Feature

Eidos swoops for morpheme

Eidos Interactive has bought the veteran UK games developer Morpheme for an undisclosed sum. The deal certainly make sense for the two parties. Eidos is ramping up its mobile activity and is on the acquisition trail, having bought another highly regarded British codeshop Rockpool Games earlier this year. Morpheme is a longstanding partner of Eidos. It developed the mobile version of Hitman amongst others.
For Morpheme, the deal brings stability and funds after a period in which it had to rely on its edgy wit to survive. The studio was previously owned by UK gaming giant Argonaut, but reverted to self-ownership after Argonaut imploded in 2004.

For the last two years, in the shadow of giants like EA, Gameloft and others, Morpheme has carved a niche with cheeky product like Everything Explodes, Go To Hell and Balloon Headed Boy.

Simon Protheroe, new media and IT director at Eidos, said:  “We’ve worked with Morpheme on a number of successful games already, so we know how well we work together. It’s great to have Matt and his team on board in a deal which fully complements our existing development resources.”