In December 2016, one particular acquisition slid past most of mainstream media’s eye in India. It was a small deal, after all, just $8.5 million. Starbreeze Studios, a Swedish game developer, acquired Dhruva Interactive, a 20-year-old gaming services company. $8.5 million isn’t a lot of money, so it is easy to brush it off as a small deal. Except, if you think about the kind of company that Dhruva is and the business it is in, you will probably appreciate it a little more.
Rajesh Rao, Dhruva’s 46-year-old founder, has worked on some of the biggest game titles—Microsoft Studios’ Forza Motorsport and Remedy Entertainment’s Quantum Break, among many others.