Disney Buys Playdom for 560 Million Dollars
Continuing its move into the videogame space, the Disney Corporation has purchased social gaming company Playdom. The deal amounts to $563.2 million for Playdom shareholders as well as a undisclosed “performance-linked earn-out of up to $200 million” according to the company’s press release.
As Joystiq notes the company has only been around for two years and has launched several successful games which you probably won’t have played unless you’re a 15 year old girl. It’s cited as one of the most popular developers on Facebook with titles such as Social City, Sorority Life. Nope, me neither.
Playdom were also involved in a lawsuit with FarmVille creator Zynga, who accused them of poaching former employees and obtaining Zynga’s “playbook”. The lawsuit is still active, with discussion on-going and a “Status Conference” set for October 13th. The two companies were also in dispute over the use of the MafiaWars trademark.
The total $760 million is a pretty hefty sum for such a new studio and its founders must be kicking themselves seeing that sort of money dropping into their boots. What’s more interesting however is Disney’s big push into the gaming space. At the start of the month Disney bought iPhone developers of Tapulous, creators of Tap Tap Revenge for an undisclosed sum. With the cash and resources Disney has, brute-forcing your way into the casual gaming market seems like the best way to do it, especially if they combine the crazy-popular Disney IP and Playdom’s already huge gaming platform.
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