Fusion Corporate Partners

Keywords Studios, the technical services provider to the video games industry, has acquired Fire Without Smoke Ltd for up to £5.2m. 

Headquartered in London and with a studio in Montreal, Fire Without Smoke provides a suite of creative and marketing services to game publishers and developers, creating assets such as game trailers, marketing art and materials for esports events, and providing marketing consultancy and general design services to the video game industry. 

Founded in 2013, Fire Without Smoke works with major game publishers such as Sony, Square Enix, Riot Games, Deep Silver, Sega, Capcom and Ubisoft. The company has around 40 staff  working in London and Montréal

Keywords Studios is acquiring the business from the founders Will O’Connor, Michael David Thomson plus other shareholders. Will O’Connor will continue as Managing Director. David Thomson and the the rest of the team, will also remain with the business. 

For the year ending 31 May 2018, Fire Without Smoke is expected to have revenues of £2.8 million and adjusted profits before tax of £0.7 million.  Keywords Studios is paying £3.85 million in cash, £0.5m of which is deferred until the first anniversary of the acquisition and subject to performance targets, and the issue of 77,006 new ordinary shares in Keywords Studios, which will be issued to the Sellers on the first anniversary of the acquisition and will then be subject to orderly market provisions for a further 12 months.

Andrew Day, CEO of Keywords Studios commented: “Fire Without Smoke’s specialised offering represents an excellent addition to the Group’s existing capabilities and adds some exciting new services to our global service platform. Their high end video game trailers expertise will be of great interest to Keywords’ large client base, as will their broad suite of creative services, which range from marketing strategy to providing marketing content for events including esports tournaments, which can play a significant role in influencing the success of event and game launches.

Ireland, Dublin & UK, London & Canada, Montréal

Related articles:

• Keywords Studios acquires games developer Sperasoft Posted on December 13, 2017
• Keywords acquires La Marque Rose, Asrec, Dune Sound and Around the Word – all in Paris Posted on August 4, 2017
• Keywords Studios acquires Spov Posted on February 20, 2017
• Keywords Studios acquires Enzyme Testing Labs Posted on November 17, 2016
• Keywords Studios acquires Player Research Ltd Posted on October 26, 2016
• Keywords Studios acquires Synthesis for up to €18m Posted on April 13, 2016
• Keywords Studios – early completion of Binari Sonori earn out Posted on January 20, 2015
• Keywords Studios acquires Lakshya Digital in India Posted on October 10, 2014
• Keywords acquires Binari Sonori in Italy Posted on May 9, 2014
• Keywords Studios acquires Babel Media Posted on February 18, 2014
• Keywords Studios acquires Liquid Violet Posted on January 19, 2014