Shanda Acquires Mobile Games Developer Digital-Red

September 8th, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited, the largest operator of online games in China, announced today that it has signed an agreement to purchase the remaining interest that it did not already own in Beijing Digital-Red Mobile Software Co., Ltd., or Digital-Red ( http://www.worldup.com ), a leading developer of games for mobile devices. Shanda had initially purchased a minority stake in Digital-Red on January 13, 2004. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, an initial installment will be paid in cash, with the remaining consideration to be paid in cash in 2006 based on the actual earnings performance of Digital-Red in 2005. More …

EA Announces Next Step into Mobile Gaming; Digital Bridges Named as Strategic Partner for Distribution of Mobile Interactive Entertainment in Europe, North and South America

September 3rd, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Electronic Arts, the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company, today outlined the company’s next step to strengthen its offering of games designed for play on mobile phones. In a keynote speech today at the European Games Network (EGN) exhibition in London, Gerhard Florin, Managing Director and Senior Vice President of Electronic Arts, announced plans to bring additional opportunities for players to enjoy interactive entertainment on the go.

In addition to EA’s major investments in the Sony PSP(TM), Nintendo DS(TM) and Nokia N-Gage(TM), the company announced plans to build on the success of its franchises such as FIFA Football and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR(R) in the mobile gaming space. Beginning this year, EA will produce and develop titles that will continue to bring mobile phone gaming experiences to consumers that are consistent with their already well-loved console games. More …

EA to boost mobile-phone games

September 3rd, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Gaming giant Electronic Arts will boost production of video games for mobile phones over the next nine months, bringing top-selling franchises “Fifa Football” and “The Sims” to handsets, the company says.

By mid-2005, EA will offer for download four mobile-phone game titles sold through most major mobile-phone operators in Europe, North America and Latin .

Compared to the booming video game business, the market for mobile-phone gaming, estimated by consultants at $1 billion (560 million pounds) this year, has been slow to take off as consumers have been forced to settle for simpler games often with inferior graphics.

And handset design has proved to be less than ideal for zapping alien invaders or sinking a game-winning putt. As a result, top-flight publishers such as EA have adapted few of their titles for phones. More …. More … (2)

All About A Lofty Games Company

September 1st, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Gameloft was founded in 1999 by Michel Guillemot, co-founder of Ubisoft. Michel has been in the video games business for around 20 years and on seeing the new wave of mobile phones, he decided to create a new company to focus on these new formats. They are now recognised for state-of-the-art titles, and as one of the market leaders in mobile gaming. Charles Revillion had been working in the video games industry long before joining Gameloft as their Marketing and PR Manager in the UK.

All About Symbian caught up with Charles to find out how all this affects Symbian powered phones, how Gameloft see the mobile market develop, what they think of the N-Gage, Symbian OS and how the whole mobile space looks today… More …

IPO: Umbuck Entertainment jumped on its debut on the Australian Stock Exchange

August 30th, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Jumbuck, which has former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett on its board, debuted at 27 cents compared to the issue price of the shares of 20 cents each. It was spun off from parent company Q, which raised $1.65 million in a prospectus offer. More …

Mforma Acquires Blue Beck

August 27th, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

MFORMA has acquired Blue Beck, one of the industry’s most technically-advanced and successful mobile games developers. Founded in 2001, Blue Beck has for the last three years been at the forefront of computer and mobile games development, creating top titles for leading console and mobile game makers Electronic Arts, THQ, Jamdat, and MFORMA, and building an impressive catalog of content, which includes some of the industry’s most compelling titles. Blue Beck has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of MFORMA with all employees remaining and continuing to operate from Blue Beck’s Manchester location. More …

Interview with Chinese game developer BBFM CEO Han Lian

August 24th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

With a new Japanese investor and new strategy, BBMF’s Han Lian talks about the games revolution on mobile phones.

Merging Japanese content with a cheap Chinese labour force seems like a wise strategy. At least that is what BBMF is banking on. The company makes games for mobile phones and was founded by Antony Yip (founder of Myrice) and Han Lian (founder of Inphomatch Asia). Here the CEO, Han Lian, talks about the company’s new Japanese investor, its Nasdaq listing and its strategic change of direction. More …

Caveman Arts signs first games contract

August 23rd, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

Mobile games specialist Caveman Arts has signed an agreement for the supply of its Climber-X title in a move that will bring first revenues to the Dundee-based start-up.

Assuming all of these games achieve sales of no more than 1% of the UK mobile games market

MFORMA Acquires FingerTwitch

August 19th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

MFORMA has acquired FingerTwitch, Inc. of San Francisco, a pioneering developer of advanced porting and quality assurance processes for the mobile entertainment industry. FingerTwitch is an industry leader in porting mobile applications to multiple devices and platforms and has developed proven technologies and methodologies for enabling mobile applications to play on both Java and BREW platforms and virtually every wireless handset. More …

MFORMA Closes Second Institutional Round of Financing; New Round of Funding Closely Follows $44 Million First Round Announced in June

August 18th, 2004 by Ashu Mathura Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »

MFORMA Group Inc., a leading global provider of wireless entertainment media, announced today a new round of institutional financing on the heels of closing a $44 million round in June. The new round will total up to $40 million based on the company’s needs in pending acquisitions being reviewed. The company announced a first close on $19 million in the new round, led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and including participation by existing investors General Catalyst Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners.

“The market for interactive mobile media is accelerating,” said Daniel Kranzler, MFORMA CEO. “At the same time a land grab of consolidation is underway with companies jockeying for market position. With MFORMA now reaching over 500 million mobile users through more than 100 wireless operators, we are perfectly positioned to be the leader in market consolidation. This round plus our previous funding gives us as much capital as if we had gone public, yet we still have the flexibility of a private company to innovate in our business. We were approached by one of the strongest and most experienced venture teams in the world, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and their managing director, John Fisher, is now joining our board, giving us over 20 years of experience and insight in rapidly growing a business on a global scale.” More …