Gree splashes out $210m on mobile start-up Funzio

Social games giant Gree has splashed out $210 million to acquire US mobile start-up Funzio, the company has revealed.

The San-Francisco-based developer has created games such as Crime City, Modern War and Kingdom Age for Facebook and iOS, and claims its titles have been downloaded more than 20 million times.

The studio has been purchased to help Gree expand its range of “mid-core” titles for its social games platform.

“The team at Funzio is creating some of the best mobile games in the world today,” said Gree CEO Naoki Aoyagi.

“This acquisition will allow us to join their talent and expertise with our vision for a mobile social gaming ecosystem. We are extremely excited to expand our mid-core portfolio and continue to show how the mobile games market is the inevitable next step for gamers worldwide.”

Funzio CEO Ken Chiu added: “GREE shares our vision of a mobile world where people can play together wherever and whenever they are.



"We feel strongly that our experience in creating unique games for the mid-core market and GREE’s expertise in bringing the mobile games to the worldwide community is a perfect match.”

The buyout of Funzio follows the acquisition firms such as OpenFeint, opening a Canada-based studio and attempting to purchase Draw Something developer Omgpop.