1 March 20232 minute read

DLA Piper Canada advises vendors for SockMonkey Studios in acquisition by Behaviour Interactive

On February 23, 2023, it was announced that SockMonkey Studios (“SockMonkey”), an external developer based in the United Kingdom, was acquired by Canadian video game studio Behaviour Interactive (“Behaviour”). DLA Piper Canada was pleased to advise the SockMonkey vendors on the Canadian aspects of this transaction. Montreal-based Behaviour is Canada’s largest video game development studio specializing in the production of 2D and 3D action/adventure games for home video game consoles, handheld game consoles, PCs and mobile. SockMonkey is a British video game developer, founded by Teesside University graduates Bob Makin and Darren Cuthbert, in Middlesbrough, North East England.

SockMonkey is Behaviour’s first European investment and will be renamed Behaviour UK – North upon acquisition. The studio will operate as a partner for Behaviour’s Services division, which provides development services to a range of AAA studios, among many others. You can read more about the transaction here.

The DLA Piper Canada transaction team was lead by Ryan Black of our Video Games and Interactive Entertainment practice, and included Alan Sarhan, Tyson Gratton, Gavin Backus and Alexandre Lamoreaux. The DLA Piper team worked closely with the Tees Valley lead counsel, Sean Jackson and Nigel Williams from The Endeavour Partnership.

With lawyers across Canada and globally, DLA Piper is strategically positioned to serve and support ‎‎emerging growth companies wherever they do business. In today's challenging environment, we ‎provide ‎a range of strategic legal services designed to ‎‎assist some of the world's leading games ‎companies at ‎every stage of their life cycle.‎