SGN has acquired two new game studios as part of its goal to get critical mass in the consolidating mobile game industry.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Culver City-based SGN has purchased game studios Fat Rascal Games Inc. and Kiwi. Terms of the deals are not public.
SGN head Chris DeWolfe DeWolfe told the newspaper that he expects over the next decade that about 10 companies will control nearly all of revenue from mobile games. Digi-Capital predicts that mobile games will grow to a $45 billion business by 2018, but the competition is going to get harder and harder. As an example of consolidation, Activision Blizzard recently agreed to buy King, the maker of Candy Crush Saga (one of the top 5 games in mobile), for $5.9 billion.
SGN has a big hit in the “match 3” game Cookie Jam. And it plans to release five new games in 2016. Kiwi and Fat Rascal will help beef up the portfolio. South Korea’s Netmarble invested $130 million in SGN. Seattle-based Fat Rascal has 15 people, while Palo Alto, California.-based Kiwi has 25. Overall, SGN has 250 employees.
The founding members of Fat Rascal have produced popular titles such as Zynga Slingo, Matrix Online, and Hidden Chronicles. And Kiwi’s team has previously worked on games such as Shipwreck, Chefville, Deep Realms, Gardens of Time, and City of Wonder.