Gaming company Little Orbit specializes in licensing and capitalizing on established brands, and it is announcing an acquisition that will enable it to expand on its efforts.
Little Orbit is acquiring the studio Vicious Cycle Software, which is responsible for licensed games for the 3DS like Ben 10 Omniverse, Madagascar 3: The Video Game, and Flushed Away. The developer is also responsible for the console shooter Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon as well as the original action game Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard. Under Little Orbit, Vicious Cycle will continue working on licensed properties, and the studio will also lend its proprietary development tools to the rest of Little Orbit.
“When we heard that there was the possibility to bring the talented development team at Vicious Cycle to Little Orbit, we were excited since our development initiatives match each other so closely,” Little Orbit chief executive Matt Scott said. “Little Orbit is focused on licensed titles, which is a strength of Vicious Cycle and the potential within the Vicious Engine will allow us to deliver quality games across numerous platforms simultaneously.”
Little Orbit has released projects based on such disparate properties like the TNT sci-fi drama Falling Skies (Falling Skies: The Game) and Cartoon Network’s popular animated series Adventure Time (Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom).
Vicious Cycle is working on “unannounced” games for 2015 for Little Orbit, and the publisher says it is already looking into providing the Vicious Engine game-making technology to third-party partners as well. Little Orbit is especially excited about the Vicious Engine’s ability to quickly port games from one platform to another.
“It only makes sense for two companies focused on bringing high quality licensed titles to gamers to become partners,” Vicious Cycle chief executive officer Eric Peterson said. “We’re looking forward to the possibilities that the injection of energy, excitement and experience of our collaboration has to offer.”