Paradox buys the BattleTech and Shadowrun studio

There’s nothing Harebrained about this move

The Paradox Interactive family just got a little bigger. Harebrained Schemes, the studio behind BattleTech and Shadowrun, is now a subsidiary of Paradox.

As announced through a press release on Paradox’s site, the Sweden-based publisher and developer bought 100 percent of Harebrained Schemes in exchange for $7.5 million and 25 percent of earnings before publishing costs over the next five years.

Harebrained should bring some variety to the Paradox stable of games. Paradox is most well-known for its 4X/grand strategy titles. BattleTech is a turn-based strategy game and Shadowrun is a CRPG. These two series give Paradox an internal path to publish games that are outside its wheelhouse but still extremely popular with PC players.

Also, this acquisition isn’t the first time these two companies will have teamed up. Paradox published BattleTech, which was received positively when it released in April. That game was originally Kickstarted to the tune of nearly $2.8 million. Now that Paradox is permanently in the fold, Harebrained probably won’t have to rely on crowdfunding anymore to get its games developed.