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Keywords Studios

Keywords Studios plc is an Irish video game industry services company based in Leopardstown. Founded in 1998 by Giorgio Guastalla and Teresa Luppino, the company initially provided localisation services for business software before transitioning to the video game industry. Andrew Day replaced Guastalla as the chief executive officer in 2009, and the company completed its initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in 2013. Since then, Keywords Studios has acquired several other companies, including Certain Affinity, Blindlight, Climax Studios, Forgotten Empires, GameSim, Heavy Iron Studios, High Voltage Software, Tantalus Media, and Wicked Workshop. In October 2024, Keywords Studios was acquired by a group of investors led by EQT AB.

History

Giorgio Guastalla, an Italian-Irish businessman who had previously worked for Microsoft's Dublin office, founded Keywords Studios in 1998 with his wife, Teresa Luppino. The company was established in Leopardstown (a suburb of Dublin) under the name Keywords International and originally provided localisation services for business software. A regional office in Rome was established in 2001.

Starting in 2004, Keywords International became incrementally involved with the video game industry. Andrew Day, a Johannesburg native and longtime friend of Guastalla, joined the company in March 2009 at Guastalla's request and became its chief executive officer (CEO). At this time, Keywords International had 50 employees and revenues of €3.5 million. Day perceived the supplier side of the video game market as highly fragmented and intended to turn Keywords International into a "one-stop shop" for various stages of video game development. He further aimed to reduce the company's significant reliance on a single client. Day instituted a five-year plan that shifted the company's focus entirely towards video games and was to lead to an initial public offering in 2014. The previously major client significantly reduced its business with Keywords International in 2010. Further regional offices were opened in Tokyo in December 2009, in Montreal in 2010, and in Seattle in 2012.

In June 2013, Keywords International announced its intent to float and sell 56% of its shares on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. By this time, the company had 120 employees and a pre-tax profit of €2.74 million on revenues of €14.34 million. In this process, Keywords Studios Limited was incorporated in the United Kingdom. On 8 July, it was renamed Keywords Studios plc and wholly acquired Keywords International. Numis Securities served as the financial adviser and ran the offer, and Keywords Studios floated on 12 July, raising GB£28 million. Ross Graham was subsequently brought on as the chairman. Before the flotation, PEQ Holdings (a company associated with Guastalla, Giacomo Duranti, and Marco De Sanctis) owned 75.1% of the shares, with Day holding the remaining 24.9%. The flotation reduced PEQ Holdings's ownership to 29.9% and Day's to 13.2%. Cazenove Capital Management acquired 12% of the company, alongside other investments by Artemis and Legal & General.

With the initial public offering completed, Day envisioned an acquisition-based approach to grow Keywords Studios. Liquid Violet, a provider of voice production services, was its first purchase in January 2014. At the end of 2016, Keywords Studios had 2,600 employees, including 120 at its Dublin headquarters. The acquisition of VMC in October 2017 added 1,300 employees to Keywords Studios's headcount. According to Davy Group, this acquisition turned Keywords Studios into the largest provider of quality assurance. In July 2018, the company announced the creation of Keywords Ventures, a venture capital fund aimed at supporting startups. Keywords Studios acquired 45% of AppSecTest as its first investment under this fund. In the same month, Igor Efremov was hired as the chief creative officer and Andrew Brown as the chief marketing officer. Jon Hauck was brought on as Keywords Studios's chief financial officer (CFO) in November 2019, replacing David Broderick after he had announced his resignation. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Day and Hauck took a 20% pay cut. Staff criticised the company's handling of the pandemic, stating that operations had remained largely unchanged despite health concerns. In May of that year, the company raised GB£100 million to acquire firms weakened by the pandemic.

In January 2021, Keywords Studios hired Sonia Lashand Sedler as its chief operating officer (COO). Citing health reasons, Day took a temporary leave in March 2021, with Hauck and Sedler becoming joint interim CEOs. In June, Keywords Studios announced Day's impending retirement and that he had formally stepped down as the CEO and as a member of the board of directors, remaining in an advisory role for six months. Bertrand Bodson, the former chief digital officer for Novartis, succeeded Day on 1 December 2021. In January 2022, Guastalla stepped down as a non-executive director of Keywords Studios to focus on his other businesses. He was followed shortly by Sedler, who left the company in March 2022, citing personal reasons. Graham unexpectedly died in March 2023. As he had been due to retire later that month, the non-executive director Don Robert had already been designated as his replacement. Hauck succeeded Sedler as COO on 1 July 2023, while Robert Kingston was hired as the CFO. Kingston had previously acted in that role for the UK and Ireland division of Flutter Entertainment.

Alongside the companies Active Fence, Take This, and Modulate, Keywords Studios established the Gaming Safety Coalition in March 2024 to improve mental health practices in online gaming. In May 2024, Keywords Studios announced it would accept a takeover offer from the Swedish investment firm EQT AB of GB£25.50 in cash per share for a total of GB£2.2 billion. The offer was a 73% premium on the previous share price of GB£14.70, which rose to GB£23.78 following the announcement. The final deal for GB£24.50 per share was announced in July and was pending shareholder approval. In the proposal, EQT would acquire 51% of the company, while Temasek and CPP Investments would each obtain 24.5%. The transaction was announced as completed on 24 October, and Keywords Studios was delisted from the London Stock Exchange.

Corporate affairs

Keywords Studios is headquartered at Whelan House in the South County Business Park in Leopardstown. In September 2017, the company leased the entire ground floor and parts of the first and lower ground floors of Whelan House for €422,722. Italicatessen, a food import business founded by Guastalla and Luppino in 2002, provides catering services for Keywords Studios's headquarters. As of 2023, Keywords Studios employs 12,340 people.

Operations

Day stated that not releasing products under the Keywords Studios name contributes to it staying "under the radar". The company's businesses are divided into seven segments: art, engineering, functional testing, audio recording, translation, localisation, and player support.

Accolades

At the 2019 Technology Ireland Awards, Keywords Studios received the "company of the year" and "outstanding achievement in international growth" awards.

External links

References

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