[News] Techland Insists It's Still Independent After Acquisition Speculation Intensifies

[_Happy boy]

Another day, another Microsoft acquisition rumour. This time it’s the turn of Dying Light developer Techland, with speculation rife this weekend that it’s been absorbed by Xbox boss Phil Spencer’s green machine. To be fair, it’s not the first time we’ve heard this rumour in the past year – presumably because it’s one of the few remaining major independent developers yet to be gobbled up.

As such, pinning a source on the story this time is, well, not easy. As far as we can tell, the latest round of reports stem from a podcast named Defining Duke, in which one of the hosts hinted that Microsoft is in the market for another developer or publisher to shore up its software offering for 2021. While the presenter didn’t elaborate, the host of a different Xbox podcast – we hope you’re keeping up – posted on Twitter that they’re “fairly sure” it's Techland. We know – eyeroll emoji, and all that.

Shaky sources aside, the story gathered enough steam to coax a comment out of the Polish studio’s community manager. He said: “Techland is an independent studio and it was not acquired by another publisher.”

Of course, it’s done little to stem the speculation. Many have pointed out that, even if a buyout is happening behind-the-scenes, the developer wouldn’t be able to comment on it until the ink is dry. We suppose stranger things have happened – Bethesda, for one – but the way this story has come about gives us pause; until more concrete evidence emerges, this is all pure hearsay for now.