Legion TD 2 dev acquired by Modern Times Group, will work on new game

Swedish company adds another studio

Marco Wutz | Apr 16, 2024

AutoAttack Games

Modern Times Group, a Swedish entertainment and media company, has acquired Legion TD 2 developer AutoAttack Games through Ninja Kiwi, a development studio already under its aegis, as reported by GamesIndustry.

In the gaming circle, MTG is mostly known as the former owner of eSports organizers ESL and DreamHack, which it sold to Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Gaming Group in 2022. Other gaming assets it owns include InnoGames, the massive German mobile and browser game studio, of which it purchased a majority stake in 2017.

AutoAttack Games is mostly known for Legion TD 2, the standalone successor to the popular Legion TD mod originally created in WarCraft 3’s custom game editor in 2009. Released into Early Access in 2017, Legion TD 2 got its 1.0 launch in 2021. Rated 9/10 on Steam, the title attracts around 1,200 concurrent users every day at peak times. With Ninja Kiwi being behind the Bloons TD series, the studios’ unification gives them a lot of sway over the genre.

According to Julian Gari, former president of AutoAttack Games and now executive director at Ninja Kiwi, the studio will continue to support Legion TD 2 as well as expand its workforce in order to begin development of a new title.

Brent Batas, director at AutoAttack Games, stated: “The more we got to know Ninja Kiwi, the more it became clear that we shared a passion not only for crafting awesome games, but also for investing in and supporting our communities for the long haul. Combined with Ninja Kiwi's industry-leading presence in the tower defense space, we couldn't imagine a better group of people to partner with.”

Scott Walker, the CEO of Ninja Kiwi, echoed those statements.

Published Apr 16, 2024

MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg