Pixel Worlds and Tiny Troopers maker Kukouri Mobile Entertainment has halted all game development and sold its IP to fellow Finns Social First.
Kukouri is not closing, but pivoting away from game development. With several ex-Kukouri staff now at Social First, the Pixel Worlds and Tiny Troopers IPs now have a new home there.
Kukouri CEO Petri Piipari said of the deal: “Kukouri has been moving away from game development for a few years now. Unfortunately Pixel Worlds has not been a commercially viable product for some time and with the only active Tiny Troopers game being licensed to an outside publisher and developer, the difficult decision was made to close down all game operations.”
Social First CEO and founder Kim Soares explained further: “Many of the Social First team have been working at Kukouri on either or both of these IPs earlier in their career, including myself. Both Pixel Worlds and Tiny Troopers series were great games in their time, having tens of millions of players. So when we were approached by Kukouri regarding the possibility of acquiring the rights to these games the decision was an easy one.”
Social First added that it’ll continue to develop Nexus Station, a game it describes as a “spiritual successor to Pixel Worlds”, having released the game in beta on PC and mobile in December.
“We are continuing to develop Nexus Station with our early community, many of whom are Pixel Worlds veterans, and acquiring the IPs from Kukouri does not change our development in any way,” added Soares.
“We wanted to secure the IPs from Kukouri as they are legacies of many of our team members. Pixel Worlds had one of the best online communities I have ever seen in my career of 25 years in game development. We really hope to see that community come together again in Nexus Station”.
