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SteelSeries has acquired French 3D sound company, Nahimic, for an undisclosed sum.
In a blog post on the company’s official website yesterday, PR Manager Christian Cooper confirmed the hardware company was welcoming [Nahimic] to the SteelSeries family”.
“Nahimic is the leading name in 3D sound solutions for gaming – you might be familiar with their gaming software that is included on many popular gaming laptops,” Cooper wrote. Posing a hypothetical question in which customers wonder how the acquisition may impact them, they added: “Nahimic’s expertise will benefit us in our efforts with further developing and expanding SteelSeries Engine. You can be excited for greater audio control and customization as our future efforts with Nahimic will help everyone enjoy the Arctis audio experience to the fullest.
“Given Nahimic’s accomplished background in gaming audio, we’re looking forward to bringing cutting-edge audio software technology to gamers everywhere.”
Founded in 2004 by two former classmates in engineering school, Tuyen Pham and Ambroise Recht, Nahimic describes its goal as wanting to bring “innovation to a stagnant Audio sector facing thriving and ever-evolving visual technology industry” and says it is used “from military technology to virtual reality audio for gaming”.
In related news, the Independent Game Developers Association (TIGA) – a trade association representing the UK video games industry – recently released a new report which collates the experiences of several games companies during company acquisitions.
According to TIGA, one of the keys to a successful acquisition is ensuring you have the right people at the right time., as “it is essential that the people in the two companies can work together. The money and the intricacies of the deal are secondary considerations”.
The report also emphasised aligned interests, stating it’s “crucial that the people in the acquiring and acquired companies have aligned goals and have a joint vision for the acquisition”, and that acquisitions are an opportunity to learn from the “strengths of others, acquire new ideas and facilitate new business opportunities”. Another key component is “be prepared to walk away” – “always be ready to avoid an acquisition if the negotiations reveal serious difficulties or insurmountable challenges”.
