Dauntless dev Phoenix Labs acquired by Singaporean game company Garena

Garena has acquired Dauntless developer Phoenix Labs for an undisclosed sum, bringing the Vancouver-based studio and its entire team of 100+ developers under the Singapore-based company’s control.

The acquisition won’t bring any major changes to Phoenix Labs’ leadership or studio structure. Rather, Garena parent company Sea Limited angles the acquisition as a way to beef up Garena’s internal development capabilities while also giving the Phoenix Labs team additional resources through Garena’s existing mobile and community-building expertise.

The deal follows months after Phoenix launched its debut title, Dauntless, as a cross-platform, free-to-play game on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in May of 2019. Garena, both a publisher on its own and the developer of games like Garena Free Fire, was notably an early investor in Phoenix Labs as well.

“We couldn’t be happier to welcome Phoenix Labs to the Garena family. Over the last few years, we have watched Phoenix Labs mature into one of the best development teams in the business and launch a hugely exciting title in Dauntless," reads a statement from Sea CEO Forrest Li. "We also know that they share our mission of making great games, creating the best teams, and putting players first. Our skills sets are highly complementary, and we see many exciting opportunities ahead that our teams can explore together.”