A SOFTWARE developer co-founded by a Cuddington video games designer has been sold for £3 million.

d3t, which provides software development services for video game developers and publishers, has been acquired by international technical services providers, Keywords Studios.

Founded in 2011 and now employing 44 staff, the award-winning studio has worked across dozens of projects for clients such as SEGA, Sony and the BBC.

Co-founders Stephen Powell, from Cuddington, and Jamie Campbell, along with the rest of d3t team, will remain with the Runcorn-based business.

Jamie, who lives in Sandiway, said: “We are delighted to be joining the Keywords Group.

“d3t was founded with the sole aim of being an invaluable external development partner to the games industry and other interactive sectors.

“Over the course of six years we have become leaders in the field of high-value engineering offering a professional, wide ranging service.

“We feel there is a great deal of synergy with Keywords’ strategy to be the very best technical service provider to the video games industry, and we look forward to our continued expansion as part of the Group.”

In the year ended July 31, 2017, d3t achieved revenues of £2.8 million and an underlying adjusted pre-tax profit of £0.4 million.

Last month d3t was also named a winner of the GameIndustry.biz Best Places to Work awards 2017.

Under the terms of the acquisition Keywords is paying a consideration comprised of £2.4m in cash and the issue of 42,368 new ordinary shares in Keywords, which will be subject to a two-year lock in period.

The acquisition of d3t is in line with Keywords Studios’ strategy to grow organically and by acquisition as it selectively consolidates the highly fragmented market for video game services.

Giacomo Duranti, chief operating officer, said: “The acquisition of d3t complements our recent acquisition GameSim’s capabilities to extend the services, scale and geographical presence of our Engineering offering.

“With increasing demand in the video games industry for reliable, high-quality outsourced software engineering services, we are building a strong offering to support our clients globally.

“We are delighted to welcome the highly talented and experienced team at d3t to the Keywords family and we look forward to working closely together to build upon the company’s excellent reputation, track record and client relationships.”