Devolver Digital acquires Croteam, the developers of the Serious Sam franchise

Serious Sam 4 Image
Serious Sam 4 Image (Image credit: Devolver Digital)

What you need to know

  • Devolver Digital is a game publishing company that has published a ton of incredible games over the years.
  • They've worked with game studio Croteam a lot in the past, and now Devolver Digital is acquiring the studio.
  • Croteam is the studio behind the Serious Sam franchise, as well as the Talos Principle, and is a smaller studio.
  • With Serious Sam 4 garnering a lacklustre response, hopefully this means Croteam can grow and prosper under Devolver Digital.

If you're not immediately familiar with who Croteam is, you could be forgiven. They're a smaller studio founded by friends that's been around for a very long time, and they have a storied history with the creation and continuation of the intense Serious Sam franchise. Devolver Digital, on the other hand, is a publishing firm that has helped push out a huge variety of games, many of which are incredible and gather tons of fans. A recent hit published with Devolver Digital? Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, which you may have heard of, and saw amazing success at launch.

Devolver Digital has also worked with Croteam on many things in the past, including the Serious Sam franchise and unique puzzler the Talos Principle. Today, Devolver Digital announced that their longstanding partnership with Croteam was evolving into something more, with the publishing firm officially acquiring Croteam, giving Croteam a new permanent home under the publisher's much larger roof. This could be a fantastic move for Croteam, especially after Serious Sam 4 launched in a rather sorry state, to the detriment of early reviews.

Devolver Digital teased "new projects like The Talos Principle 2, more Serious Sam games, and original IP from Croteam and the Croteam Incubator studios," and that Croteam would maintain creative freedom, but presumedly with the increased financial buffer of Devolver Digital backing them up. Hopefully we see some more awesome things come out of Croteam in the future due to this newfound acquisition.

Zachary Boddy
Staff Writer

Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.