Slitherine acquires Warhammer Blood Bowl licence from troubled French publisher Nacon

Slitherine has acquired the Blood Bowl licence, publishing rights, and back catalogue from Nacon after the publisher entered insolvency proceedings. The deal also puts Slitherine in charge of publishing the next Warhammer Blood Bowl game, while long-time developer Cyanide Studio remains on the project.

That matters because Blood Bowl is one of the more durable licensed strategy brands in PC gaming, with prior entries reportedly nearing a million Steam sales combined. Slitherine already has a track record with Warhammer strategy releases, including Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector and Warhammer 40,000: Gladius, so this looks like a deliberate expansion of its niche rather than a one-off rescue.

Slitherine says it is not buying an ownership stake in Cyanide, but it has secured a long-term development arrangement intended to preserve continuity. The company is also framing the move as a commitment to ongoing support, community feedback, and extended player engagement rather than a simple publishing handoff.

For developers, the practical takeaway is that a licensed series can survive a publisher collapse if the IP holder, developer, and new publisher align quickly enough. It also shows how specialist publishers can step in when a larger holding company restructures, especially for strategy games with an established audience and a clear production pipeline.