Fishlabs sold to unnamed buyer

Mobile gaming company Fishlabs will be ‘terminated’ after being sold to an unnamed party, says co-founder Michael Schade.

Both Schade and co-founder Christian Lohr are to depart the Galaxy on Fire developer, and Schade told PocketGamer that since the agreement is an “asset deal” under German labour law, “all employees will be transferred to the buyer automatically".

As a result of the buyout, the entity Fishlabs Entertainment GmbH will cease to exist.

The deal has not been officially announced so it’s unclear if it has been set in stone, but any layoffs will take place after all employees have been transferred to the new company.

This doesn’t mean everyone will keep their jobs in the long run, but after the company laid off 25 staff and filed for bankruptcy protection, it’s probably at least a temporary respite for the struggling firm’s remaining employees.

Schade explained at the time the move was an attempt to restructure and get back some of the equity the company had handed out too eagerly at its inception.

Without additional funding, it was going to be impossible for Fishlabs to transition to the free-to-play business model, and even then the studio faced some serious challenges.

“You might think success stories like Supercell have made it easier to raise money, but for some investors and even strategic partners the opposite is true,” said Schade.

“If you don’t have a game that has the potential to generate $1 million a day, it is a tough call.”