Bus Simulator Dev Acquired By Team17

The simulator market in gaming has garnered some attention over the past decade, mostly with niches like Euro Truck Simulator 2, but with more broad appeal games like F1 too. Of course, you have more far-fetched ideas that put you more in the managerial role than active simulation, such as Planet Coaster, Cities: Skylines, and such, alongside the more stupid executions like Bee Simulator. Though there are still niches like Car Mechanic, and more importantly today, Astragon’s Bus Simulator, still simulating actual jobs.

While the job simulation thing is still quite a niche in the gaming market, it seems Team17 wants to expand into this with their recently announced acquisition of Bus Simulator developer, Astragon. Announced Thursday, the acquisition has gone a little under the radar, as the German studio has focused on several simulator titles throughout the years. This includes publishing one of the worst Flight Simulators I’ve ever played. However, they are probably best known for their recent titles, Bus Simulator 21 and Police Simulator.

The initial acquisition offer is for €75-million (about $85-million/£63-million), with further consideration of €25-million (about $28-million/£20-million). This will offer Team17 a wider catalog of simulator IPs to expand into a wider audience, accelerating plans to venture into non-violent titles. Astragon will continue to work separately within the larger group while also providing support on wider projects within the Team17 banner. Personally, I hope this will allow them to focus on games like Bus Simulator more, rounding off the gameplay a little bit.

Co-CEOs of Astragon, Julia Pfiffer and Tim Schmitz, said in a statement: “Team17 is the perfect home for [A]stragon Entertainment GmbH as we enter into this exciting new chapter. From the first day[,] we felt that Team17 shares the same vision for our games and understands our target group.” Going on to say, “Our goal is to become the number one brand in the field of ‘working’ simulation games.” They concluded with, “We look forward to the possibilities that are opened up by working with what we believe to be a great partner to deliver our ambitions“

Team17 CEO, Debbie Bestwick MBE, also commented, “We are delighted to welcome the [A]stragon team into Team17, and believe we are joining forces with one of the leading experts in the simulation games space. They have decades of game creation and publishing experience, have built an outstanding and highly devoted community[,] and have developed an outstanding portfolio of owned IP across this genre.” She continued by saying: “With the addition of StoryToys and the expansion of our Games Label, which includes the recently acquired USA based ‘The Label’ and now [A]stragon, we have significantly expanded Team17’s appeal to the widest ever cross[-]section of gamers, spanning multiple genres and age groups.”

Bestwick concluded with, “We look forward to working closely with [A]stragon’s joint CEOs Julia and Tim and their whole team who share our ambitions to grow their own IP titles on the path to developing a leading global simulation portfolio brand as part of the Team17 family.” As I said, I am hopeful this partnership will lead to a greater focus on games like Bus Simulator, allowing for the team to grow the idea and polish it further.