Gree expands portfolio, staff with $210M Modern War developer acquisition!!!

[Marc]

Social game developer Funzio (Modern War, Crime City) was acquired by Japan's Gree on Tuesday.

Gree's complete $210 million buyout covers the entirety of the company, as well as its existing titles, including Modern War, Crime City and Kingdom Age. It is unknown at this time if Gree will continue operating these games on Facebook in addition to their mobile counterparts.

Gree says that Funzio will also develop new titles for Gree's upcoming worldwide mobile gaming platform. Funzio's staff is expected to be integrated into Gree's San Francisco development studio. Its senior staff have been named executives of Gree International as part of the acquisition.

Outside of Japan, Gree is perhaps best known as the company that now owns mobile game network OpenFeint. Internationally the company claims to offer over 7,500 games to over 190 million players, numbers it expects to increase with its much-lauded international platform, expected to launch sometime this quarter.

Gree recently revised its forecast for its fiscal year ending June, expecting a whopping $2.1-$2.5 billion in sales. By comparison, Facebook's fiscal year sales for 2011 were reported at $3.7 billion.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/169586/Gree_expands_portfolio_staff_with_210M_Modern_War_ developer_acquisition.php

I wonder if there's going to be any major change in structure over at funzio. Will Developer Mark and CJ45 be included in Gree's San Francisco development studio. And will L Fizzle still be here?

[mickymacirl]

And will they expand to Ireland so I can get a job with them? :P (15 years + in the industry)

[Marc]

Care to share your experience?

[mickymacirl]

Internet Enterprise Developer, Graphic Artist, Sys Admin, etc etc etc

[Populouspapa]

Internet Enterprise Developer, Graphic Artist, Sys Admin, etc etc etc
Tons of IT companies in Dublin, think Zynga's there now as well? Funzio/gree should setup a base In Sweden.

[Poopenshire]

It looks like a complete take over and obsorption of assests and senior leadership. Would have to wait for some FTC documents to be filed, but it looks like nothing major will change, infact it looks like Funzio will be expanding as part of this deal.

[Marc]

So there's going to be no redundancy with this acquisition?

[mickymacirl]

Tons of IT companies in Dublin, think Zynga's there now as well? Funzio/gree should setup a base In Sweden.

Yep most American and World Wide IT companies have their headquarters in Ireland due to very very low corporate taxes.

[Poopenshire]

Well from I can read no, it looks like Gree will utilize Funzio's mobile platform for their games and projects as well. I started looking for FTC documents but I haven't seen any yet detailing the total merger. The interesting thing is the merging of Senior Management with Gree Senior Management. In an aquisition that not too common unless they plan to keep you and expand your product base, granted my take is from Big Pharma and how these things work out there, but it seems to follow the same patterns.

[mickymacirl]

Well from I can read no, it looks like Gree will utilize Funzio's mobile platform for their games and projects as well. I started looking for FTC documents but I haven't seen any yet detailing the total merger. The interesting thing is the merging of Senior Management with Gree Senior Management. In an aquisition that not too common unless they plan to keep you and expand your product base, granted my take is from Big Pharma and how these things work out there, but it seems to follow the same patterns.

Going through a huge buy out in work at the moment and no one is safe, from the lowest to the highest, right, who needs two CEO's?

[Poopenshire]

Going through a huge buy out in work at the moment and no one is safe, from the lowest to the highest, right, who needs two CEO's?

Your right in a way. All the mergers I have ben through, 4 in the last 10 years, show that when you merge like that Sr Management is typicall kept but shuffled around. From what i could gather from the Funzio articles they are not shuffling that much, they are keeping the corporate structure in tact. Like I said too, until I see the FTC and maybe some SEC paperwork (not sure if they are required to report SEC docs) it will show more about whats going on. I still have to say, it looks good for Funzio.

[Sexyman]

I wonder if this will affect the awesome customer service? I hope not.

[Sugarymama]

I just saw this story a few minutes ago. My first thought was, will they change the game at all? Usually when new people take over a company/project, etc. there are changes made, even if there is nothing wrong with the original plan. People like to leave their own mark on things..

[What?]

Hopefully gree isn't shorty for greedy.

[Crime City Mark]

Basically everything is just going to get better. We'll still offer the same support, only more quickly. You'll see the same familiar faces around the forums and the support page, plus a few extras.

[Poopenshire]

Mark, I hope they offered employees stock options when you joined. That all I have to say.

[L Fizzle]

Social game developer Funzio (Modern War, Crime City) was acquired by Japan's Gree on Tuesday.

Gree's complete $210 million buyout covers the entirety of the company, as well as its existing titles, including Modern War, Crime City and Kingdom Age. It is unknown at this time if Gree will continue operating these games on Facebook in addition to their mobile counterparts.

Gree says that Funzio will also develop new titles for Gree's upcoming worldwide mobile gaming platform. Funzio's staff is expected to be integrated into Gree's San Francisco development studio. Its senior staff have been named executives of Gree International as part of the acquisition.

Outside of Japan, Gree is perhaps best known as the company that now owns mobile game network OpenFeint. Internationally the company claims to offer over 7,500 games to over 190 million players, numbers it expects to increase with its much-lauded international platform, expected to launch sometime this quarter.

Gree recently revised its forecast for its fiscal year ending June, expecting a whopping $2.1-$2.5 billion in sales. By comparison, Facebook's fiscal year sales for 2011 were reported at $3.7 billion.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/169586/Gree_expands_portfolio_staff_with_210M_Modern_War_ developer_acquisition.php

I wonder if there's going to be any major change in structure over at funzio. Will Developer Mark and CJ45 be included in Gree's San Francisco development studio. And will L Fizzle still be here?


I'll still be here...The last 5 years of employment life look like this:

Slide (Acquired by Google)
Apple (For the second time)
OpenFeint (Acquired by GREE)
GREE
Funzio (Acquired by GREE)
...and now back to GREE.

Joy!

[Agent Orange]

I'll still be here...The last 5 years of employment life look like this:

Slide (Acquired by Google)
Apple (For the second time)
OpenFeint (Acquired by GREE)
GREE
Funzio (Acquired by GREE)
...and now back to GREE.

Joy!

Get the feeling you are being followed?

[el_gringo]

Hey AO I added you on KA, same name as my forum name...

[Bluevalley]

:cool:Gree is emerging company in Online Games world and Mobile Games.This Takeover is profitable decision for Future!!Mergers and Acquisition Companies (http://www.bluevalleycapital.com/)