BattleTech and Shadowrun developer Harebrained Schemes has agreed to be acquired by Stockholm-based Paradox Interactive.
Developer and publisher Paradox Interactive is acquiring Harebrained Schemes, maker of the Shadowrun series and most recently of the BattleTech turn-based strategy game, the companies announced today.
Paradox is paying $7.5 million for Harebrained, plus a portion of Harebrained’s earnings over the next five years.
“Harebrained Schemes have proven themselves as a world-class studio with a very talented team within a genre where Paradox wants to be present,” said Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive, in a news release. “In addition, we really like the studio, the people who run it, and their games; these are all absolute hard criteria for us in any acquisition. Our recent successful launch of BattleTech, our first project together, has been a fantastic collaboration, but the possibilities of what we can do together in the long term now that we’ve joined forces — that’s what has us truly excited.”
Harebrained was co-founded by Jordan Weisman and Mitch Gitelman in 2011. Weisman is best known as the co-creator of the BattleTech and MechWarrior universe. He’s also helped bring to life the worlds of Shadowrun and Crimson Skies, and founded multiple entertainment companies including FASA Corp., FASA Interactive and Wizkids.
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“Mitch and I started Harebrained to create the kind of story-rich tactical games we loved and for the last seven years, our studio has been fueled by our team’s passion and by the generous support of our fans,” said Weisman, who will continue to serve as CEO of Harebrained Schemes. “As the scale of our games has grown and the marketplace has gotten extremely noisy we felt that HBS needed to team up with a company that could provide us the financial stability and marketing expertise that would allow us focus on what we love doing — making great games and stories.”
Harebrained was an early adopter of the crowdfunding model. In 2012, it raised more than $1.8 million on Kickstarter for Shadowrun Returns, a reboot of the classic computer role-playing franchise. Later, it would return to Kickstarter to secure funding for a tabletop game, Golem Arcana, as well as BattleTech, a turn-based tactical game that has since received critical praise — including here at Polygon.
In May, 2017, Harebrained signed on with Paradox to bring BattleTech to market. According to Gitelman, that partnership helped lead to the acquisition of the company.
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“Our experience working with Paradox on BattleTech was the best of our careers,” Gitelman said, “and proved to us that this was a company we would be proud to be a part of.” He added, “We share a deep respect for our audiences, for healthy and collaborative teams, and for the creative process itself — the fit just works.”
Paradox recently announced that it would expand its efforts into the tabletop market. The company’s first project is a Crusader Kings-themed board game. The Kickstarter campaign is already successful, having raised more than $345,000 on a $57,000 ask with 13 days left to go. Paradox tells Polygon that Harebrained has no plans to contribute to the publisher’s tabletop games at this time, and will instead stick to projects firmly in the digital realm.
Paradox said that Harebrained will “continue to operate with its own internal management and creative teams, designing and developing the games that have earned them their outstanding reputation.” Paradox, for its part, will assist with distribution, financial support and design expertise.
