Splash cash: Shadow Warrior studio Flying Wild Hog bought up

After years of growing beards and wearing plaid shirts as an independent studio, Hard Reset developers and Shadow Warrior rebooters Flying Wild Hog have got a shave, started wearing ties, and sided with The Suits. The Polish studio have been bought by Supernova Capital, an investment firm founded by a number of Splash Damage veterans including former CEO Paul Wedgwood. They all say this is good news for Flying Wild Hog, as the gang will get to focus on making games while The Suits provide financial security, sit in smoky rooms steepling their fingers, and cackle ominously when they don't realise conference calls are still going.

Supernova Capital exploded into existence in 2018, not long after Wedgewood sold Splash Damage to Leyou, a Chinese company whose varied and weird business interests include video games (they also own most of Warframe studio Digital Extremes), poultry, and poultry products. Fellow damaging splashes Mark Morris, Ross Farrow, Richard Jolly, Griff Jenkins, and Arnout van Meer co-founded it too.

Flying Wild Hog is Supernova's first known pick-up, so it's hard to get a sense of what this might mean for the studio. They seem optimistic, though for all we know elite businessmen were holding a razor-sharp business card to the Hogs' fingers and threatening a dire paper cut.

"With Supernova, it feels like we have reconnected with our older, more experienced siblings," Flying Wild Hog CEO Michał Szustak said in Thursday's announcement. "They share the same values as us - passion for players, employee happiness, and boundary-pushing creativity. The last 10 years of Hogs' history wasn't always easy but I feel that with Supernova, we can finally focus on the thing we love the most: making awesome games. New owners or not, the Flying Wild Hog you know won't be changing its culture, and we've got some exciting new game announcements to share with you soon!"

Not just announcement but announcements, plural? You big tease.

In short, business.