Middlesbrough games developer SockMonkey Studios has been snapped up by Canada’s largest video game studio Behaviour Interactive for an undisclosed sum.
The company was founded in 2013 by Teesside University graduates Darren Cuthbert and Bob Makin, who set out to create a ‘superstudio’ in the Teesside town. They were joined by Darren Falcus, co-founder of Optimus Software, one of the first video game studios on Teesside. The deal provides an exit for NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), and which achieved a fourfold return on investment.
The three founder members will stay on in their current positions and help to continue SockMonkey’s growth in the North East. SockMonkey is Behaviour’s first European investment and will be renamed Behaviour UK – North upon acquisition.