Disney acquires Playdom in $763m deal

Disney will acquire social games giant Playdom for a fee that could rise to $763.2 million.

The deal, which was rumoured last week, involves an initial payment of $563.2 million, with a further $200 million dependent on performance.

The news comes weeks after Disney swooped for iPhone music game pioneer Tapulous.

Playdom will remain in Mountain View, California. The firm’s CEO, John Pleasants, will become an executive vice president of the Disney Interactive Media Group, reporting to group president Steve Wadsworth.

Playdom is a big player in the social games space, with 15 development studios including Acclaim, Hive7 and Green Patch. The firm is behind titles such as Social City, Sorority Life, Market Street and Bola. The developer claims it has 42 million playing its games each month.

We see strong growth potential in bringing together Playdom’s talented team and capabilities with our great creative properties, people and world-renowned brands like Disney, ABC, ESPN and Marvel.” said president and CEO of The Walt Disney Compamy, Robert A. Iger.

This acquisition furthers our strategy of allocating capital to high-growth businesses that can benefit from our many characters, stories and brands, delivering them in a creatively compelling way to a new generation of fans on the platforms they prefer.”

We are at the start of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the way people of all ages play games with their friends across devices, platforms and geographical boundaries,” said Playdom Chief Executive Officer John Pleasants.

Disney is an incredibly forward-thinking company that shares our vision and is the ideal partner to further our mission to bring great entertainment to people around the world.”