Smashing Ideas acquires BlueSkyNorth

July 18th, 2006 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Smashing Ideas extended their reach into the mobile Flash Lite market by acquiring UK based BlueSkyNorth. BlueSkyNorth will open up the doors to Western Europe. Both companies are specialized and working with Flash Lite though Flash Lite for BlueSkyNorth has been the only direction so far. Details about the deal have not been disclosed.

Round 3 for Digital Chocolate brings $ 18 Million

July 18th, 2006 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | 6 Comments »

In it’s latest funding round, Digital Chocolate has secured $ 18 Million worth of investments. More early, Digital Chocolate managed to raise $ 22 Million of VC funding since it’s start in 2003. Trip Hawkins announced that Digital Chocolate will keep focusing on creating high quality unbranded games rather then branded ones. Trip estimates his company has a 11% marketshare and will become profitable in the next year.

Commodore International and the Content Factory’s JV

June 14th, 2006 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Commodore International announced a new joint venture with Amsterdam based The Content Factory worth

Telcogames gets fat

June 7th, 2006 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Telcogames announced it’s acquisition of Finish and Korean developer Fathammer. Fathammer is the second developer to be acquired by Telcogames as they had acquired Magic Productions last year. Fathammer produces games for the J2me, Brew, Symbian, WIPI and Windows Mobile platforms. With the acquisition, the catalogue of exclusive Telcogames games, grows with 24 titles. Fathammer will continue to produce new titles for the Telcogames catalogue as well as for publishers like Disney.

Telcogames didn’t buy Fathammer completely as their X-Forge middleware client has been sold to another company (unknown yet). The current investors in Fathammer, are now transferred to Telcogames as well.

Square Enix plans further focus on mobile market

September 30th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Major Japanese publisher continues to look beyond console games for growth
Online and mobile gaming represents the future for one of Japan’s largest publishers and the world’s most successful creator of role-playing games, according to Square Enix president Yoichi Wada.
Speaking to Yomiuri Online in an interview partially translated by GameSpot, Wada said that online gaming – either over computers or mobile phones – represented the future of the market as a whole, and have caused a major shift in the structure of the industry. Read on …

LimeLife Targets Cell Phone Games For Women

September 13th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Kristin Asleson McDonnell reminded me in our phone call that we used to talk when she was vice president of marketing at Mpath Interactive, one of the first serious online gaming service providers, back in the mid-1990s. That’s going way back for the games business.

Now she’s CEO of LimeLife, a start-up company in Menlo Park that is making cell phone games for women. LimeLife raised $5 million in venture capital in July. Its backers include I-Hatch Ventures, Monitor Ventures, Rustic Canyon Partners, and US Venture Partners. The latter is of interest because Paul Matteucci, former CEO of Mpath, is a partner at USVP. Read on …

Time Warner bets on mobile games

August 24th, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Media conglomerate Time Warner has made a $7.5 million investment in Glu Mobile, the privately held mobile gaming company said Tuesday.

In a move related to the investment, Andy Heller, president of domestic distribution for Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting, has joined Glu’s board of directors. Glu, which will use the money to continue its global expansion, already publishes video games based on characters from Turner’s Cartoon Network. Read on … Read on …(2)

Interview: Square Enix Mobile

August 2nd, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

We check in with Square Enix Mobile’s Kosei Ito to find out what Square Enix’s mobile division has cooking.

Square Enix’s mobile division has quickly ramped up from its modest beginnings a few years ago to a powerful force in Japan’s mobile gaming scene, thanks to games such as Final Fantasy VII: Before Crisis. At this year’s first annual Square Enix Party 2005, mobile games were rolling three booths deep on the show floor. We caught up with Square Enix Mobile’s Kosei Ito, one of the key architects of the mobile division, to learn more about what we can expect. Read on …

EA’s John Batter Talks Mobile Strategy

July 22nd, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

With EA Mobile’s recent publishing agreements with Verizon and Sprint, the publisher is getting ready to make a big splash in the mobile market. EA VP and Mobile General Manager John Batter says that the company is always open to making acquisitions but that’s not their immediate focus. Right now the plan is to leverage EA’s 20+ year history of great games.

EA’s move into the mobile market seems to be keeping everyone on their toes. When the company’s mobile division so much as blinks, it’s seen as a sign that an acquisition is imminent. Modojo spoke with EA Vice President and Mobile General Manager John Batter about the swirling takeover rumors, EA’s plan to grow their mobile market share, their new relationship with Sprint and Verizon, and more…

Cybird Agrees to Pay $60 Million for Airborne Stake

June 21st, 2005 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Cybird Co., a Japanese provider of games, ring tones and other content for mobile phones, agreed to pay $60 million for a majority stake in closely held Airborne Entertainment Inc. to expand in North America.

Cybird said it will set up a U.S. subsidiary to acquire 85 percent of Montreal, Canada-based Airborne, which provides services similar to its own. The Japanese company said the purchase is part of plans to focus on North America, where it estimates the mobile-phone content market will more than double to $2.6 billion in fiscal 2005 from the year before. More …