Buena Vista Games, Inc. (BVG), the interactive entertainment
affiliate of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), today announced the
acquisition of the award-winning Climax Racing from Climax Group Ltd.
The studio is of both strategic and geographic importance to BVG as it
becomes the third internal studio, and the first in Europe, that BVG
has added to its development capacity. BVG currently operates
development studios in Vancouver, British Columbia (Propaganda Games),
and Salt Lake City, Utah (Avalanche Software). The addition of Climax
Racing allows BVG to create triple-A racing titles that meet the
highest standards for creativity and quality. Terms of the deal are
not being disclosed. The deal is expected to close in early October.
"The acquisition of Climax Racing aligns perfectly with our
strategic and geographic goals by allowing us to both reach into new
genres and new markets for creative talent," said Graham Hopper,
senior vice president and general manager, Buena Vista Games. "Adding
Climax Racing to our creative family will provide an additional
catalyst for our continued growth in the video games market."
"As a premier, award-winning studio that has created some of the
best racing titles of all time, Climax Racing is an ideal component of
BVG's expanding portfolio of development talent," said Karl Jeffery,
founder and chief executive officer of Climax Group Ltd.
Climax Racing is known as a leading developer of racing games,
including its critically-acclaimed work on the best-selling franchises
Moto GP and ATV Offroad(R) Fury. The studio and its products have won
or been nominated for dozens of awards, including winning four IGN
"Best of Show" awards at E3 2006.
Tony Beckwith, co-founder of the studio, has been named vice
president and general manager of Climax Racing as it continues its
creative direction under BVG. Climax Racing is based in Brighton,
England, and employs more than 100 talented video game artists,
programmers and designers.
"The Walt Disney Company holds one of the largest and most
exciting portfolio of intellectual property in the world, and through
BVG, we look forward to having access to the company's deep resources
in the video games space to continue creating remarkable interactive
entertainment," said Beckwith. "This promises to be a mutually
beneficial relationship and we believe that together we will make
outstanding games for the next generation and beyond."
About Buena Vista Games
Buena Vista Games, Inc. (BVG) is the interactive entertainment
affiliate of The Walt Disney Company. BVG develops, publishes, markets
and distributes a broad portfolio of multi-platform video games and
interactive entertainment worldwide. The company also licenses
properties and works directly with third-party interactive game
publishers to bring products for all ages to market. For more
information, please log on to www.bvg.com.
About Climax Group Inc.
Founded in 1988 by Karl Jeffery, Climax Group Ltd. has grown to
become the world's leading independent video game developer. At the
cutting edge of the games industry, Climax develops technologically
advanced and critically acclaimed interactive games software for all
major console platforms. The company works with major worldwide
publishers such as Microsoft, SCEA, Buena Vista Games and THQ to
create such hit titles as ATV Offroad Fury 3, Sudeki and the Moto GP
series on Xbox, Xbox 360 and PC.
Climax Group is headquartered in Portsmouth, England. Additional
information on Climax is available at www.climaxgroup.com.
