IPhone Developer Acquired in Bid to Create Mobile Social Gaming Goliath

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A Japanese game developer must read our coverage of the meteoric growth of App usage. The developer, DeNA paid up to $400 million for San Francisco-based Ngmoco, creator of well-known iPhone apps such as the Rolando series and Eliminate. “We’re building the largest mobile social gaming platform in the world,” declares DeNA founder and CEO Tomoko Namba.

As part of the deal, the two-year-old Ngmoco could receive an additional $100 million if the game developer meets unspecified goals by the end of 2011. The iPhone developer was founded by Electronics Arts exec Neil Young, plus Bob Stevenson, Alan Yu and Joe Keene.


In September, TechCrunch estimated iPhone, iPod touch and iPad owners receive an average 17.6 million applications each day – nearly three times more than the 7.5 million songs downloaded by iTunes.

Owners of iOS devices play Ngmoco applications more than 50 million minutes each day and have been downloaded more than 60 million times. Such stats helped the company earn 20 top-10 titles. The company’s Plus+ social network has been installed more than 86 million times and boasts 13.5 million registered users.

DeNA’s Mobage Open SEK for developers will integrate ngmoco’s smartphone gaming technology, permitting access to iPhone and Android gamers. A preview of the beefed-up gaming platform is expected in December.

Along with being a top player in the iPhone Apps market, Ngmoco recently announced plans to also offer games for the Android platform. Previous to acquiring Ngmoco, DeNA purchased Mountain View, Calif.-based Gameview and also acquired a 20 percent stake in Aurora Feint Inc., a Burlingame, Calif.-based gaming network with more than 29 million users.

[via AppleInsider]

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