Giorgio Guastalla, an Italian-Irish businessman who had previously worked for
Microsoft's
Dublin office, founded Keywords Studios in 1998 with his wife, Teresa Luppino. The company was established in
Leopardstown (a suburb of Dublin) under the name Keywords International and originally provided localisation services for
business software. A regional office in
Rome was established in 2001. Starting in 2004, Keywords International became incrementally involved with the
video game industry. Andrew Day, a
Johannesburg native and longtime friend of Guastalla, joined the company in March 2009 at Guastalla's request and became its
chief executive officer (CEO). At this time, Keywords International had 50 employees and revenues of . Day perceived the supplier side of the video game market as highly fragmented and intended to turn Keywords International into a "one-stop shop" for various stages of video game development. He further aimed to reduce the company's significant reliance on a single client. Day instituted a five-year plan that shifted the company's focus entirely towards video games and was to lead to an
initial public offering in 2014. The previously major client significantly reduced its business with Keywords International in 2010. Further regional offices were opened in
Tokyo in December 2009, in
Montreal in 2010, and in
Seattle in 2012. In June 2013, Keywords International announced its intent to float and sell 56% of its shares on the
Alternative Investment Market of the
London Stock Exchange. By this time, the company had 120 employees and a pre-tax profit of on revenues of . In this process, Keywords Studios Limited was incorporated in the United Kingdom. On 8 July, it was renamed Keywords Studios plc and wholly acquired Keywords International. Numis Securities served as the
financial adviser and ran the offer, and Keywords Studios floated on 12 July, raising . Ross Graham was subsequently brought on as the
chairman. Before the flotation, PEQ Holdings (a company associated with Guastalla, Giacomo Duranti, and Marco De Sanctis) owned 75.1% of the shares, with Day holding the remaining 24.9%. The flotation reduced PEQ Holdings's ownership to 29.9% and Day's to 13.2%. Cazenove Capital Management acquired 12% of the company, alongside other investments by Artemis and
Legal & General. With the initial public offering completed, Day envisioned an acquisition-based approach to grow Keywords Studios. Liquid Violet, a provider of voice production services, was its first purchase in January 2014. At the end of 2016, Keywords Studios had 2,600 employees, including 120 at its Dublin headquarters. The acquisition of VMC in October 2017 added 1,300 employees to Keywords Studios's headcount. According to
Davy Group, this acquisition turned Keywords Studios into the largest provider of
quality assurance. In July 2018, the company announced the creation of Keywords Ventures, a
venture capital fund aimed at supporting startups. Keywords Studios acquired 45% of AppSecTest as its first investment under this fund. In the same month, Igor Efremov was hired as the
chief creative officer and Andrew Brown as the
chief marketing officer. Jon Hauck was brought on as Keywords Studios's
chief financial officer (CFO) in November 2019, replacing David Broderick after he had announced his resignation. At the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Day and Hauck took a 20% pay cut. Staff criticised the company's handling of the pandemic, stating that operations had remained largely unchanged despite health concerns. In May of that year, the company raised to acquire firms weakened by the pandemic. In January 2021, Keywords Studios hired Sonia Lashand Sedler as its
chief operating officer (COO). Citing health reasons, Day took a temporary leave in March 2021, with Hauck and Sedler becoming joint interim CEOs. In June, Keywords Studios announced Day's impending retirement and that he had formally stepped down as the CEO and as a member of the
board of directors, remaining in an advisory role for six months. Bertrand Bodson, the former
chief digital officer for
Novartis, succeeded Day on 1 December 2021. In January 2022, Guastalla stepped down as a
non-executive director of Keywords Studios to focus on his other businesses. He was followed shortly by Sedler, who left the company in March 2022, citing personal reasons. Graham unexpectedly died in March 2023. As he had been due to retire later that month, the non-executive director Don Robert had already been designated as his replacement. Hauck succeeded Sedler as COO on 1 July 2023, while Robert Kingston was hired as the CFO. Kingston had previously acted in that role for the UK and Ireland division of
Flutter Entertainment. Alongside the companies Active Fence, Take This, and Modulate, Keywords Studios established the Gaming Safety Coalition in March 2024 to improve
mental health practices in online gaming. In May 2024, Keywords Studios announced it would accept a takeover offer from the Swedish investment firm
EQT AB of in cash per share for a total of . The offer was a 73% premium on the previous share price of , which rose to following the announcement. The final deal for per share was announced in July and was pending shareholder approval. In the proposal, EQT would acquire 51% of the company, while
Temasek and
CPP Investments would each obtain 24.5%. The transaction was announced as completed on 24 October, and Keywords Studios was delisted from the London Stock Exchange. == Corporate affairs ==