Mobile Game

Publisher augments its mobile gaming arm by picking up iOS specialist Chillingo; Reuters puts purchase price at $20 million.

Casual game companies have been the target of a number of high-profile acquisitions in the last year. Shortly after laying off 1,500 employees last year, EA announced that it had purchased Pet Society developer Playfish in a deal worth up to $400 million. In July, Disney jumped on Playdom for the figure that could exceed $ 700 million, and recently, the Japanese social DENA company Ngmoco games bought for $ 400 million .

EA officially nights with Chillingo.

Now, another big-name casual game company came and went at auction, as EA has confirmed GameSpot today that it has acquired a British publisher of Chillingo. Although terms were not disclosed, the source told Reuters that EA paid $20 million for the company. EA declined to comment on Chillingo's purchase price.

"By acquiring Chillingo, EA Mobile is increasing its market leadership on the Apple Platform, as well as reaffirming its position as the world's leading wireless entertainment publisher," an EA spokesperson told GameSpot. "EA remains committed to preserving Chillingo's independence and letting them continue to manage and cultivate their great network of relationships with independent developers."

Chillingo also produces the Crystal software development kit, which helps indie studios capitalize on the free-to-play, microtransaction-based business model. The Crystal SDK currently supports iOS platforms, as well as Adobe Flash.

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