Social First enter into agreement with Kukouri Mobile Entertainment to acquire IP Rights to Pixel Worlds & Tiny Troopers
Kukouri Mobile Entertainment, a Finnish game development company has announced that it has ceased all game related operations. Kukouri’s main game products have been social MMO game Pixel Worlds, which it closed and removed from all stores at the end of the year, and Tiny Troopers, which has several different installments.
As part of the realignment of company operations, Kukouri has sold all its game IPs to another Finnish game developer Social First.
“Kukouri has been moving away from game development for a few years now. Unfortunately Pixel Worlds has not been a commercially viable product for some time and with the only active Tiny Troopers game being licensed to an outside publisher and developer, the difficult decision was made to close down all game operations”, says Petri Piipari, CEO of Kukouri.
“Many of the Social First team have been working at Kukouri on either or both of these IPs earlier in their career, including myself. Both Pixel Worlds and Tiny Troopers series were great games in their time, having tens of millions of players. So when we were approached by Kukouri regarding the possibility of acquiring the rights to these games the decision was an easy one”, says Kim Soares, the CEO and founder of Social First.
Social First is developing Nexus Station, a spiritual successor to Pixel Worlds, and the game was released in Early Access on mobile in December, with PC version releasing on Steam in January.
“We are continuing to develop Nexus Station with our early community, many of whom are Pixel Worlds veterans, and acquiring the IPs from Kukouri does not change our development in any way. We wanted to secure the IPs from Kukouri as they are legacies of many of our team members. Pixel Worlds had one of the best online communities I have ever seen in my career of 25 years in game development. We really hope to see that community come together again in Nexus Station” Soares continues.
About Kukouri Mobile Entertainment
Kukouri Mobile Entertainment is an award-winning Finnish game developer, known for its cross-platform games such as Pixel Worlds and the Tiny Troopers franchise, with more than 60 million downloads across mobile, PC and consoles.
About Social First
Social First is an independent Finnish game studio with a multinational team of accomplished game developers from five different European countries. Founded in 2021 with the mission to create games that span decades and extend beyond gaming; giving players a platform to create meaningful relationships with people all across the world. For more information on Social First and their work, please contact Sophie Riordan, PR & Communications, at social@socialfirstgames.com. For their press kit, click here.