French video game publisher Ubisoft has grown big on triple-A console games such as Assassin’s Creed, but it is moving into digital games in a big way. Today, the company announced it’s buying Future Games of London.
As part of the deal, Ubisoft will get the studio’s 41 staff members and rights to the Hungry Shark mobile game franchise. Future Games of London was established in 2009. It exclusively focuses on making free-to-play games for smartphones and tablets.
“We are thrilled to join Ubisoft and are looking forward to leveraging its scale, experience and support to expand our brands and maximize the worldwide reach of our very promising forthcoming titles.” said Ian Harper, managing director of Future Games of London.
The studio has reached more than 100 million downloads across multiple original intellectual properties. Its most successful brand is Hungry Shark, which is available on iOS, Google Play, and Amazon. Hungry Shark Evolution, the fourth installment in the franchise, has seen players download it more than 30 million times since its launch earlier this year.
“With this deal, we’re biting off an even bigger part of the market for mobile and tablet games,” said Jean-Michel Detoc, the managing director of Ubisoft’s mobile business. “Future Games of London brings a popular and profitable franchise to Ubisoft’s portfolio and supplements our mobile group with a very talented team that has a deep understanding of mobile and free-to-play mechanics.”