FoxNext Games has acquired game developer Cold Iron Studios, which specializes in massively multiplayer online games and is developing a shooter title set in the “Alien” cinematic universe for consoles and PCs.
Terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed. FoxNext Games, part of 21st Century Fox, is acquiring Cold Iron from games publisher Perfect World Entertainment.
The deal builds on FoxNext’s deal last summer to buy Aftershock, the games studio spun off from Kabam. Aftershock is developing a game based on Cameron’s “Avatar” and the free-to-play “Marvel Strike Force” mobile fighting game set for 2018 release.
21st Century Fox formed FoxNext a year ago. The FoxNext division would go to Disney under the proposed $52 billion deal between Disney and 21st Century Fox for major assets including 20th Century Fox.
Cold Iron Studios was founded in 2015 by three game-industry veterans: CEO Craig Zinkievich, chief technology officer Shannon Posniewski and creative director Matt Highison. The founders, along with the rest of Cold Iron’s 25 employees, are all joining FoxNext Games. The studio will remain based in San Jose, Calif.
Games titles members of the Cold Iron team have worked on in the past include “Neverwinter,” “Star Trek Online,” “Metroid Prime 3,” “BioShock Infinite,” “City of Heroes,” “Bioshock Infinite,” “Doom” and “Borderlands.”
“I am a personal fan of Cold Iron’s previous work, and all of us at FoxNext Games are thrilled to be working with them as they create an action-packed persistent world, steeped in the mysteries of this beloved ‘Alien’ universe,” Aaron Loeb, FoxNext Games president of studios, said in announcing the deal.
Zinkievich added, “Our background in building online worlds and taking established franchises to the next level in interactive entertainment is a precise fit with [FoxNext’s] product road map ahead.”
In addition to FoxNext Games, the division houses FoxNext VR Studio, which is developing virtual-reality experiences for “Alien” and “Planet of the Apes,” and FoxNext Destinations, encompassing the company’s location-based entertainment business.
Other game titles in Fox’s portfolio across the mobile and console/PC space include “Animation Throwdown: The Quest for Cards,” “The Simpsons Tapped Out,” “Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff,” “Futurama: Game of Drones,” “Ice Age Adventures,” “Sugar Smash: Book of Life” and “Alien: Isolation.”
Pictured above: “Alien: Covenant”
