Reef Creative Group, the owners of the Terminator: Resistance publisher Reef Entertainment, has revealed that it has acquired a 70% stake in the UK developer Bitmap Bureau.
Just in case you need a quick refresher on who Bitmap Bureau is, it is a Southampton-based company that was founded in 2016 by Matt Cope and Mike Tucker — two individuals who have had plenty of experience in the games industry. It has made a name for itself over the years for producing high-quality titles for both modern and retro machines, including notable games such as Xeno Crisis, Battle Axe, and Final Vendetta.
Matt Cope, the technical director at Bitmap Bureau issued the following statement about this recent bit news, giving an insight into some of the advantages of partnering up with Reef:
“Working as part of the Reef Creative Group gives us access to the funding, administration and publishing support we need to expand, study and concentrate on making the best retro titles out there for gamers everywhere. Our combined knowledge and expertise will allow us to make higher-quality games and retro physical collections than ever before. Stay tuned for the exciting projects we’re working on…we’ll be back with more news soon!”
Gareth Dain, the group managing director at Reef Creative Group, meanwhile, announced that Reef Entertainment and Bitmap Bureau have been working together on a couple of unannounced projects (which will be announced soon):
“Reef are currently deep into development on some unannounced projects with Bitmap Bureau and through working on these together, we’ve developed a wonderful partnership founded on shared values. We are delighted to have them as part of our group and look forward to this collaboration continuing to flourish in the near future.”
According to the press release issued alongside the announcement, this is the first of several strategic acquisitions for Reef Creative Group, which is aiming to become one of the leading developers and publishers in the European market by 2030. We'll bring you more news on this as soon as it arrives.