OV Entertainment's quest to unite Latin American games firms begins with Kokku, 3OGS acquisitions
The newly-formed OV Entertainment Group has made its first two acquisitions: Brazilian developer Kokku and Argentinian tools and tech specialist 3OGS.
Both were acquired for an undisclosed sum and form the basis of a group that aims to unite Latin American games companies in order to accelerate their growth and give them access to resources they would otherwise be unable to reach.
GamesIndustry.biz sat down with key execs from all three companies during Gamescom Latam in São Paulo this week, where the vision for the group was described as the brainchild of Thiago de Freitas, founder of Kokku and now CEO of OV Entertainment.
De Freitas (pictured above left) explained that the idea began following a string of acquisition offers for Kokku, one of the largest studios in Brazil and one of the few with AAA development experience. Kokku provides services ranging from art production and co-development to full game development, and has contributed to games such as Horizon Fobidden West, Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War, Prison Architect 2, and more.
"We always wanted to show the world that the future of games development is coming from South America and Latin America, but we decided it's not for us to sell the company to any of these other groups or institutions," the CEO told us. "We really understand the culture, we don't want to be diluted into a different brand. And since we are Latin Amercians and we're proud of that, we know how to work with the culture, with the politics and labour laws, and all the weird financial taxes you need to pay here. Having this kind of understanding helps us to grow business here.
"That's one of the big reasons why Kokku was never sold to anyone, and why we decided to start uniting the Latin America game companies."
De Freitas added that Kokku's reputation and established contacts will help elevate other companies in the group, ones that may not have had the same opportunities before or lacked the structure and resources to take advantage of them.
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