Sony is ‘considering bidding’ for the parent of Warframe and Gears Tactics studios

Sony is reportedly considering bidding for Leyou Technologies Holdings.

The Hong Kong-listed gaming firm is the owner of Warframe studio Digital Extremes and Dirty Bomb developer Splash Damage, which more recently worked on Xbox‘s Gears Tactics.

According to Bloomberg, PlayStation parent Sony is working with a financial advisor on a potential bid for Leyou, which has a market value of $1.1 billion and received a non-binding takeover offer from Chinese rival Zhejiang Century Huatong Group in May.

Other parties are also said to hold an interest in acquiring Leyou, whose controlling shareholder is reportedly keen to select a buyer and sign an agreement as early as this month.

Athlon Games, a US subsidiary of Leyou, is co-developing a free-to-play Lord of the Rings MMO for PC and consoles with Amazon.

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Leyou also holds a 20% ownership stake in Texas-based developer Certain Affinity, which has contributed to multiple games in the Call of Duty and Halo franchises.

During an earnings call last October, Sony’s chief financial officer said the company was open to game studio acquisitions as it looks to grow its first-party content ahead of the launch of PlayStation 5 during the 2020 holiday season.

Following the acquisition of Spider-Man studio Insomniac Games in August 2019, PlayStation Worldwide Studios consists of 14 development houses across the US, Europe and Japan.