Oberon Media has acquired I-play, in doing so creating a 'triple play' casual games powerhouse.
US-based Oberon expects to continue operations in both companies’ existing locations worldwide and maintain the I-play name and brand. The total I-play/Oberon workforce now stands at 400-500.The terms of the deal have not been disclosed but anything less than a $100 million valuation for a 'top five' publisher would be surprising.
David Gosen, currently CEO of I-play, will lead Oberon Media’s mobile games business worldwide. The I-play division will also continue to forge ahead with mobile video projects such as Movie Minutes service it launched recently with Universal Pictures.
The newly combined company will be home to more than a thousand games, including Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile, Dream Day Wedding and The Fast and The Furious, the latter of which has generated more than 7 million downloads. The plan now is to stretch those properties across mobile, online and interactive TV formats.
I-play CEO David Gosen told Mobile Entertainment this morning: "Both I-play and Oberon will continue to create original IP, but where we do licence brands we can now offer partners distribution across every platform. That's an attractive proposition."
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Together, Oberon and I-play have global distribution partnerships with more than 350 partners. I-play is Oberon's third acquisition in the mobile games space, having already snapped up Blaze and Cmate.
Tomer Ben-Kiki, CEO of Oberon Media, said: "This acquisition strengthens Oberon Media’s multi-platform strategy and we are now positioned as the undisputed leader in one of the hottest growth markets: mass-market casual games."
Oberon has also announced it has secured additional funding from existing and new investors, including Goldman Sachs, Oak Investment Partners and Lehman Brothers.
