I’ve a soft spot for Streum On. They started as a Half-Life mod team (making Syndicate Black Ops) and it showed. E.Y.E. was such a bold debut, a sprawling dystopian FPS-RPG with a great many moving parts. It’s janky, no doubt, but it fizzes with ideas enough that I still smile remembering it. That’s a Eurojank energy I want in video games. And, well, Focus Home are no strangers to over-ambitious games. Focus Home say in the announcement that they’re paying in cash and company shares, though don’t name the price. Focus president Christophe Nobileau said that they wish to support Streum On “to develop production capacities in terms of quality and quantity”. Streum On president Pierrick Le Nestour added, “Our ambition is to offer players ever more ambitious and spectacular titles, and we know that Focus is the ideal partner to achieve our ambitions and for our games to be commercially successful.” Necromunda: Hired Gun launches June 1st. Here’s the new trailer, showing more of the sights and folks in the underbelly of a hive city: Two years ago, our Graham wrote “stop worrying about timed exclusives and worry more about games industry consolidation”. Since then, it’s only accelerated, from smaller acquisitions like this to Microsoft buying ZeniMax and Embracer Group buying Coffee Stain and Flying Wild Hog and 4A Games and Gearbox and every other studio they happen to see. It’s all fun and games when the sun is shining but could leave studios at the mercy of a larger company’s whims and needs. It’s hard not to remember all the studios Microsoft bought then closed before this latest spending spree.
