VU bundling up Cold Winter developer?

Less than a month after it scooped up Swingin' Ape Studios and just under three months after it bought Radical Entertainment (The Simpsons: Hit & Run, Scarface: The World Is Yours), VU Games is apparently on the verge of buying another independent developer.

British game-industry magazine MCV reports that the games division of the once-mighty media giant Vivendi has acquired Swordfish Studios. Although it did not have any details on the reported agreement, MCV said the publisher could announce the deal as early as this week. American representatives for VU had not responded to GameSpot's requests for comment as of press time.

Best known for its recent PlayStation 2 shooter Cold Winter, Swordfish Studios is based in Birmingham, England. The studio was formed in 2002 by former employees of Rage Software, another independent British developer that collapsed after its mid-1990s heyday. The studio's only other game of note is World Championship Rugby (PC, PS2, and Xbox), which was one of the last games released by Acclaim before the publisher went bankrupt last year. The only announced game currently on Swordfish's slate is Rugby Challenge 2006, which it is developing for Hip Games.

While waiting to see if the the deal goes through, gamers interested in Swordfish Studios' past work can check out GameSpot's full review of Cold Winter.