If you haven’t heard of Yippee before, they predominantly work on licensed games for companies like Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and the BBC. They’ve also made a platformer series of their own, Chimpact, which is mostly for mobile but has jumped on PC too. The studio will now be working on a variety of Team17’s own projects, as well as original games from the company’s partners, and all in all the acquisition is a part of the company’s growth plan. Founded in 2011, Yippee is a Manchester-based studio started by industry veteran Mike Delves, who will continue his role as the studio’s chief executive officer under Team17’s ownership. “On behalf of the Group, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Mike and his team,” Team17 CEO Debbie Bestwick said in Thursday’s announcement. “MediaCityUK is a wonderful location for our second UK studio and the acquisition of Yippee allows us to accelerate our recruitment plans in the North West.” Who doesn’t enjoy a lovely corporate acquisition to start off the new year, eh? For as much as moves like this can help small developers and publishers, they aren’t always something that should be celebrated. Read Graham’s piece here on why we should stop worrying about timed exclusives and worry more about games industry consolidation.
