Electronic Arts has announced that it is buying game developer Chillingo, the developer responsible for bringing us the ludicrously and infuriatingly addictive Angry Birds game as well as a whole raft of other mobile phone and mobile gaming platforms.
Chillingo has set itself up as a specialist in the field initially by releasing 14 iPad based titles in a single day and then by following this up with even more advances and it seems that the once independent games developer is really reaping the rewards of this move as EA is reported to be paying $20m plus further incentives to buy the company.
The $20m acquisition seems like a steal when you consider how many copies of the $1 Angry Birds game have been sold. It was recently announced that the game, which was primarily and predominantly meant as a release for the Apple iOS, has sold 2 million copies on the Android platform.
EA is said to be excited about the purchase of Chillingo because it enables them to further their expertise in the mobile gaming market but also because Chillingo has extensive experience in working with independent developers like Rovio who made Angry Birds and ZeptoLab who made Cut The Tope; a game that many are tipping to become just as popular as the Angry Birds game.
It’s not entirely certain whether either developer will work with the new EAChillingo partnership but Rovio Tweeted that they call all the shots with regards their games so there’s nothing for current gamers to worry about.
The mobile phone operating system platform has been woefully devoid of any major gaming titles that have actually been any good but EA could well be taking the right steps in this regard, as long as games like Angry Birds don’t get a massive price hike making them ultimately less popular and eventually deterring highly skilled and independent developers from making the games.
