MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Google is continuing to invest heavily in social gaming firms ahead of a widely expected reveal of its new games division.
The search engine giant has now acquired Canadian start-up studio SocialDeck, following recent buyouts of fellow social game groups Jambool and Slide, as well as reportedly investing some $200 million in Facebook games titan Zynga.
Terms of the SocialDeck buyout were not disclosed.
Like with all Google acquisitions of late, it is unknown how each new group will fit in with Google’s games operation.
Equally in the dark is which avenue Google will run down – either in building a rival to Facebook, revitalising the Android development platform, or a mixture of both.
SocialDeck is perhaps best known for its trans-media platform, called Spark, that can connect iPhone, Blackberry and Facebook users. The platform has helped SocialDeck draw in over a million downloads.
“We started this company with the goal of connecting friends through social games on all kinds of exciting new mobile devices,” read a statement from the developer.
“We’ve been amazed and humbled by all of the stories and experiences our customers have shared with us”.
Google has yet to make a formal announcement of its game business plan, though the company may have found a delay from the unexpected departure of its games boss.
Mark DeLoura left the company just four months after joining.
“It was not the perfect fit for me,” he said.
