Liked Touch Pets Dogs so much, it bought the company.
iPhone games publisher ngmoco has acquired Stumptown Games Machine, the developer which it worked with on recent title Touch Pets Dogs.
The game was released in November last year, and has been downloaded more than five million times so far. The freemium game makes money from in-app payments and advertising.
ngmoco says Stumptown is currently working on a follow-up to the game, which will be unveiled shortly.
The publisher has hailed the acquisition, which brings two artificial intelligence experts - Andrew Stern and Richard Evans - in-house at the company.
"With a proven track record of games that are equal parts charming, fun and accessible, we’re proud to have such terrific AI designers and innovative thinkers expand our growing line-up of games," says CEO Neil Young.
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ngmoco is emerging as one of the biggest names in iPhone games publishing, backed by significant investment from VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers' iFund.
The publisher acquired rival Freeverse in February, just after closing a $25 million funding round. It has also bought several other independent developers in recent months.
ngmoco is pushing the freemium model through games like Touch Pets Dogs, Eliminate Pro, We Rule and GodFinger. It says its games are currently being played for more than 28 million minutes a day.
