Ludia plots M&A and hiring spree after Jam City exit

Montreal-based developer Ludia is eyeing up acquisitions and a hiring spree after breaking away from owner Jam City.

The studio behind titles such as Jurassic World: The Game and Jurassic World Alive was acquired three and a half years ago in a $165 million deal. The deal had initially been intended to help Jam City achieve its long-held ambition to go public. While that didn’t come to fruition, it went ahead with the purchase.

At the time, Ludia employed almost 400 staff. After job cuts in recent years, the developer is now breaking away with 130 employees – with a few staff that worked on Jam City titles staying behind. Meanwhile, it claims its portfolio reaches 3.5m players each month.

The split came after members of the senior management team and a consortium of Canadian investors acquired the company for an undisclosed fee. Backers include Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Investissement Québec, BDC Capital Growth Equity Partners, Export Development Canada (EDC), and Groupe W, with additional support from National Bank.

While the full amount has not been revealed, Investissement Québec said it had put $18m into funding the deal.

Ludia is headed up by Jimmy Gendron as CEO, who has served as the studio’s GM since 2022. Meanwhile, company founder and former CEO Alexandre Thabet is rejoining as a shareholder and chairman of the board.

Deal makers

Speaking to PocketGamer.biz, Gendron says while Jam City was not actively looking for a sale – a claim the publisher has also made – he saw an opportunity to speak with investors about a potential deal. The two companies then “mutually agreed” to pursue an acquisition.

“Really it was a growth-driven decision where with that transaction we can go back and start to build new games,” he explains, later elaborating that this could come in the form of both licensed and original IP.

He adds: “Collectively [our investors] manage tens of billions of dollars of private equity capital. We are super aligned with them around not only investing in new games and media, but also look at growth via acquisitions as well with their support.”

Gendron says no staff have been laid off as part of the sale. In fact, Ludia aims to create 50 new jobs over the next year, which includes building out its corporate functions that were reduced while being part of a bigger company like Jam City. It also intends to develop new games and continue running titles in its existing portfolio.

Though Gendron wouldn’t reveal specific details on its plans for M&A, he says it will be eyeing up studios and games that are stable and profitable in the mobile space.

“We’re not going to be looking into other platforms, at least in the short-to-mid-term,” he states.

Market innovation

On launching new games, Gendron admits it’s been a challenging market, particularly with issues around user acquisition and a post-Covid comedown. But he believes there hasn’t been much innovation in the space in recent years, which could create new opportunities.

He says there has been innovation in UA, as seen with titles like Whiteout Survival and the emergence of the hybridcasual genre, there has been little elsewhere.

“We haven’t seen that much innovation, that much energy like the 2015, 2016 and 2017 era of innovation,” he states, adding he believes there’s an opportunity for new games to crack the top grossing charts. Gendron also says UA, while still very competitive, has slowly become better.

Asked if there’s any pressure by being acquired by a consortium of investors, Gendron says the aim isn’t to see the studio sold again in two years, but to “build the next leading independent publisher in Canada”.

“That is a multi-year vision and they are behind us to do that in the long-term.”