PRESS RELEASE: NACON COMPLETES ITS VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT UNIT: ACQUISITION OF NEOPICA

Press release

 Lesquin, 19 October 2020 18:00hrs

ACQUISITION OF NEOPICA

NACON COMPLETES ITS VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT UNIT

Nacon announces the signing of an agreement to acquire Neopica, a Belgian video game development studio specialising in sports and life simulation games.

Following the acquisition of 5 studios over the last 2 years, this new operation enables Nacon to consolidate its position as a developer-publisher by strengthening its expertise in the production of games in promising genres.

Created in 2007 by Peter Vermeulen and Filip Hautekeete, among others, Neopica is a renowned Belgian studio that has developed around sixty games, including a number of casual games designed to appeal to the widest possible audience, particularly children, before moving on to more complex simulation games.

Neopica and Nacon have enjoyed a fruitful collaboration for several years. In this respect, Neopica produced the Hunting Simulator 1 & 2 hunting games and the FIA Euro Truck Racing Championship  game. For the latter game, Neopica used the KT Engine, developed by Kylotonn Racing.

Based in Ghent, Belgium, the studio employs around 30 developers and is now developing its expertise on NextGen consoles (PlayStation^®5 and Xbox Series X ^TM).

In addition to the acquisition of know-how accumulated over the course of numerous productions by experienced developers, Nacon is thus consolidating its editorial positioning with the integration of simulation and racing games, a strategic expertise for the construction of its portfolio.

A new acquisition in line with the NACON 2023 plan

This new external growth is perfectly in line with the NACON 2023 plan, which aims to make Nacon one of the reference leaders in 'AA' video games.

Nacon's "Games" unit will thus have 9 development sites (6 in France, 1 in Belgium, 1 in Italy and 1 in Canada) totalling nearly 400 developers and supported by a publishing team of more than 50 people.

By joining the Nacon Group, the Neopica studio will benefit from first-rate synergies, notably the commercial, editorial and marketing contributions of the Nacon teams. Mr Peter Vermeulen and Mr Filip Hautekeete, the studio's current directors and co-founders, will continue to run Neopica with a high degree of autonomy so that they can concentrate on the creative side of its productions.

Terms of the transaction

The acquisition of 100% of Neopica's share capital, paid in full in cash, was completed today after Nacon's Board of Directors had previously approved the completion of the transaction.

Additional consideration (earn-outs) based on the quality and commercial potential of the next two game developments may be paid to the sellers within 12 months of the release of these games. 

 "We are delighted to welcome the talents of Neopica, which will strengthen our development division and participate in new, even more ambitious projects", said Alain Falc, Chairman and CEO of Nacon.

 "We are delighted to be joining the Nacon group, which will enable us to accelerate our development alongside other top-quality studios, by integrating an environment that is conducive to the creation of increasingly high-quality games," said Peter Vemeulen, CEO and co-founder of Neopica.

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Sales Q2  2020/21: 26 October 2020
Press release after close of the Paris stock exchange

ABOUT NACON

2019-20 ANNUAL SALES 129.4 M€ HEADCOUNT Overo 510 employees INTERNATIONAL 16 subsidiaries and a distribution network across 100 countries https://corporate.nacongaming.com/

NACON is a company of the BIGBEN Group founded in 2019 to optimize its know-how through strong synergies in the video game market. By bringing together its 9 development studios, the publishing of AA video games, the design and distribution of premium gaming devices, NACON focuses 20 years of expertise at the service of players. This new unified business unit strengthens NACON's position in the market, enables it to innovate by creating new unique competitive advantages. Company listed on Euronext Paris, compartment B ISIN : FR0013482791 ; Reuters : NACON.PA ; Bloomberg : NACON:FP PRESS CONTACT Cap Value – Gilles Broquelet gbroquelet@capvalue.fr - +33 1 80 81 50 01

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• CP-Acquisition de Neopica Diffusion GB