Keywords Studios plc is an Irish video game industry services company based in Leopardstown. Founded in 1998 by Giorgio Guastalla and Teresa Luppino, the company initially provided localisation services for business software before transitioning to the video game industry. Andrew Day replaced Guastalla as chief executive officer in 2009 and the company completed its initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in 2013 under the ticker KWS. Since then, Keywords has acquired several other companies, including GameSim, D3T, Heavy Iron Studios, and High Voltage Software.
History
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.
Keywords Studios is headquartered at Whelan House in the South County Business Park of Leopardstown. In September 2017, the company leased the entire ground floor and parts of the first and lower ground floor of Whelan House for €422,722. Italicatessen, a food import business founded by Guastalla and Luppino in 2002, provides catering services for Keywords Studios' headquarters. PEQ Holdings, a company 90%-owned by Guastalla, used to be the largest single shareholder in Keywords Studios at 6.3% of shares worth £58.1 million. As of 2022, Keywords Studios employs 11,141 people worldwide.