EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: acquisition
The latest news from the Ubisoft camp is that they have acquired RedLynx, the Finland-based developer who created the popular Xbox LIVE game Trials.
It’s not surprising that RedLynx caught the publisher’s keen eye, given that Trials has become the best-selling game ever on Xbox LIVE Arcade with over two million downloads across the game and both downloadable content packs. And with Trials Evolution already in development and due for release in the coming months, RedLynx is definitely moving on up since it was founded in 2000.
Microsoft Studios has acquired Indie game developer Twisted Pixel, the popular studio behind Xbox LIVE Arcade’s Splosion Man and The Gunstringer for Kinect.
This console generation has seen a seismic shift towards the ubiquity of multi-platform releases - something which wasn’t nearly as prevalent during the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube era. These days the only way for a platform holder like Sony or Microsoft to ensure that a game remains exclusive to their system is to either sign an exclusivity deal with the developer or buy them outright.
Sony has a history of purchasing their most successful third-party developers such as Naughty Dog (acquired in 2001) and Media Molecule (bought in 2010). Today it was announced that Washington-based inFAMOUS and Sly Cooper creators Sucker Punch Productions has also been welcomed into the Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) family.
First revealed in a report towards the end of June, mega videogame publisher EA has completed an acquisition of casual game developer and publisher PopCap Games in a deal said to be worth over $1 billion.
According to a recent report on industry site TechCrunch, casual games giant PopCap Games is in the process of being acquired by an unknown buyer for over $1 billion.
PopCap Games would be known to most any gamer, ‘hardcore’ or ‘casual,’ for web, PC, console and portable games such as Bejeweled, Zuma, Peggle and Plants VS Zombies, and thanks to the company’s ability to release hit after hit is able to earn revenues in the range of $100 to 150 million annually, according to sources.
In a surprising turn of events, Microsoft has just announced its intention to acquire internet communication company Skype for a whopping $8.5 billion, following the entering into of a definitive agreement between both parties and the approval by each of the company’s board of directors.
The acquisition deal is still subject to approval by trade and regulation bodies, but the companies “hope to obtain all required regulatory clearances during the course of this calendar year.”
Remember the fate of APB, the massively multiplayer online game from (now) defunct developer Realtime Worlds?
In the middle of September, it was announced that the ambitious game was scheduled to shut down after only months in operation following lower than expected player subscriptions and support.
After violent rumours swirled around Mother Internet regarding the possibility of another publisher or developer buying APB and the rights to its operation so as to keep the game running, it’s just been announced that Reloaded Productions, a subsidiary of free-to-play MMOG publisher Gamersfirst, has acquired all intellectual property rights to the title.
Capcom has announced that its latest zombie-destruction simulator, Dead Rising 2, has shipped two million copies around the world. According to Capcom, this brings the total number of units of the Dead Rising franchise shipped worldwide to an impressive four million.
ZeniMax Media (parent company of Bethesda Softworks and id Software) today announced that it has acquired Tango Gameworks, a game development studio founded and run by legendary game creator Shinji Mikami.
If you don’t know who Shinji Mikami is, then this wouldn’t be of much interest.
But if you knew that Mikami was the originator of the Resident Evil franchise, and has been heavily involved with renowned series such as Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe, as well as games such as God Hand and Vanquish, then the importance of the news increases dramatically.
Mikami said of the acquisition deal:
Acclaim Games (not to be confused with Acclaim Entertainment) has been shut down after four years in business bringing online games developed in Asia to Western markets.
Text on the publisher’s official website reads:
“We regret to inform you that all Acclaim games will no longer be in service effective August 26, 2010,” going to on assure players in the possession of any unused Acclaim Coins (the company’s virtual currency across its range of titles) can be reimbursed by emailing a dedicated address (found on the site).
Videogame retail behemoth GameStop has announced its agreement to acquire the highly popular free-to-play Flash game portal Kongregate, in an effort to “[strengthen] GameStop’s digital platform and its commitment to become the gaming aggregator of choice.”
Warner Bros. has added Turbine to its family of wholly owned game developers, after it was announced that the media giant recently acquired the Lord of the Rings Online developer for a rumoured $160 million.
This acquisition completes Warner’s sweep of rights ownership for games based on the Lord of the Rings universe, after attaining the rights for videogames based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary works as well as Peter Jackson’s film trilogy, while simultaneously cementing the company’s relationship with Turbine after previously investing in the developer.
Turbine president and CEO Jim Crowley said in a statement:
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group has announced its acquisition of a majority stake in Batman: Arkham Asylum developer Rocksteady Studios, “continuing Warner Bros.’ pattern as one of the industry’s fastest growing games publishers.”
According to Warner, Batman: Arkham Asylum has shipped over three million units worldwide and received numerous industry awards, and as a reward for Rocksteady’s fantastic work on the title, the developer is being shared up, with Square Enix (owners of Eidos, who published Arkham Asylum) hanging on to 25 percent of the studio.
President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, Kevin Tsujihara said of the deal:
After the extended bidding and acquisition process surrounding Square Enix’s buy-out of the UK-based Eidos Interactive, the deal has now come to a close with the formal rebranding of Eidos as Square Enix Europe.
Square Enix Europe represents “the unified business unit” that comprises sales and marketing offices in the UK, France and Germany, which will handle the promotion of the group’s games across Europe and PAL territories, as well as the management of the company’s developers including Crystal Dynamics, IO Interactive, Beautiful Game Studios, Square Enix London Studios and Eidos Montréal.
It’s just been jointly announced that The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire comic book megalith Marvel Entertainment for a whopping $4 billion in a stock and cash transaction.
The acquisition, Disney says, highlights the company’s “strategic focus on quality branded content, technological innovation and international expansion to build long-term shareholder value.”
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