Acquisition of iPhone game maker to create largest mobile social games platform
Ngmoco, one of the most popular and successful game developers for Apple's iOS mobile platform, has been gobbled up by Japanese social game developer DeNA for upwards of $400 million in a bid to form the world's largest mobile social games platform company.
Under the terms of the agreement, Ngmoco?s shareholders and employees will receive US$300 million in cash and securities and are entitled to additional consideration of up to $100 million, contingent upon the company meeting some undisclosed performance goals by the end of the 2011 calendar year.
?In ngmoco and its team we see a lot of the same talent and dynamic traction that we have in the Japanese market, making the merger a perfect fit for us,? said Tomoko Namba, founder and CEO, DeNA. ?This acquisition cements DeNA's leadership position in the U.S. We?re building the largest mobile social gaming platform in the world and populating it with incredible games and services.?
Based in San Francisco with studios in New York and Portland, Ngmoco was founded in 2008 by Electronic Arts executive Neil Young, along with Bob Stevenson, Alan Yu and Joe Keene. In total, it received funding in excess of 40 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Norwest Venture Partners, and others -- the former of which is responsible for $400 million iFund to support iPhone developer upstarts.
Renowned for its Rolando game series and Eliminate, ngmoco?s games are played more than 50 million minutes a day and have been downloaded more than 60 million times on Apple?s iOS devices, resulting in 20 top 10 applications. The company?s Plus+ social network also has over 13.5 million registered users, with more than 50 million friend connections and has been installed more than 86 million times.
?We are delighted to be joining forces with DeNA, a company that we have admired and aspired to,? said Young. ?The opportunity to be a part of creating the number one social mobile game platform company and to benefit from the unique learning and knowledge that DeNA possesses is an amazing way to accelerate our vision for gaming.?
Rolando for iPhone and iPod touch is amongst Ngmoco's most successful titles.
In September, Ngmoco announced its commitment to expand its offerings to Google's Android platform with games and services set to arrive in the fourth quarter. As a wholly owned subsidiary, ngmoco will be responsible for bringing DeNA?s ?X-Device X-Border? strategy to Western markets by making DeNA?s Mobage a global service and platform for games.
Another key focus for the company is the creation of a unified open developer platform that combines ngmoco?s smartphone technology framework with DeNA?s pioneering Mobage Open SDK, allowing developers to target both iOS & Android devices with ease.
DeNA said a developer preview of the new global gaming platform will take place in December with further details to be announced in the near future.
For DeNA, Tuesday's acquisition marks its third in less than two months. The company purchased Mountain View, Calif.-based Gameview, a maker of free-play games, last month in addition to 20 percent share of Aurora Feint Inc., a Burlingame, California-based gaming network with over 29 million users.
Under the terms of the agreement, Ngmoco?s shareholders and employees will receive US$300 million in cash and securities and are entitled to additional consideration of up to $100 million, contingent upon the company meeting some undisclosed performance goals by the end of the 2011 calendar year.
?In ngmoco and its team we see a lot of the same talent and dynamic traction that we have in the Japanese market, making the merger a perfect fit for us,? said Tomoko Namba, founder and CEO, DeNA. ?This acquisition cements DeNA's leadership position in the U.S. We?re building the largest mobile social gaming platform in the world and populating it with incredible games and services.?
Based in San Francisco with studios in New York and Portland, Ngmoco was founded in 2008 by Electronic Arts executive Neil Young, along with Bob Stevenson, Alan Yu and Joe Keene. In total, it received funding in excess of 40 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Norwest Venture Partners, and others -- the former of which is responsible for $400 million iFund to support iPhone developer upstarts.
Renowned for its Rolando game series and Eliminate, ngmoco?s games are played more than 50 million minutes a day and have been downloaded more than 60 million times on Apple?s iOS devices, resulting in 20 top 10 applications. The company?s Plus+ social network also has over 13.5 million registered users, with more than 50 million friend connections and has been installed more than 86 million times.
?We are delighted to be joining forces with DeNA, a company that we have admired and aspired to,? said Young. ?The opportunity to be a part of creating the number one social mobile game platform company and to benefit from the unique learning and knowledge that DeNA possesses is an amazing way to accelerate our vision for gaming.?
Rolando for iPhone and iPod touch is amongst Ngmoco's most successful titles.
In September, Ngmoco announced its commitment to expand its offerings to Google's Android platform with games and services set to arrive in the fourth quarter. As a wholly owned subsidiary, ngmoco will be responsible for bringing DeNA?s ?X-Device X-Border? strategy to Western markets by making DeNA?s Mobage a global service and platform for games.
Another key focus for the company is the creation of a unified open developer platform that combines ngmoco?s smartphone technology framework with DeNA?s pioneering Mobage Open SDK, allowing developers to target both iOS & Android devices with ease.
DeNA said a developer preview of the new global gaming platform will take place in December with further details to be announced in the near future.
For DeNA, Tuesday's acquisition marks its third in less than two months. The company purchased Mountain View, Calif.-based Gameview, a maker of free-play games, last month in addition to 20 percent share of Aurora Feint Inc., a Burlingame, California-based gaming network with over 29 million users.
Comments
Ngmoco, one of the most popular and successful game developers for Apple's iOS mobile platform, has been gobbled up by Japanese social game developer DeNA for upwards of $400 billion in a bid to form the world's largest mobile social games platform company.
$400 billion for a game developer? That's a lot of money.
Or maybe AI STILL hasn't learned to proofread their posts.
$400 billion for a game developer? That's a lot of money.
Or maybe AI STILL hasn't learned to proofread their posts.
OMG! Yeah, I have to wonder about the cost! 400 Billion ... really?? They could have invaded a moderately sized country for that!
Price aside, I wonder what the impact may be on Apple ... did Apple miss the boat here (assuming that price is incorrect.)
It is really $400 Million LOL ... http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...1/daily15.html
Maybe Apple should have bought them!
I had to copy and paste that before correction ... too funny ... sorry AI
"Acquisition of iPhone game maker to create largest mobile social games platform
Ngmoco, one of the most popular and successful game developers for Apple's iOS mobile platform, has been gobbled up by Japanese social game developer DeNA for upwards of $400 billion in a bid to form the world's largest mobile social games platform company."
This is clearly a typo (a reverse of Dr. Evil's "1 MILLION Dollars... Mwah hah hah"
$400 billion for a game developer? That's a lot of money.
Or maybe AI STILL hasn't learned to proofread their posts.
Yes, they will never learn. Now you know why Steve Jobs doesnt want his country to descend into a nation of bloggers.
It's kind of screwy how a Japanese or Chinese company can gobble up an American at the drop of a hat but if an American company tries to purchase one of theirs, extremely nationalistic and xenophobic laws prevent it from happening, in other words, it's illegal.
Off topic but it is linked to your comments ... Not my area of expertise ... but one has to wonder had Ford and GM not been bailed out with our tax dollars was there ever a risk of a Chinese take over?
Seeing as Apple's market cap (largest in the world) is $250 billion, why and how DeNA would pay that much for Ngmoco can't be answered.
This is clearly a typo (a reverse of Dr. Evil's "1 MILLION Dollars... Mwah hah hah"
Exxon's market cap is bigger than Apple's still.
Otherwise correct.
Thompson
Could be 400 Billion Yen
It is still to much.
That would translate into 30 Billion USD.
De Ja Vue, anyone remember Bungie? Halo?
Yep! Potentially the same thing...
It is still to much.
That would translate into 30 Billion USD.
No. 400 billion yen is the equivalent of 5 billion USD. (82 yen to the dollar today). Still too much, though.
It's kind of screwy how a Japanese or Chinese company can gobble up an American at the drop of a hat but if an American company tries to purchase one of theirs, extremely nationalistic and xenophobic laws prevent it from happening, in other words, it's illegal.
True. But we have ways of getting our own back by selling stuff that turns out to be overpriced and toxic in the end!
If we can't manufacture anything anymore, let's create companies and sell them off and use the money to keep investing in our future here.
Or, better yet, let's get serious about manufacturing here. I've worked my entire career for companies that ONLY manufacture in the U.S. It is still a viable option for a lot of businesses.
Of course, it would be even MORE viable if our government would do what it's supposed to do and insist on a level playing field. We should have forced China to let their currency float back in the 90's - and we wouldn't have the mess we have today. We should also enforce our product safety and environmental standards on any product that is imported. If the importer can't demonstrate that it meets our standards, it goes straight back.
With a level playing field, we'd have millions more jobs here - and a viable manufacturing sector.
Or, better yet, let's get serious about manufacturing here. I've worked my entire career for companies that ONLY manufacture in the U.S. It is still a viable option for a lot of businesses.
Of course, it would be even MORE viable if our government would do what it's supposed to do and insist on a level playing field. We should have forced China to let their currency float back in the 90's - and we wouldn't have the mess we have today. We should also enforce our product safety and environmental standards on any product that is imported. If the importer can't demonstrate that it meets our standards, it goes straight back.
With a level playing field, we'd have millions more jobs here - and a viable manufacturing sector.
Um... hate to tell ya... but that's far too logical and makes too much sense to EVER work... past, present or future.
Off topic but it is linked to your comments ... Not my area of expertise ... but one has to wonder had Ford and GM not been bailed out with our tax dollars was there ever a risk of a Chinese take over?
I don't think Ford was bailed out. Chrysler maybe?
Off topic but it is linked to your comments ... Not my area of expertise ... but one has to wonder had Ford and GM not been bailed out with our tax dollars was there ever a risk of a Chinese take over?
Ford was not bailed out. They released shares to raise capital.
It's kind of screwy how a Japanese or Chinese company can gobble up an American at the drop of a hat but if an American company tries to purchase one of theirs, extremely nationalistic and xenophobic laws prevent it from happening, in other words, it's illegal.
Off topic but it is linked to your comments ... Not my area of expertise ... but one has to wonder had Ford and GM not been bailed out with our tax dollars was there ever a risk of a Chinese take over?
Ha! Hate to tell you but a government bailout is a Chinese takeover. China essentially owns most of the US - Americans owe China almost 900 billion dollars. China has been bailing out the US for years - you should be thanking them, not complaining.