Little Nightmares studio acquired by THQ Nordic’s parent company

Embracer Group has acquired Tarsier Studios, the Malmo, Sweden-based developer best known for the Little Nightmares games.

Formerly known as THQ Nordic AB, Embracer Group changed its name in September 2019 “to avoid confusion and to clarify group structure” – it’s the parent company of games developers and publishers including THQ Nordic, Koch Media and Coffee Stain.

Embracer acquired Tarsier for SEK 88 million in cash ($9.4m) and SEK 11 million ($1.2m) in newly issued B-shares, plus a conditional earn-out payable over 10 years.

The acquisition includes the development studio, 65 employees and IP rights to Statik, on which a 2017 PlayStation VR game was based.

Tarsier is currently developing a sequel to the million-selling Little Nightmares, an IP owned by Bandai Namco, and recently made The Stretchers, an IP owned by Nintendo.

Founded in 2004, Tarsier has largely operated as a work-for-hire studio, contributing to multiple LittleBigPlanet titles and Tearaway Unfolded, among other projects.

“Together with Tarsier, we want to invest in developing new projects, in the same manner they have done successfully in the past… and take the studio to the next level,” said Embracer co-founder and CEO Lars Wingefors.