One of Britain’s most revered video games studios is set for a £230 million flotation.
Team17 is the company behind hit franchise Worms and develops its own IP as well as entering into revenue share agreements to publish the games made by indie developers.
Founded in 1990 and based in Wakefield, it has flourished in the unpredictable world of games development and released more than 70 games to date.
Its 2017 revenues were £29.6m, more than double the £13.5m from the previous year.
The potential IPO valuation puts the stake held by chief executive and founder Debbie Bestwick at £100m. Reports suggest she is willing to sell half of that, making a £50m personal windfall.
“We have created an immensely powerful base from which to continue to grow our business, supported by a hugely talented team and an ever expanding stable of world class content and partners,” she said.
“We firmly believe that an IPO will not only broaden the profile of the business globally but will enable Team17 to continue to capitalise on our position as a leading independent video games label for indie developers, as well as continuing to successfully develop our own IP in house.”
Team17 said its senior management team has more than 140 years’ combined experience and strong relationships across Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Steam, Apple and Google.
It added that it focused on lifecycle management to ensure long term contribution from back catalogue of titles, with over 50 per cent of revenues in 2017 generated from existing titles.
Tongue-in-cheek multi-player strategy franchise Worms has been a huge hit since the mid-90s and features worms battling it out with weapons as bizarre as exploding sheep, holy hand grenades and banana bombs.
Team17’s more recent games include Overcooked and The Escapists while games lined up for 2018 include Yoku’s Island Express, Genesis Alpha One, Raging Justice, My Time at Portia, Planet Alpha, Forged Battalion and Mugsters.