Inflexion Games, the UK-based studio currently working on the Victorian-styled, survival crafting game Nightingale has now been acquired by Chinese conglomerate Tencent.
Inflexion Games’ former parent company Improbable said they decided to sell the developer as part of their efforts to change the company focus to “metaverse activities”.
The head of the company, former Bioware general manager Aaryn Flynn told Gameindustry that since the developer no longer has to use Improbable’s cloud computing technology ‘SpatialOS’, they wish to make Nightgale into “a more intimate, single-player or small group player experience”.
It’s official! @InflexionGames is now part of the Tencent community of studios and developers. I am so excited to keep working on @PlayNightingale to make it the best game it can be. https://t.co/E6xQlXsfBQ
— Aaryn Flynn (@AarynFlynn) February 22, 2022
Flynn says that the deal for the acquisition had been discussed since the summer of 2021 and that Tencent has been “very respectful” of the direction that the studio wishes to develop Nightingale.
“We recognized in them not just the biggest game development company in the world, but a company that had vast experience in creating compelling live services and engaging player communities, and understanding exactly the culture that’s necessary to go and build that,” he said. “And since that was a big part of our business plan with Nightingale, we got excited by that complementary expertise.”
It also appears that the acquisition has not caused any delays in Nightingale either as Inflexion Games has been working with Tencent to release Nightingale in early access later this year.
Nightingale is an upcoming survival game that will be available for PC. The game is set in an alternative 19th century Britain where magic has existed for centuries and has been used to build portals to other dimensions.
The team is aiming to release it sometime in 2022. If you’d like to be notified of the game’s early access, you can sign up for playtests on the Nightingale official website.