Austin Texas-based Devolver Digital has spent nearly two decades billing themselves as the indie publisher to indie developers.
It’s so much of their personality that it’s right in their website headline.
But ever since 2021, they’ve been living with a horrible secret: they aren’t actually entirely and indie. In fact, they are a publicly traded company in the U.K.
The company chose to list itself on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) to the tune of valued at $950 million in stock offering.
Breaking this down, Devolver chose to join a collection of global companies, entrepreneurs and investors that are assembled with the common goal of helping one another fund projects and grow, while remaining independent of corporate ownership you’d find on larger markets like the New York Stock Exchange, or Dow Jones. And also, free from private capitalist ownership that comes with seeking out venture capitalist rounds of funding.
At the time, Devolver’s CEO Douglas Morin said “an IPO is the right choice for us to ensure our continued growth and support even more wonderful games.
Well, it seems like that promise of continued growth is no longer a given; Devolver’s stock value on the AIM is currently sitting at just $44.6 million — which is an eye-watering 95.3% reduction in market capitalization.
Spurred on by this drop, as well as current instances of turmoil in the video gaming industry around public and private funding, Devolver has reached out to investors to start to process of delisting from the AIM.
The Proposed Cancellation, Tender Offer & Notice of GM outlines the entire offer the company is making. Basically, they are offering the collective shareholders $5 million USD in exchange for all 23,320,896 shares, representing approximately 4.71% of their current market capital.
That’s pretty low, and is likely subject to lots of back and forth.
We will keep you updated on what happens next.
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Interesting argument. I think it is likely that lots of publishers are spooked by what is happening with investor packs gaining power and taking over, most notably, what’s happened with EA. While Devolver is listed public on a smaller, bespoke exchange, there is still an investor group that has amassed a nearly 35% stake in the company. It is likely they are worried about ending up shadow bought over time and forced to be a controlled company. Taking things private would end that threat.