Game publisher Bigben acquires French development studio Spiders

Bigben Interactive has announced that it has acquired French game development studio Spiders. The studio specializes in action and RPG games, including Mars: War Logs. For publisher Bigben it is already the fourth acquisition of a studio in a year and a half.

With the acquisition of Spiders, Bigben Interactive wants to strengthen its position as a developer-publisher, while also expanding its expertise in genres that are still missing from its portfolio. According to the publisher, this mainly concerns a number of RPG genres. Spiders, based in Paris, currently employs about thirty employees and has its own Silk Engine, a development engine that enables development for both PCs and consoles.

Spiders, based in Paris, was founded in 2008 by former Monte Cristo developers who previously worked on the Silverfall game. Jehanne Rousseau, the studio’s current CEO and co-founder, will continue to lead Spiders. The studio has six games to its credit, including Mars: War Logs, set on the red planet, the medieval fantasy-themed RPG Bound by Flame, and The Technomancer, a cyberpunk RPG. The latest Spiders game, Greedfall, will be released in September.

In the past 18 months, BigBen Interactive has already acquired three other studios. For example, the publisher became the owner of the Cyanide studio, allowing the group to expand its offering to include genres such as cycling simulations, turn-based games and stealth games. With its increased stake in Kylotonn Racing, the publisher also moved into racing simulation games, while the acquisition of the Eko Software studio increased expertise in genres such as action RPGs and collective sports simulations.

The acquisition of Spiders fits “perfectly in Bigben’s 2022 plan to make the group one of the leading market leaders in AA video games,” Bigben said.

A screenshot from Mars: War Logs from development studio Spiders