Runcorn games industry business d3t acquired in multi-million pound deal

North West software and technology company d3t ltd has been snapped up by London’s Keywords Studios.

Keywords, a technical services provider to the global video games industry, acquired the Runcorn-based company for £3m.

d3t was founded in 2011 and employs a team of 44 at its Daresbury Court base. Today, the £2.8m-turnover firm provides outsourced software development services for game developers and publishers all over the world.

The company’s offering includes HD re-mastering, porting, optimisation, rendering and game systems development, delivered over the last six years for clients such as Codemasters, SEGA, Sony XDev and the BBC.

In the year to July 31 2017, d3t pulled in a pre-tax profit of £400k.

Founders Jamie Campbell and Stephen Powell, along with the rest of their team, will remain with the business following the deal.

To fund the transaction, Keywords will pay a consideration comprising £2.4m in cash and the issue of 42,368 new ordinary shares, subject to a two-year lock-in period.

Jamie Campbell said: “We are delighted to be joining the Keywords Group. d3t was founded with the sole aim of being an invaluable external development partner to the games industry and other interactive sectors.

“Over the course of six years we have become leaders in the field of high-value engineering offering a professional, wide ranging service.”

He continued: “We feel there is a great deal of synergy with Keywords’ strategy to be the very best technical service provider to the video games industry, and we look forward to our continued expansion as part of the group.”

Giacomo Duranti, chief operating officer at Keywords, commented: “The acquisition of d3t complements our recent acquisition GameSim’s capabilities to extend the services, scale and geographical presence of our Engineering offering.

“With increasing demand in the video games industry for reliable, high-quality outsourced software engineering services, we are building a strong offering to support our clients globally.”

He added: “We are delighted to welcome the highly talented and experienced team at d3t to the Keywords family and we look forward to working closely together to build upon the company’s excellent reputation, track record and client relationships.”

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