Japanese firm to buy ngmoco for up to $403 million
updated 12:25 pm EDT, Tue October 12, 2010
Creates massive international game developer
A Japanese developer, DeNA, is buying American outfit ngmoco in a deal which could be worth up to $403 million, according to Reuters. At least $303 million is being offered in cash, shares and stock options, while the remaining amount is contingent on ngmoco's 2011 sales. ngmoco was one of the first high-profile developers of iOS games, and is responsible for titles like We Rule, GodFinger and Rolando.
The combination of the two companies will create an extremely influential entity. DeNA is probably best known for Mobage-town, a mobile social network with some 20 million users in Japan. In the past month it has also bought another US game maker, Gameview, and invested in a third, Astro Ape. New shares and stock options are being offered by DeNA in light of the ngmoco acquisition.
ngmoco notes that it has recorded some 60 million app downloads. It also runs its own social network, Plus+, which has over 13.5 million users. As a part of the DeNA takeover however, ngmoco is eventually expected to make Mobage a global service, and create an open developer platform based partly on the Mobage Open SDK, with both iOS and Android developers in mind.
