The Blood Bowl video game license has changed hands, as embattled French publisher Nacon has sold the license, publishing rights and series back catalogue to British publisher Slitherine. As part of the agreement, Nacon subsidiary Cyanide Studio will continue to work on the series, including on the next Blood Bowl game, which was announced back in March.
The agreement comes in time for Warhammer Blood Bowl to feature in the Slitherine Next event, which will be streaming on 22nd July at 5:00 PM BST / 6:00 PM CEST / 9:00 AM PDT.
Warhammer Blood Bowl will rebuild the game with the latest rules from Games Workshop, using Blood Bowl 3 as its foundations, adding an updated roster, new competitions, tutorials and a new World Championship. There’s also a new Rumble mode, which brings condensed rules with 7-player teams, 30-minute matches and a smaller pitch.
Director of Publishing at Slitherine, Marco Minoli said, “Blood Bowl is one of the most iconic and distinctive strategy franchises in videogames, and we’re genuinely honoured to help shape its future alongside Cyanide and Warhammer.”
“We have enormous respect for what Cyanide has built over the years, and we’re excited to continue working closely with the team to support and grow the series together with its passionate community.”
It’s a potential lifeline for Cyanide, who is struggling through the financial collapse of Nacon. They, alongside fellow studios Spiders and Kylotonn, filed for insolvency through the French courts in March, allowing them to try and secure fresh investment to keep running. For the time being, Cyanide is still a subsidiary of Nacon, though this deal will at least help to pay some of the wages.
Cyanide’s wider portfolio includes the Styx series and Tour de France, both of which have had new game releases this year. A new Blood Bowl, though, has been a good while coming, with Blood Bowl 3 the last title which launched in 2023. This game…. did not go down particularly well, and is stuck permanently on ‘Mixed’ with its Steam reviews for bugs, being always online, and more. Its predecessor is still well liked, but even that has complaints on Steam about bugs and issues that have gone unremedied.
Source: press release
