Leyou, a Chinese Chicken meat company, has been slowly buying out game developers. In 2014, Leyou purchased the developer behind Warframe, Digital Extremes, and now they have bought out Splash Damage, the developers behind Brink and the Gears of War 4's multiplayer.
How much Leyou paid Paul Wedgwood, the original owner of Splash Damage, hase not been made public, but, the acquisition document hints that it wasn't more than $150 million. Luckily, whatever the studio sold at covers the deferred payments of the business, earn-out protections, and more, so it should be a relatively smooth transition for Splash Damage.
The real question is why is a chicken meat company buying game studios?
Apparently, Leyou sees it as a way to protect themselves from the hardships that chickens and their meat bring. According to the press release, Leyou bought Splash Damage (and Digital Extremes) to escape the “the volatile and cyclical nature of the Poultry Business.” They just wanted some stable waters instead of tumultuous chickens.
Hopefully Leyou doesn't affect the development company in any negative way.
