Techland insists it’s still independent after acquisition speculation escalates

Another day, another Microsoft acquisition rumor. This time it’s the turn of Dying Light developer Techland, with speculation raging this weekend that he has been absorbed into the green machine of Xbox boss Phil Spencer. To be fair, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard this rumor in the last year or so – probably because it’s one of the few major indie developers to be swallowed up yet.

As such, pinning a source on the story this time around isn’t easy. As far as we can tell, the latest round of reports comes from a podcast called Defining Duke, in which one of the hosts hinted that Microsoft was looking for another developer or publisher to back up their software offering. for 2021. While the presenter did not specify, the host of a different Xbox Podcast – We hope you stay informed – Posted on Twitter that they are “pretty sure” about his Techland. We know – eyeroll emoji, and all that.

Shaking sources aside, the story gathered enough steam to bring out a comment from the Polish studio’s community manager. He said: “Techland is an independent studio and it was not acquired by another publisher.”

Of course, that didn’t do much to stem speculation. Many pointed out that even if a buyout took place behind the scenes, the developer wouldn’t be able to comment on it until the ink was dry. We assume strange things happened – Bethesda, for its part – but the way this story happened gives us pause; Until more concrete evidence emerges, it’s only hearsay at this point.