Irish video-gaming studio closes its latest acquisition in North America

Graphics created by Irish video-gaming company Keyword Studios

Ellie Donnelly

Irish video-gaming company Keywords Studios has acquired Canaday's Snowed In Studios for CAD$4m (€2.6m).

The acquisition enhances Keywords Engineering service line and expands it into Canada, Keywords said in a statement.

Founded in 2010, Snowed In provides engineering and co-development services to the video-games industry, and has well-established relationships with clients such as Ubisoft and Bethesda. It recorded earnings of CAD$0.8m in its latest financial year ending January 31, 2018, from revenue of CAD$2.4m. The firm has 29 employees at its Ottawa office, led by the current owners who will remain with the business.

"The addition of Snowed In to the group will add strength and scale to our recently established engineering service line and enable Snowed In to take advantage of the group's very strong presence in the region to support its growth," Andrew Day, CEO of Keywords, said.

Last month Keywords announced the acquisition of Hollywood-based Blindlight for a total consideration of $10m (€8.5m).