Localization Firm Babel Media Acquired By Quatrro

Games outsourcing and localization firm Babel Media has announced that following investments by the D.E. Shaw group and global outsourcing firm Quatrro, it has now become a part of the latter's stable of companies. Babel says it will continue to retain its individual brand, as well as its exclusive focus on games, with the new investments to be used expanding its North American, European and Indian facilities, along with the founding of new divisions in South East Asia and Eastern Europe. Babel has performed localization, QA, certification, audio and print services for a number of major industry publishers and developers including Electronic Arts, SCEA, SCEE, SCEJ, SEGA, Nintendo, Microsoft, THQ, Atari, Ubisoft, Eidos, Capcom, Nokia, Activision-Blizzard, Namco Bandai, Midway, Konami, Majesco, NCSoft, Take 2, Square Enix, Rising Star, Hudson, TT Games, Bethesda Softworks, Warner Brothers and LucasArts. Babel co-founder Algy Williams will remain in the company as a non-executive director and shareholder, while former Electronic Arts VP and executive producer Richard Leinfellner will take over as the company's CEO. Williams said in a release that Leinfellner "shares our vision of a ‘Hollywood-style’ distributed development model and has a unique, publisher-focused insight into how to make this happen. This transaction with Quatrro and the D. E. Shaw group means business as usual at Babel, but we’ll now have far greater resources to service our clients.” Added D.E. Shaw head Anil Chawla, “Given the industry’s current position within the console cycle, increasing development costs, and tighter delivery deadlines, we believe the interactive entertainment industry will continue to transition to an outsourced model. Babel has a demonstrable record of delivering quality service. Given the D. E. Shaw group’s ability to provide capital for expansion and Quattro’s substantial expertise in developing global delivery models, we believe Babel is well positioned to become a global leader in games outsourcing.”