Recent news indicate that the largest Chinese gaming companies have the appetite and the cash to acquire studios from neighbouring countries. The common point ? …Acquire know-how and content.
On Dec 17, TOM Online announced it had acquired a majority stake in Indiagames Ltd. a wireless game developer and global publisher of mobile entertainment content based in India. Under the agreement, TOM Online will acquire an 80.6% equity stake in Indiagames, India’s largest wireless game producer, for a cash consideration of US$17.73 million. Indiagames is well know in the industry for its wireless games outsourced development activity.
More recently, rumors are circulating around Sega’s R&D and Sonic teams based in Shanghai. Changhong (SH: 600839) and Zarva Technology (SZ: 000688) were cited as jointly negotiating with Sega. Zarva Digital Entertainment is the operator of Sega’s Q-style online game Phantasy Star Online in China. But according to news on Sina dated Jan 06, 2005, Shanda is also in talks with Sega about its local teams.