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Bravely Default's Silicon Studio Divests Game Development, Operation Business

Game developer and computer graphics company Silicon Studio announced on Monday that it is executing a divestiture of its game development business by establishing the subsidiary company Creek and River to handle game development and management. Silicon Studio will transfer 90% of its stocks to the new subsidiary.

Silicon Studio revealed the reason for the divestiture was the trend of increasing development costs for games due to the highly competitive smartphone game industry. The company noted that it entered game development in 2008 with a goal of having low development budgets but high returns, but the new game development environment posed a high risk for the company that made it difficult to continue the business.

Silicon Studios noted in the announcement that it hopes to create synergy with the new game development subsidiary by continuing its other core business in developing graphics engines and middleware for games. The company also noted that its predicted revenue that it released in its financial report in January has now been adjusted to trend lower, but it currently cannot provide a new estimate.

Silicon Studio is perhaps best known for its Bravely Default and Bravely Second: End Layer role-playing games for the Nintendo 3DS. The company also developed and is managing the Terra Battle 2 smartphone game in partnership with Mistwalker. The game launched last September in Japan and North America, but it will shut down in North America this September.

Sources: Silicon Studio press release (link 2) via Hachima Kikō