Exclusive – U.S.-based mobile games developer ngmoco was acquired by Japanese social games publisher DeNA in October 2010, but that doesn’t mean it stopped looking at opportunities to grow through acquisitions of its own, particularly in regions other than Asia and the United States.
TechCrunch has learned that the company has just acquired longtime game development partner Rough Cookie to boost its presence in Europe (the mobile games studio was founded in late 2008 and is based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands).
Rough Cookie, developer of Star Defense for iOS, We Farm Android and We City Android, among other titles, was acquired by the company to add ‘creative power’ to ngmoco’s internal game development studios. It’s also a way for ngmoco to establish its first office in Europe as the company preps the international roll-out of its (or rather, DeNA’s) social network for mobile games, Mobage. Rough Cookie develops games for iOS, Android and Windows 7.
The game development outfit has long been collaborating with ngmoco, for example for its new owner’s Touch Pets series.
The Netherlands-based studio is already working on new ngmoco games for Mobage, we’re told, although we were unable to pin down the name of the upcoming “flagship title”.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but we’re told that this was an all-cash deal.
This is obviously not a mega-acquisition – Rough Cookie boasts roughly 10 full-time cookies employees – so consider this mostly a talent acquisition with the added value of ngmoco gaining a European presence in one swift move.