Splash Damage buys SCUM studio Gamepires from Jagex, backed by Emona Capital

Splash Damage has acquired Gamepires, the Croatian studio behind open-world survival game SCUM, from Jagex. The deal is backed by investment firm Emona Capital, according to a press release.

Splash Damage says the plan is to pair its multiplayer shooter background with Gamepires’ survival and live-service experience, with an eye on growing the SCUM franchise and also working on new IP. CFO Ben Hopkinson is stepping in as CEO of the newly combined company.

The move lands during a busy and sometimes rocky stretch for Splash Damage. Just three months ago, the studio put its entire staff into consultation ahead of redundancies, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz. The company also split from Tencent in September after being acquired by private equity investors, which today’s announcement identifies as Emona Capital.

Gamepires was bought by Jagex back in 2022 while SCUM was still in Early Access. The game originally launched into Early Access in 2018 and later exited Early Access in June 2025. The source report notes the game has sold nearly six million copies total, citing data from GameDiscoverCo.

As for Jagex, the company has been narrowing its focus back onto RuneScape. It recently rebranded as “Jagex: The RuneScape Company,” and has talked publicly about putting major investment into the RuneScape brand and its related projects.