressive team at Scopely, who have a well-deserved reputation as one of the preeminent companies in the free-to-play games arena.
The issue for Cold Iron Studios is that Scopely is, as hinted by Loeb, squarely focused on the mobile market. It is doing very well there, after all, with Sensor Tower reporting they have surpassed $1 billion in total revenue last Summer. They even raised a $200 million Round D of funding in October, with the company valued at $1.7 billion at the time. However, they seem to have no interest in the triple-A premium space and as a result, Scopely confirmed to GamesBeat that Cold Iron Studios will be put up for sale.
As you will probably recall, Cold Iron Studios has been working on an MMO shooter based on the Alien IP. Given that they'll be no longer a part of FoxNext, it is unclear what this means for the project; it may have to be retooled into an original IP using similar gameplay mechanics.
Only a few days ago, the official Cold Iron Studios Twitter confirmed the game is still happening. We'll try to inquire for more details and let you know if we hear more about it.
By the way, Scopely's acquisition of FoxNext Games does not include the portfolio of Fox IP licensed games, which remains with Disney.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
