It is nothing unusual that Swedish holding companies buy small and large game developers in German-speaking countries - especially often in Hamburg: InnoGames, Goodgame Studios, Bytro Labs, Fishlabs, Tivola, Playa and many other studios in the Hanseatic city report to Stockholm or Visby.
The situation is rather rare and therefore unusual in the case of Tiny Roar GmbH, based in the Eilbek district of Hamburg, which is being taken over by the previously relatively unknown Swedish Aonic Group , as became public today. According to his own statements, the new investor wants to build a “family network” of studios and agencies, which so far includes Red Games, Milky Tea, OtherSide Entertainment and the Hamburg performance marketing agency Exmox.
Tiny Roar has been around since April 2015: The UG was converted into a GmbH in early 2023.
The managing directors Robert Koch and Maurice Hagelstein now employ 12 people who work on three projects (among others Lou’s Lagoon, Into the Emberlands) work. For titles like XEL, which was published by Assemble Entertainment, Bomb Bots Arena and the new Lou’s Lagoon (Completion: end of 2024), the studio will receive almost one million euros in federal funding.
Even after the takeover, the entire creative and business process will remain in the hands of the two Tiny Roar founders Koch and Hagelstein – the marketing will be handled by the Aonic publisher Megabit. The lawyers Stephan R. Göthel (Pier 11) and Christian Rauda (Graeff Rechtsanwälte) provided advice on the transaction.
