Games That Matter, the production studio started by the ex-heads of Rockstar Vienna, has been acquired by Deep Silver. The announcement was just dropped in Leipzig, so, expect a press release soon. There have been no public updates on the two confidential “major console and PC titles” that GTM have announced their involvement in since we wrote about the company founding in January 2007.

Koch Media, a leading producer and distributor of digital entertainment products in Europe, acquires the Austrian games production company Games That Matter.

The company merges with Koch Media’s premium games label, Deep Silver. Games That Matter’s structure and goals remain the same: Deep Silver Vienna fully concentrates on high quality games, especially for consoles. In the center of all efforts are producing, successful publishing and establishing new brands.

Press release after the jump..

Koch Media, a leading producer and distributor of digital entertainment products in Europe, acquires the Austrian games production company Games That Matter. Founded in 2006 by games industry veterans Hannes Seifert and Niki Laber, the company merges with Koch Media�s premium games label, Deep Silver. Games That Matter�s structure and goals remain the same: Deep Silver Vienna fully concentrates on high quality games, especially for consoles. In the center of all efforts are producing, successful publishing and establishing new brands.

“With Koch Media, we found a strong partner who excellently complements our long-time experience and our new and innovative business model. Now we can fully concentrate on our core competences.” said Niki Laber, Managing Director of Games That Matter.

For Koch Media, the formation of Deep Silver Vienna means the achievement of a major strategic goal. With the seamless integration of the founding members of the legendary Rockstar Vienna team (among others “GTA” and “Max Payne”), the company expands its future product portfolio and also strengthens its leading market position as an independent games publisher in Europe and around the world.

Klemens Kundratitz, General Manager of Koch Media, added: “With the integration of Games That Matter, we enter a new era for Deep Silver. Deep Silver Vienna will massively push our reputation as an independent publisher. The former Rockstar Vienna team brings along the experience that is needed for building long-term, globally strong and successful video game brands. Games That Matter developed a cutting-edge production model and we believe in their approach. Deep Silver Vienna will play a decisive role in our strategy of becoming even more international, focusing more on the console business and establishing our own brands.”

Update 2
deepsilvervienna.com registered as of August 10, 2007

DOMAIN: DEEPSILVERVIENNA.COM

created-date: 2007-08-10
updated-date: 2007-08-10
registration-expiration-date: 2008-08-10

Read more: Games That Matter | Deep Silver

At a press conference hosted yesterday afternoon in Vienna, Austria by the founders of Games That Matter, Ex-directors of Rockstar Vienna, Hannes Seifert and Niki Laber, along with partner Jürgen Goeldner, presented their business model and goals for the newly formed independent games production company.

With the intention of purchasing, developing and licensing game concepts internally, Games That Matter plans to offer publishers and potential investors the ability to, according to Managing Director Niki Laber, “participate in the actual IP without being forced to bear operative costs of a studio beyond the project.” Games That Matter’s small team, consisting primarily of ex-Rockstar Vienna staff, will be performing all aspects of the initial production for their titles, from scheduling and design to branding and vision, with content creation and development responsibilities being outsourced to strategic partners around the World.

The “visionary” business model behind Games That Matter closely mirrors that of the movie industry, with every project being spun off into its own individual corporation, allowing for a wide-range of investment opportunities with little risk for both Games That Matter and potential investors by keeping team sizes and potential overhead as low as possible. Games That Matter then sells or licenses the finished titles directly to publisher or distributors.

“In my 20 years in this crazy industry I worked on original IP as well as licensed properties,” said Hannes Seifert, managing director and executive producer of Games That Matter. “With our new approach to game production we bring together ideas, investors and developers and help companies of all sizes to work with us on breathtaking titles without forcing them to grow to death.” Explaining further, Seifert adds “We will be able to offer publishers a finished game at a specific point in time without the risk of financing. And we offer investors a high return and long life cycle of their investment. We do not see investors as necessary evil, but as vital partners in production. And as such partners they deserve a fair share of a game’s success.”

No announcements regarding projects or publishing partners have been made, though it was revealed that the team is currently working on one “AAA console and PC” project and discussions with major investors and publishers are on-going.

Read more: Games That Matter

7 months after the closure of Rockstar Vienna by Take-two, former founders Hannes Seifert and Niki Laber have announced the formation of their new company, Games That Matter. Working together with Jürgen Goeldner, founder of Funsoft, later acquired by THQ and mobile developer Mobile Scope, later acquired by IN-FUSIO, their team will present a “visionary game production business model” to the industry. What that visionary model will be or why exactly it’s visionary in the first place hasn’t been announced yet, but founder Hannes Seifert has held talks in Vienna discussing the shift towards “movie industry style” production methods in the past. One would assume that would involve a small core team focusing on production and design aspects, while outsourcing whenever and wherever possible for content, development and testing. The official press conference for Games That Matter takes place on the 25th of January where more information will be presented to the gaming press, possibly including information on their first title.

Read more: Games That Matter | Rockstar Vienna entry @ Wikipedia