EA buys out Real Racing developer Firemint
updated 04:25 pm EDT, Tue May 3, 2011
Increasing hegemony affects iOS gaming
Game publisher Electronic Arts says it has acquired Firemint, the developer of titles like Flight Control and Real Racing. Firemint dates back to 1999, and currently employs about 60 people. The terms of the deal have yet to be announced, even though the acquisition process is expected to wrap up in four weeks.
In recent years EA has been expanding its focus beyond the core PC and console gaming markets. It has a web gaming portal called Pogo, and has pushed into social networking through Playfish. It has also taken an explicit interest in iOS gaming, publishing dozens of apps. In October 2010 EA bought out Angry Birds publisher Chillingo, paying somewhere under $20 million.
More and more independent developers have been swallowed up as iOS gaming has grown in popularity. Before the Chillingo deal a Japanese firm, DeNA, bought We Rule creators ngmoco in a transaction worth $303 million.
