'Dauntless' Studio Acquired by Singapore-Based Games Company Garena

Canadian developer Phoenix Labs will continue to support and work on the game as it plans to expand into Asian and Latin American markets, as well as onto mobile devices.

Garena, a Singapore-based game developer and publisher owned by consumer internet company Sea Limited, has acquired Canadian independent game studio Phoenix Labs, the developer of 2019 role-playing game Dauntless.

Founded in 2014 in Vancouver by game development veterans from Riot Games and BioWare, Phoenix Labs launched Dauntless, its debut game, last year and quickly amassed five million players over its first week of early access release. The studio currently has more than 100 employees with offices in Vancouver, San Francisco and Seattle. Garena was an early investor in Phoenix Labs.

The companies declined to share financial specifics of the deal.

The teams at Phoenix Labs and Garena will continue to support Dauntless as well as explore "new opportunities in global markets and on mobile."

“Our partners at Garena have been our most steadfast supporters since the early days of Phoenix Labs, and we are excited to join forces with a global games leader," said Jesse Houston, CEO and cofounder of Phoenix Labs. "With this next step, we’re able to ensure that we can provide the best possible experience for Dauntless players around the world.”

Phoenix Labs' current management team will continue to run the studio while the two companies will work to expand Dauntless' growth in markets such as Asia and Latin America, as well as on mobile devices.

“Over the last few years, we have watched Phoenix Labs mature into one of the best development teams in the business and launch a hugely exciting title in Dauntless," said Forrest Li, founder and group CEO of Sea. "We also know that they share our mission of making great games, creating the best teams, and putting players first. Our skills sets are highly complementary, and we see many exciting opportunities ahead that our teams can explore together.”

Garena is a major video game distributor across Southeast Asia and Taiwan, including such titles as Riot's League of Legends and its own self-developed mobile title, Free Fire, which boasts more than 320 million quarterly active users worldwide.